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Injecting Serial Number into the MDT database
Last summer I posted an article on how to generate computer names based on a prefix + sequence number. Since then I have received a few requests to modify it to also inject the serial number, and...
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Beyond Zip - How to store 183 GB of VMs in a 19 GB file using PowerShell
I’m so happy! This has been an awesome, creative week, and every once in a while it needs to be said: I’m a genius! (but a humble and helpful one, ok maybe not so humble, but at least helpful) :)This...
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The Hydration Kit for System Center 2012 R2 is available for download
Here is a download that builds a complete System Center2012 R2 infrastructure, and a few supporting infrastructure servers, as either virtual machines (Hyper-V and VMware tested) or physical machines....
View ArticleHP ZBook 15 in RAID mode does not deploy correctly with ConfigMgr
I got a great tip from fellow OSD specialist Oskari Kampman who had been troubleshooting OS deployment to HP ZBook 15 (and a few others) with ConfigMgr 2007. It turned out to be a known issue, here is...
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Using Data DeDuplication with ConfigMgr 2012 R2
The ConfigMgr team recently published a blog post on the supported use of Data DeDuplication with ConfigMgr 2012 R2. Here is a Geek’s summary of the 1500 word blog post:1. Data DeDuplication is...
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My sessions at TechEd 2014 in Houston
With the merger of MMS into TechEd it is quite likely that TechEd 2014 in Houston will be filled to the borders. So MMS in Vegas was cancelled, Techmentor did not want me, but luckily the TechEd folks...
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Installing the new HP SUM (6.2.0) with MDT 2013
In the February 2014 release of Smart Update Manager (SUM), part of HP Service Pack for ProLiant, HP decided to change the setup behavior, and of course breaking my existing sequences for server...
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Adding date to the captured WIM File in MDT
When using the build and capture task sequence in MDT Lite Touch it make perfect sense to add date information to the WIM file name created. Since CustomSettings.ini understands inline VBScript you can...
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Save time (and avoid pain) - Create a MDT simulation environment
This is an update to an old post, this time using PowerShell. Anyway, by adding a few files to a folder you can simulate the gather process of MDT, and figure out why settings fails in seconds rather...
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Do not do OSD in ConfigMgr 2012 R2 without this hotfix
For those of you doing OSD Deployment with ConfigMgr 2012 R2, you quickly learned that the RTM code was badly broken. PXE didn’t work on the site server, and deployment was just dead slow. Luckily...
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Script to build and activate 25 virtual machines against a KMS Server
If you ever need a script that deploys and activates 25 virtual machines against a KMS Server, here it is. The solution is based on a MDT 2013 deployment share, and a script that deploys the VMs. The...
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Installing SQL Server 2012 SP1 with CU8 like a boss
Every once in a while you need to install SQL Server. It could be the SQL Server Express edition because you are using the Database for MDT 2013 Lite Touch, or the full SQL Server to support a System...
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WinPE 5.0 scratch space in MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2
Earlier this week I was following a distribution list thread about setting scratch space size in WinPE 5.0, which both MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 is using, and I thought it needed some explanation....
View ArticlePowerShell Script to set permissions in Active Directory for OSD
During the MVA Windows 8.1 Deployment Jump Start session, I demonstrated a PowerShell that me and Mikael Nystrom put together for an upcoming book. Here it is:The syntax to run it is:...
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For classroom machines - The JUST, SHUT UP group policy!
While many of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 default policies are good (somewhat) for production environment, they will sure mess up your classroom virtual labs when doing trainings. Here...
View ArticleOSDWeek with Johan Arwidmark and Dave Kawula
Emile Cabot, at the Nit and Grit of IT blog has put together a nice summary about the OSDWeek with me and Dave KawulaRead the full post here:OSDWeek with Johan Arwidmark and Dave Kawula...
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The battle begins - Building the perfect reference image for ConfigMgr 2012
During the last month, a really long thread has been running in the OSD mailing list at myitforum, a discussion about what solution to use when building reference images for ConfigMgr 2012.Then some...
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Gathering PC Info - By Darryl Shiels
Todays post is a guest post by Darryl Shiels, wanting to share a tip on gather PC info using the MDT Gather process. As Darryl put it in an email he sent to me:I thought you might like a little TS I...
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Future update for Windows 8.1 Update will bring start menu back
Today was an interesting day, during the Build 2014 keynote the new Windows 8.1 start menu was demonstrated, and I thought: “WOW! – Finally”, and I was happy for about 45 minutes… Because that’s the...
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The GA Start screen issue fixed in Windows 8.1 Update
For all of you struggling with the Windows 8.1 GA missing-tiles issue, it’s been fixed in Windows 8.1 Update.Here is the screenshot from a reference image I just did using MDT 2013 Lite Touch.Tiles are...
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