ZeusABJ

Niall, First off great post. I hope you can help me out by expanding on it a bit. I’ve got three ADRs set up that are totally identical in terms of the updates they download and push out. The only thing that differentiates them is the week in which they push out updates (each is staggered out 1 week after the other) and (of course) the collections they point to. Here's what I have in the console: Basically they work in this fashion: Week 1 - Alpha Push Week 2 - Beta Push Week 3 - Production Push Key point- Since the updates being pushed were identical I just created one deployment package with one package source folder and pointed all three at it. So far all three have been running without any apparent issues. Now I'm hearing that pointing multiple ADRs to the same package is (in fact) a bad idea and I should separate them out. Further complicating matters, I have integrated Office 2007-2013 updates into these ADRs and I now understand that is a bad idea too (because of the 1000 update max) and I need to separate those out into their own ADR! Now I'm totally confused about how to proceed. What I need is the aforementioned three week update process with Windows Updates and Office Updates going out on the same day and time. If I have to use different software update groups for the Office Updates and Windows Updates, I'd like to somehow "tie" the two together so from my end user's perspective they just appear as single updates (with the same deadlines and restart window). Can that be done by just scheduling them to go out on the same date and time? I'd also really like to do this in the most "disk efficient" manner possible. it just seems like a waste to make three ADRs that download the same exact updates every month, only in different package folders. Whats the problem with pointing these at the same package if al the updates are the same? So far I have yet to find a guide that covers anything beyond "this is how you make an ADR for Windows 7 and WIndows XP", but surely people are doing more than that. Can you please elaborate more on how you structure your Software Update ADRs, Packages, Groups and Source Folders when you start to add other products into the mix like Office, SQL Server, etc?

Done! I hope people find it useful: http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3429-performing-a-usmt-migration-in-offline-mode-under-windows-pe-my-solution/

Hey guys, This is a copy of a post I made at the MDT TechNet forums, I hope you find it useful: The question "How do I use MDT to perform an offline USMT migration under Windows PE" seems to be a recurring one around here. I know it’s something I have personally struggled with. To my knowledge no real solution to this conundrum has been posted on this forum (yet). Instead of sitting around and moping about it I decided to make my own. After a lot of research, trial and error I was able to create a standalone custom task sequence that will perform offline USMT migrated under Windows PE. To give credit where credit is due I do want to point out that I used the following SCCM-specific guides as starting points: http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1735-using-offline-mode-in-windows-pe-using-usmt-4-via-a-task-sequence-in-sccm-2007-sp2/ http://www.petervanderwoude.nl/post/capture-user-files-and-settings-offline-winpe-or-online-fullos-with-configmgr-2007/ However I think you’ll see my solution has morphed into its own entity almost entirely. The task sequence itself simply does a USMT capture in offline mode and almost all the settings are controlled using the standard USMT-related variables in CS.ini. It does not deploy an OS or run Loadstate to restore (as I perform those tasks separately). Also I did it this way on purpose to keep it simple (KISS right?). Feel free to add, modify or suggest changes to it as needed (comments by more knowledgeable people are very welcome). Obviously I offer this with no warranties or guarantees. It may not be the BEST solution but it was the best I could come up with. If anyone can improve upon it please feel free to post those improvements here so we can all learn something. To my knowledge the only real dependencies it has is that the offline drive you are migrating has to be assigned a drive letter in the range "C-G" (the task sequence will search these drives in alphabetical order for a "Windows" directory and start migrating the first one it finds). Also an "Offline.xml" specifying your drive letter range needs to be included in your USMT x64 & x86 folders (covered further down) at %DeployRoot%. CS.ini variables required by the task sequence: (I have a few values I'm using listed but obviously you could customize these to whatever you want). UDShare=\\<MyServer>\<MyShare>$ UDDir=%OSDComputerName% ScanStateArgs=<MyScanStateArgs> USMTMigFiles001=MigApp.xml USMTMigFiles002=MigUser.xml USMTMigFiles003=MigCustomData.xml USMTConfigFile=MigCustomConfig.xml Offline.xml and offlineWinDir: Part of running USMT in offline mode involves specifying the path to the Windows directory of the drive you wish to migrate. There are 2 methods: /offline: <path to offline.xml>: This command-line option enables the offline-migration mode and requires a path to an Offline.xml configuration file. /offlineWinDir: <Windows directory>: This command-line option enables the offline-migration mode and starts the migration from the location specified. It is only for use in Windows PE offline scenarios where the migration is occurring from a Windows directory. More information on this subject can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee126219(WS.10).aspx Of these methods I prefer using an offline.xml file to detect the Windows dir in my drive range (C-G) as it seems to offer the greatest level of flexibility. If you want to use /offlineWinDir just edit the part of the task sequnece that references offline.xml to reference your desired /offlineWinDir location instead it and make sure you aslo disable offline.xml. The USMT Offline.xml file: (Copy and paste the following into your own offline.xml and save copies to both the x86 and x64 folders in your USMT folder at %DeployRoot%). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- <!-- Scan a range of drive letters for a Windows partition to migrate in offline mode. --> <offline> <winDir> <path>C:\Windows</path> <path>D:\Windows</path> <path>E:\Windows</path> <path>F:\Windows</path> <path>G:\Windows</path> </winDir> <failOnMultipleWinDir>1</failOnMultipleWinDir> </offline> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The USMT Offline Migration Task Sequence: To use just open the deployment workbench and create a new custom task sequence. Close the workbench and browse to the task sequence location (usually <MyDeploymentShare>\Control\<MyCustomTaskSequenceID>\). Locate "ts.xml" (which should be the only file you see in the task sequence ID folder). Open it in a text editor and replace the code in that task sequence with the code between the lines below: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <sequence version="3.00" name="Custom Task Sequence" description="Sample Custom Task Sequence"> <group name="Initialization" disable="false" continueOnError="false" description="Initialize the TS environment" expand="true"> <step type="BDD_Gather" name="Gather local only" disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010" description="" startIn=""> <defaultVarList> <variable name="GatherLocalOnly" property="GatherLocalOnly">true</variable> <variable name="RulesFile" property="RulesFile"></variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTIGather.wsf"</action> </step> </group> <group expand="true" name="State Capture (Offline)" description="" disable="false" continueOnError="false"> <action /> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set USMT Architecture Path (x86)" description="Determine if the x86 version of Windows PE is running and set %USMTARCH% accordingly." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">USMTArch</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">x86</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_VariableConditionExpression"> <variable name="Variable">Architecture</variable> <variable name="Operator">equals</variable> <variable name="Value">x86</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set USMT Architecture Path (x64)" description="Determine if the x64 version of Windows PE is running and set %USMTARCH% accordingly." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">USMTArch</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">x64</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_VariableConditionExpression"> <variable name="Variable">Architecture</variable> <variable name="Operator">equals</variable> <variable name="Value">x64</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set Offline System Partition (C:)" description="If a Windows folder is found at a given drive letter set %OfflineSystemDrive% to that drive letter so the USMT files and folders can be cached there." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">OfflineSystemDrive</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">C:</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">C:\Windows</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set Offline System Partition (D:)" description="If a Windows folder is found at a given drive letter set %OfflineSystemDrive% to that drive letter so the USMT files and folders can be cached there." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">OfflineSystemDrive</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">D:</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">D:\Windows</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set Offline System Partition (E:)" description="If a Windows folder is found at a given drive letter set %OfflineSystemDrive% to that drive letter so the USMT files and folders can be cached there." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">OfflineSystemDrive</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">E:</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">E:\Windows</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set Offline System Partition (F:)" description="If a Windows folder is found at a given drive letter set %OfflineSystemDrive% to that drive letter so the USMT files and folders can be cached there." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">OfflineSystemDrive</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">F:</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">F:\Windows</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set Offline System Partition (G:)" description="If a Windows folder is found at a given drive letter set %OfflineSystemDrive% to that drive letter so the USMT files and folders can be cached there." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">OfflineSystemDrive</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">G:</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">G:\Windows</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set USMT Platform Architecture (32-Bit)" description="Determine if the offline system is a 32-bit Windows version and set %MIG_OFFLINE_PLATFORM_ARCH% accordingly." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">MIG_OFFLINE_PLATFORM_ARCH</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">32</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="not"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files (x86)</variable> </expression> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\SysWOW64</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set USMT Platform Architecture (64-Bit)" description="Determine if the offline system is a 64-bit Windows version and set %MIG_OFFLINE_PLATFORM_ARCH% accordingly." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">MIG_OFFLINE_PLATFORM_ARCH</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">64</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> <condition> <operator type="and"> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files (x86)</variable> </expression> <expression type="SMS_TaskSequence_FolderConditionExpression"> <variable name="Path">%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\SysWOW64</variable> </expression> </operator> </condition> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set State Store Location" description="Set %OSDStateStorePath% to Share%\Ýir% so path names can be controlled by CS.ini (this will store migration data created by ScanState)." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">OSDStateStorePath</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue"> Share%\Ýir%</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_RunCommandLineAction" name="Create State Store Location" description="If it does not already exist then create a folder to store the user state migration files that will be generated by ScanState." disable="false" continueOnError="false" startIn="" successCodeList="0 3010" runIn="WinPEandFullOS"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="PackageID" property="PackageID"></variable> <variable name="RunAsUser" property="RunAsUser">false</variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName"></variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword"></variable> <variable name="LoadProfile" property="LoadProfile">false</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cmd.exe /c if not exist "%OSDSTATESTOREPATH%" md "%OSDSTATESTOREPATH%"</action> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_RunCommandLineAction" name="Cache USMT Files and Scripts" description="Copy USMT component files and scripts to a temporary location on the offline system partition." disable="false" continueOnError="false" startIn="" successCodeList="0 3010" runIn="WinPEandFullOS"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="PackageID" property="PackageID"></variable> <variable name="RunAsUser" property="RunAsUser">false</variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName"></variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword"></variable> <variable name="LoadProfile" property="LoadProfile">false</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>xcopy "%DEPLOYROOT%\USMT\%USMTARCH%\*" "%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%" /herciy</action> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction" name="Set USMT Working Directory" description="Set the USMT working directory variable to the temporary location on the offline system partition where the USMT component files and scripts were copied." disable="false" continueOnError="false" successCodeList="0 3010"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="VariableName" property="VariableName">USMT_WORKING_DIR</variable> <variable name="VariableValue" property="VariableValue">%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cscript.exe "%SCRIPTROOT%\ZTISetVariable.wsf"</action> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_RunCommandLineAction" name="Capture User State (Offline)" description="Perform an offline USMT capture by running ScanState commands using variables in this task sequence, USMT-specific variables in CS.ini and an Offline.xml file." disable="false" continueOnError="false" startIn="" successCodeList="0 3010" runIn="WinPEandFullOS"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="PackageID" property="PackageID" /> <variable name="RunAsUser" property="RunAsUser">false</variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName"></variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword"></variable> <variable name="LoadProfile" property="LoadProfile">false</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%\Scanstate.exe" "%OSDSTATESTOREPATH%" %SCANSTATEARGS% /i:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%\MigApp.xml" /i:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%\MigUser.xml" /i:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%\MigCustomData.xml" /config:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%\MigCustomConfig.xml" /offline:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles\%USMTARCH%\Offline.xml" /l:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\USMTcapture.log" /progress:"%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\USMTcapture.prg"</action> </step> <step type="SMS_TaskSequence_RunCommandLineAction" name="Clean Up USMT Files and Scripts" description="Remove any remaining temporary USMT component files and scripts from the offline system partition." disable="false" continueOnError="false" startIn="" successCodeList="0 3010" runIn="WinPEandFullOS"> <defaultVarList> <variable name="PackageID" property="PackageID"></variable> <variable name="RunAsUser" property="RunAsUser">false</variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName"></variable> <variable name="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword" property="SMSTSRunCommandLineUserPassword"></variable> <variable name="LoadProfile" property="LoadProfile">false</variable> </defaultVarList> <action>cmd.exe /c rd "%OFFLINESYSTEMDRIVE%\USMTFiles" /s /q</action> </step> </group> </sequence> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This task sequence relies on another file named "Offline.xml". See my very first post above for details on creating thus file and where to put it. Any constructive comments/criticism regarding my solution is welcome and greatly appreciated.

Wow okay yeah I guess I had not thought of that!!! Will do!

So okay, I decided to come up with my own offline USMT solution for MDT. Since I used this guide as as tarting point I figured I'd post what I came up with here. Its over on the MDT TechNet forums at the link below: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mdt/thread/37f9b92b-181d-4629-a424-a3a6b2b08e9c I hope someone else finds this useful.

Hey guys, First this is a really awesome Document but I do have one question. Have you though about adapting it for MDT users in a non-SCCM environment? Thats the boat I'm in. I'm sure there's a way to make it work in MDT; I just don't know how, lol!