The D-Spot (The Deployment Spot)

The second Truesec Deployment CD by MVP Johan Arwidmark has been released. This disc contains PDF guides and training videos. Covering Lite-Touch Deployments using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Zero-Touch Deployments using System Center Configuration Manager. This new version covers MDT2010 and SCCM 2007 SP2 R2.

The CD consists of step-by-step guides and video tutorials:

Lite Touch Deployments:

• Installing the server for MDT 2010 Lite Touch
• Creating a Windows 7 reference image using Lite Touch
• Deploying a Windows 7 image using Lite Touch
• Dynamic Settings, creating and using the deployment database

Zero Touch Deployments :

• Installing the server for MDT 2010 Zero Touch and ConfigManager 2007 R2
• Creating a Windows 7 reference image using ConfigManager 2007 SP2
• Deploying a Windows 7  image using ConfigManager 2007 SP2
• Dynamic Settings, creating and using the deployment database

Additional Presentations:

• New features in MDT2110
• Upgrading MDT 2008 to MDT 2010
• Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7

Get your copy at a deploymentcd.com

Suddenly my deployment environment had issues connecting to the deployment share while performing a MDT 2010 LTI Refresh scenario.

Log files BDD.log and LiteTouch.log says this: Unable to connect to DeploymentShare Connection OK Possible cause: invalid credentials A connection to the deployment share DeploymentShare could not be made The deployment will not proceed.

Error:

I found some solutions on the web, but only the last one did the trick for me.

Possible solution: Change ZTIUtility.vbs

Microsoft posted a solution for the ‘Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed” problem with MDT 2010. By changing the script ZTIUtility.vbs.

Replace this code:

Case Else
' Case &h800704C3 ' Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed.
' Case &h8007052E ' Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.
' There was a some kind of fatal error.
If ErrDesc <> "" then
             MapNetworkDriveEx = ErrDesc
Else
             MapNetworkDriveEx = "Unable to map UNC Path " & sShare & " :" & "( 0x" & hex(HasError) & " ) "
End if
oLogging.CreateEntry MapNetworkDriveEx & "", iLogType
Exit function
End select

With this code:

Case Else
Err.Clear
On Error Resume Next
oNetwork.MapNetworkDrive  chr(sDrive)&":", sShare, False
HasError = err.number
ErrDesc = err.Description
On Error Goto 0
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
' There was a some kind of fatal error.
             If ErrDesc <> "" then
                                        MapNetworkDriveEx = ErrDesc
             Else
                                        MapNetworkDriveEx = "Unable to map UNC Path " & sShare & " :" & "( 0x" & hex(HasError) & " ) "
             End if
             oLogging.CreateEntry MapNetworkDriveEx & "", iLogType
                           Exit function
Else
      Exit Function
End If
End select

However, this didn’t solved my issue at all.  I tried some other possible fixes found on the wild wild web; like using the pushd-command, using the IP address and FQDN name, and disconnecting all network connections (with net use * /d) before the actual installation begins. But none of this actually solved my issue.

The solution was map a network drive to the deployment share, with the same credentials as these used in bootstrap.ini and launching Litetouch.vbs from there. I found the solution on the Minasi forum (post by Johan Arwidmark).

This morning I came across the Office 2010 deployment kit for APPV, so I figured why not give this  a go…

I had already downloaded the office 2010 beta and have an appv client and sequencer running in 4.6 RC for a while already in my 4.5 SP1 environment.

The thing is, I do not really get the purpose of this deployment kit so far; You have to install it on your sequencer machine before creating the 2010 package AND on the client.  I did find that it installs a licensing service which can be configured with the included OSPP.vbs script.

On with the preparation part, First of all I created a transform file for Office 2010.  this can still be done with the command line setup /admin (hurray for that !).  While comparing the OCT from office 2010 with the one in Office 2007, I noticed some new things in there.  Fortunately they did not change the majority that was already there…

The first thing I noticed is that you can configure your KMS host for office 2010 licensing from within the OCT wizard:

Under the Modify User Settings part of the wizard I noticed an entry Disable Items in User Interface where you can choose to disable commands or shortcut keys for a certain office application.  Configuration of the Outlook Cached Exchange mode is now brought under the Exchange part instead of elsewhere like in office 2007, good one!

Another useful entry in there is the File Block Settings where you can configure whether users can open, view or edit office application files for a large number of different versions:

Time to save my customizations into an MSP file

On with the sequencing part (after installing the Office deployment kit on the sequencer machine)

If you haven’t been able to try out the slightly revamped sequencer of APPV 4.6, it acts similar but yet more user-friendly.  For instance, it doesn’t minimize any longer on the point where you have to start the actual installation:

The rest of the steps are quite similar as any other application sequencing, so I’m not going to describe them (fyi: I haven’t activated Office 2010 yet).

Saved the Sequence and imported it into my APPV console.

On my 4.6 test client, the Office 2010 sequence launched really well.  But oops, haven’t installed the deployment kit on that client yet…  Strangely enough Office did not complain, but shows unlicensed version in the titlebar.  After installing the Office 2010 deployment kit for Appv on my test system with appv 4.6 rc I imported my license with the following command: cscript ospp.vbs -inpkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (note: you must replace the X’s).  Right before this Office 2010 asked for the license, copy-paste didn’t work ??  So now the license is present, but Office 2010 is still not activated…

I guess the option to insert the Office 2010 licence into our KMS server will be the best one, less work and no fiddling around.  The Office 2010 deployment kit for APPV might come in handy in some cases, but will need some documentation first…

When deploying several packages trough SCCM, I ran into this one particular package which would stop downloading without any clear reason. When checking the log files,  these would not display an error, just the download process would show that it suddenly stopped downloading… The SCCM Client center tool showed a ‘WaitingContent’ status.

After some searching I found this article from Matthew Boyd which pointed me to the fact that this was an IIS problem and not a SCCM problem. The IIS logfile showed an ‘404.8 – hidden namespace’ error. The cause for this error was the Request Filtering feature for the Web Server which contains a <HiddenSegments> portion in the ‘applicationHost.config’ file. Since my package contained a bin folder, I had to remove the line: <add segment="bin" />. The ApplicationHost.config file can be found here: “%windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\”

So finally I would be able to deploy my package… or not?

Next error I bumped into was again an IIS error, now giving me a ‘404.7 – File extension denied’ error. This is due to the same Reguest Filtering feature where in the same ‘applicationHost.config’ file there is a fileExtensions portion. For each file extension of which files exist in the package, I changed the line to allowed=”true”. This is something that is pointed out in the prerequisite steps by Microsoft but since I had no idea of which packages would get distributed at the time of installation…

And still I could not get my package deployed…

Now I received the error in the SCCM log file that the hash verification failed. To solve this problem I had to verify that no files were marked hidden in the package. Once these files were no longer marked as hidden, and did a refresh (not an update!) of the DP, the package finally installed correctly…

In a previous article we discussed a very basic Lite Touch Installation (LTI). For the second part we will modify the MDT configuration files to make our installation more unattended.

The two configuration files we need to modify are CustomSettings.ini and Bootstrap.ini.  Use this method to view and modify them; In DeploymentWorkBench right-click your Deployment Share and choose Properties and hit the Rules tab. This is the CustomSettings.ini file. To view and modify Bootstrap.ini hit the Edit Bootstrap.ini-button at the bottom.

CustomSettings.ini file we will be using:

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
OSInstall=Y
SkipPackageDisplay=NO
SkipApplications=NO
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerBackup=YES
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipAdminPassword=YES
AdminPassword=Pa$$w0rd
SkipDeploymentType=YES
DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER
SkipUserData=YES
SkipDomainMembership=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
ComputerName=PC-xxxx
SkipTimeZone=YES
KeyboardLocale=0813:00000813
UserLocale=nl-be
TimeZone=105
TimeZoneName=Romance Standard Time
_SMSTSOrgName=The D Spot
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipSummary=NO

You can adapt these settings to your needs. For example join a domain, skip the summary and so one.

Our Bootstrap.ini file:

[Settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
DeployRoot=\\Servername\DeploymentShare$
UserDomain=DOMAINNAME
UserID=SERVICEACCOUNTNAME
UserPassword=PASSWORD
KeyboardLocalePE=0813:00000813

This file will be injected in the WinPE ISO file, to connect to the Deployment Share. After a modification to this file you need to perform a Deployment Share Update. To regenerate the LiteTouchPE_x64.iso & LiteTouchPE_x86.iso files.

With these configuration files in place, our LTI will ask for a Task Sequence and Computername only.

If your environment has computer names based on MAC Addresses you can get the computer name out of a SQL Database. But in most companies a technician will choose the computer name based on the label attached on the computer case, I choose this just to have an example.

Next time we will go further with user data migration.

Please find other parts here:

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 1

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 3

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 4

On Wednesday, Nov. 18th, Jodi Kogan hosts a webcast about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 deployment planning. The webcast will run one hour and will go into the best practices and lessons learned from dealing with volume activation in a variety of environments, including networked, isolated, roaming, branch office, development, and test.

Register for this webcast.

Yesterday I have installed SP2 on my Lab system, no problem there. 

It just got me thinking about this:  if today you would need to install a new SCCM system, there are already a couple of installs to do, by preference start with a ‘SCCM 2007 with SP1′ disc, then install SP2, then install R2 if you need those features also.

The R2 and coming R3 are feature packs (or addons if you want) which are not part of the basic SCCM product, so they will always have to be installed separately if you need those features.  That is the difference with SP2, which is a service pack for the basic product (and applies to the site, clients and admin consoles)

As it seems during next month a new ‘SCCM 2007 with SP2′ disc will be released, so that is one setup less to do…

at Teched 2009 (currently in Berlin) Microsoft announced that the follow up version of SCCM 2007 will be branded as ConfigMgr 2011 (instead of v.Next that appeared on the MMS slides earlier this year).

Release is likely to happen near MMS 2011.

as soon as we have more official intel about Configmgr 2011, we will keep you updated on it.

Microsoft System Center Essentials is a management solution in the System Center family of IT systems management products specifically designed for midsize businesses (up to 500 PCs and 30 servers). Essentials provides: monitoring and alert resolution for servers, clients, applications, hardware, and network devices; software distribution; update management; and software and hardware inventory.

Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 enables you to better secure, update, monitor, and troubleshoot from a single console, so you can efficiently and proactively manage your IT environment.

Get to know Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 with this beta guide, it gives an overview of the deployment, what the requirements are and what’s new for the 2010 version.

Download the System Center Essentials 2010 Beta Guide.

A beta evaluation version of the product itself is also available for download at Microsoft.

For some days I’ve been searching for a problem I came across when deploying XP machines with SCCM. The problem was that my driver would not get installed as part of the task sequence. A problem that never occured when deploying Vista/Windows 7 machines.

After some searching around I came across this post: http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jsandys/archive/2009/03/12/old-dog-new-tricks.aspx

As mentioned in the post, I also tried adding/removing the drivers, recreating my TS, etc without result untill I added a command line at the end of my task sequence:

rundll32.exe Syssetup.dll, UpdatePnpDeviceDrivers

This reinitiates the Windows Hardware detection and all drivers were installed without a problem…