The D-Spot (The Deployment Spot)

I was deploying Windows ThinPC using MDT with a customer, and received this error:

Windows could not parse or process unattend answer file [C:\MININT\unattend.xml] for pass [windowsPE]. A component or setting specified in the answer file does not exist.

According to the MS forums this should be solved in MDT 2012 beta 1. So we upgraded to MDT 2012 beta 2, but unfortunately the error remains.

Deleting the <UpgradeData> node from the unattend.xml, like Michael mentioned, fixed the issue. Windows ThinPC deployed successful when this node was removed.

I’ve had some trouble with slow logon on Windows Server 2008 R2. The “Applying Computer Settings”-part takes about two minutes!

The eventlog shows two records about this issue:

The winlogon notification subscriber <GPClient> is taking long time to handle the notification event (CreateSession).

And:

The winlogon notification subscriber <GPClient> took xxx seconds to handle the notification event (CreateSession).

I stumbled upon some possible solutions. The first was updating the NIC driver. As I’m using the wireless network card, I’m only updating this one.

Updating NIC driver

Old driver:

New driver:

Drivers are updated but the logon time wasn’t reduced by a single second.

Disable Computer GPO’s

Second try was moving the computer object to a unmanaged OU (without policies applied), run gpupdate /force and rebooted some times .. but the problem still exists.

GpNetworkStartTimeoutPolicyValue

Third try: adding GpNetworkStartTimeoutPolicyValue with value 1 to the registry:

Maybe it’s a service or application on the computer itself .. ? I disabled some 3rd party (non Microsoft) services, but the problem remains.

Disable IPv6?

–> no luck

Disable CardReader?

–> no effect

Disable Autotuning?

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

Didn’t solved it either, so I enabled Autotuning again:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

Patches/Hotfixes?

KB2617858: Unexpectedly slow startup or logon process in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows 7

KB2525332: You encounter a long logon time after you enable the "Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline" Group Policy setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

–> This hotfix fixes the slow logon issue for me! (I’m using redirected folders!)

Recently we hosted an event about “Desktop optimisation – efficient windows 7 and office 2010 deployment – notes from the field”. This seminar not only listed many of the new features and functionality that are included in Windows 7 and Office 2010 but also answered many deployment questions including some notes from the field.

The result can be found here:

http://seminar.the-d-spot.org/Desktop optimisation – notes from the field – 17102011.pdf

Microsoft gave the TechNet newsletters a holiday feeling with four different topics in a bite-size format. One of the topics of this summer edition is about Desktop Deployment.

Desktop deployment involves much more than just migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7. In fact it’s mainly about managing your desktop and application infrastructure effectively. This Technet article covers all about optimized desktop and why a properly managed desktop has a good TCO. Also the new tools in MDOP are covered and how to use the cloud with Windows Intune. You can take a short tour (half an hour), mid tour (half day) or the full tour (full day).

The following topics are covered:

• Application Compatibility
• Office 2010 Deployment – Office 365
• Desktop Optimization Pack
• Windows 7 Deployment
• Internet Explorer 9
• Windows Intune

Take the deployment dive at Technet.

Interesting hotfix for all you SCCM administrators running SCCM 2007 SP2.
This hotfix adds the following platforms to the list of supported platforms:

• Windows 7 SP1
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Hotfix can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2489044/en-us

There are several ways to deploy Internet Explorer 9 to client computers. Of course, you can install IE9 while building your reference image, but that’s so 90’s. Another way is to integrate the IE9 package with DISM into the Windows 7 wim image. But as we are using MDT2010 we choose the fastest way, that is to import Internet Explorer 9 into the DeploymentShare.

First we need the offline IE9 installer, not the offline executable installer that you can unpack using the /x command, but the Microsoft Update package (MSU)!

Get the Sources

One prerequisite update is required to run Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7. This update, known as KB2454826 is available for both x86 and x64 platforms.

The second required package is IE9 itself, download Internet Explorer 9 MSU’s for Windows 7 from Microsoft:

• x86: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=210145
• x64: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=210143

Save all MSU files into the same location, so we can easily import them.

Next step is to import the MSU files into Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.

Import into MDT2010

Open the Deployment Workbench, choose Packages, right-click to import files and browse to the path where you saved the downloaded MSU files.

The imported files in BDD:

I only imported the x64 prerequisite MSU. Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 automatically includes the updates into the image during installation. So you can import both x86 and x64 MSU’s, MDT will include the needed packages during setup!

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) for Windows 7 SP1 is available for download since yesterday.

The WAIK contains tools like ImageX, DISM, WinPE, USMT and VAMT.

This update isn’t needed to deploy Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 with SP1 or the standalone Service Pack 1, it is an optional update. Be sure to read what is changed in this version: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349350(WS.10).aspx#SP1

Download WAIK for Windows 7 SP1 at Microsoft. (this is pointing to the original WAIK 2.0, not version 3.0! Read more below).

UPDATE: Apparently Microsoft didn’t updated the WAIK ISO, but only released supplemental files for the WAIK.  These supplemental files are packaged in an ISO file (waik_supplement_en-us.iso), and doesn’t contain an installer like the original WAIK.  You need to extract the ISO and (old school) xcopy the content to your Windows AIK directory (\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\).

Contents of the supplemental ISO file (waik_supplement_en-us.iso):

(X)Copy them to:

C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools

More on Michael’s blog.

I was with a customer today for a MDT 2010 installation, and struggled with a very annoying issue.

Just before the task sequence had to be selected and after credential input, the deployment process reboots with no error message whatsoever. And keeps rebooting again and again. The log file couldn’t help me out on this issue.

The only solution I could find with a Google-search was to create a new Deployment Share with the previous MDT 2010 version. This seems no solution to me

Solution

I had a typo in the customsettings.ini file:

If you specified a wrong domain for DomainAdminDomain, you won’t get an error message telling you about the mistake!

Identify your strengths and weaknesses in Windows 7 deployment, do the test and learn even more about operating system deployments!

Windows 7 Deployment Learning Portal on Technet.

While searching for an error I received while running sysprep on my Windows 7 x64 reference machine, I came accross this interesting page from Microsoft.

Seems like my error (the issue due to Windows Media Player sharing being enabled) and many other known issues are discussed in this article.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349350(WS.10).aspx

hope it helps you out…