PowerShell wrapper for MDT 2012 Update 1 and MDT 2013 Preview

For the last ten years or so, VB Script wrappers have been popular due to the fact they have been available by default in the platforms. Now, in a time where most companies deploy either Windows 7 or Windows 8, there are other options, like PowerShell (PowerShell is King!).

MDT 2012 Update 1 and MDT 2013 Preview does have the option of calling PowerShell scripts natively from the task sequence, but I normally don’t do that for the following reasons.

1. I like to have my scripts as applications because they are easy to import/export
2. The MDT PowerShell is picky about what you do in your scripts, as well as a being sensitive to PowerShell Group Policies.

The perfect solution – Create your own wrapper and call it via PowerShell.exe

Example: Here is a PowerShell script I use to create sites and subnets in Active Directory

<#
Solution: Hydration
Purpose: Used to create AD Sites and Subnets
Version: 1.2 - January 10, 2013

This script is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights and 
is not supported by the authors or Deployment Artist. 

Author - Johan Arwidmark
    Twitter: @jarwidmark
    Blog   : http://deploymentresearch.com
#>


# Determine where to do the logging 
$tsenv = New-Object -COMObject Microsoft.SMS.TSEnvironment 
$logPath = $tsenv.Value("LogPath") 
$logFile = "$logPath\$($myInvocation.MyCommand).log" 

# Start the logging 
Start-Transcript $logFile 
Write-Host "Logging to $logFile" 

# Start Main Code Here

# Create Empty AD Sites (sites with no domain controllers, for lab purpose only)
New-ADReplicationSite -Name Stockholm
New-ADReplicationSite -Name Liverpool

# Create AD Subnets 
New-ADReplicationSubnet -Name "192.168.1.0/24" -Site NewYork
New-ADReplicationSubnet -Name "192.168.2.0/24" -Site Stockholm
New-ADReplicationSubnet -Name "192.168.3.0/24" -Site Liverpool

# Stop logging 
Stop-Transcript

powershell.exe -Command "set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force; cpi '%DEPLOYROOT%\Applications\Configure - Create AD Subnets\Configure-CreateADSubnets.ps1' -destination c:\; c:\Configure-CreateADSubnets.ps1; ri c:\*.ps1 -Force; set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted -Force"

/ Johan