SCCM Guy's Blog

While attempting to install the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 on Server 2012 I ran into an issue where it does not recognize PowerShell is installed. By default PowerShell v3 is installed with Server 2012.

The reason I was seeing this was because of the following validation exception:

File H:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\bin\Microsoft.BDD.PSSnapIn.Types.ps1xml cannot be loaded because the execution of scripts is disabled on this system. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170..

To help resolve this I first ran a Get-ExecutionPolicy

Next I ran a get-ExecutionPolicy – list

Finally I ran a set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned –Scope CurrentUser

Re-launch the Deployment Workbench

There is a hidden feature that is built into the SCCM 2012 product. This will help aid in your troubleshooting steps.

First create a shortcut on your desktop for the ConfigMgr 2012 application.

Open the properties of the shortcut.

At the end of the line add SMS:DebugView

Launch the application and you will now notice a new “Tools” on the WonderBar.

Click on Tools and you will have additional troubleshooting options. You will be able to select a class, ref patch and a type of query to troubleshoot.

As companies are continuing to rollout Windows 7 and move away from Windows XP, there may be some applications that only run under Windows XP that are holding back the rollout. This post will show how to virtualize an application so that it can run in a Windows 7 environment.

First you will need to start the Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer.

Fill in the package information then Click Next.

At this point the wizard is ready to begin to monitor any changes to the environment during the installation. When ready Click Begin Monitoring.

The monitoring will take a few moments to prepare.

A wizard will appear asking to point to the source location of the installation file (i.e.: exe). Launch the installation and point the directory to install to where to install the files. In this case my installation will occur in C:\Citrix10.001\.

Walk through the rest of your installation wizard installing the components you want and putting in the licensing information you need.

When the installation finishes, close out of the application you just installed but not the sequencer itself.

Click on stop monitoring.

At this point the monitoring process has finished. Click Next.

In this package no additional files are needed. Click next.

The shortcuts can be configured for the applications that are part of the installation. In this example the shortcuts will be added to the desktop.

After configuring the applications it is recommended to launch the applications to ensure that they are optimized for application streaming.

Click next to sequence the package.

Once the sequenced file is saved in the installation folder, you can now copy the contents of this folder to your location where you share out applications to your SCCM server.

From your SCCM Server, browse to Software> Software Distribution> Packages> Virtual Applications then click New > Virtual Application Package from the action menu on the right.

The following wizard will pop up, point to the location of the application manifest. This file resides in the folder that you sequenced the package in the previous steps. Click Next.

Fill in the package information. Click Next.

Provide a data destination directory for the package.

Note: this is different than the source directory. It just needs to be a blank folder that is shared. The wizard will place the package source files in this folder.

Click Next

The security page will appear. Adjust any Security settings you need to adjust. Click Next.

Add to your distribution points to where this package should be placed.

Advertising a Virtual Application

Browse to your advertisements and from the actions pane select New > Advertisement > Advertisement. Fill in the information and select the virtual app you wish to advertise. Click Next.

Schedule the advertisement as desired.

In this example the Application will be streamed from the distribution point. Click Next.

Configure the Interaction as desired. Click Next.

Your client will see the advertisement available (when the window is open) and when the client check in. to force a client to check in and grab the advertisement ASAP, initiate a “machine policy evaluation and update cycle” . If the Virtual application has been configured to place shortcuts on the desktop, they will appear there and the users then can launch the virtualized application.

As with many of us, we never like to lend out our media and as always there are individuals that need access to the SCCM console besides the SCCM Admin. We also do not like to walk around from workstation to workstation to install the media. The following process will help you install the SCCM console to the workstations in question.

This process will use two files, a cmd file that will run the installation and also call the ini file that will specify the SCCM install settings. I have found these a while back and have used them ever since.

SCCM-console-unattended.ini

[Identification]

Action=InstallAdminUI

[Options]

SMSInstallDir=c:\SCCMConsole

ParentSiteServer=ABC

SDKServer=SCCMServername

The second file is named sccm-console-unattended.cmd

REM Install Console

%~dp0\bin\i386\setup.exe /script %~dp0\sccm-console_unattended.ini

I have placed both of these files under the SMSSETUP directory of the extracted media.

Packaging

I have pointed my package source to the SMSSETUP folder of my media.

Program

The script will already run the program hidden from the enduser. Configuring the settings as below

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Due to the size of the source I chose to run the package from the distribution point.

A friend of mine wanted to know how to properly capture a Windows image from an existing system and then use this image for future SCCM Operating System role outs. This method will show the process using the SCCM capture media to capture an image to be used for SCCM role outs.

1. Open the SCCM console and browse to Task Sequences under Operating System Deployment. On the Actions Pane window located on the right side of your screen, click on create task sequence media.

    

   

    

2. As seen above, select Capture Media

    

   

    

3. You can either choose to use a USB flash drive to capture the media or a CD/DVD. If you choose CD/DVD click browse and choose a location to save the ISO.

    

4. Select a boot image and its distribution path. This will be needed when the system reboots into PXE mode and captures the image.

    

    

   

    

5. Walk through the rest of the wizard. You ISO is now ready to be extracted and burned to a CD/DVD.

    

6. Insert the USB or CD/DVD into the system you want to capture

    

7. The wizard should auto appear. If it does not, browse for the file SMS\bin\i386\TSMBAutorun.exe

    

   

    

8. Click Next

    

   Note: If you get this prompt, it is because the computer is still part of the domain.

    

   

    

9. Fill in the destination and account information.

    

   

    

10. These fields are optional, but helpful for tracking purposes.

     

    

     

11. Review the summary

     

    

     

12. After you click on finish the process will begin of the preparing the system for capture.

     

    

     

13. This process will take a few minutes. When it completes, the system will reboot into the WinPE image and capture the computer into the .Wim image specified earlier.
14. Depending on the size of the capture, the process can take several minutes to capture the image. When the process has completed, you will see a message that the system has been successfully captured. The Wim is now ready for your SCCM deployments.

In my last post I talked about how to install a language pack with a new OS deployment found here. What if you need to deploy a language pack to a known system? Here is a simple process that can do just that.

I have a Windows 7 x86 system with the Configuration Manager 2007 sp2 client installed as well as the r3 hotfix. I want to push out the German language pack to this system.

Here is a quick look at the task sequence. We need the MDT toolkit package as this contains the script we need to run in order to install the language pack.

We need to run a command line that will assist us in installing the language pack for the online installation. Note that the script I am using it the ZTILanPacksOnline.wsf.

Since we will be installing the German language pack we need to set the value in are variable.

Lastly we need to point to our language pack.

Now advertise this and let it run. This task sequence will install the language pack but not set the new language as default.