Month: June 2015

ConfigMgr WMI Query ‘Not’ Statement

ConfigMgr WMI Query ‘Not’ Statement

I had a scenario on client site to ensure the ‘Disable Bitlocker’ Action did not run for Virtual Machines. I did not have the MDT Toolkit running ‘In OS’ therefore I could not pull in the ‘IsVM’ variable therefore I wanted to exclude based on retrievable attributes from WMI.

Instead of the normal ‘like’ statements I used the below which you could adapt:

SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem WHERE NOT Model LIKE “%VMware Virtual Platform%”

SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem WHERE NOT Model LIKE “%Virtual Machine%”

For me this covered both VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines.

Add bmp to UDI Custom Pages

Add bmp to UDI Custom Pages

Creating custom UDI pages for a ConfigMgr 2012 R2 Task Sequences is something I do way to infrequent to remember all the details.
One item has that seems less documented is adding pictures, so I thought I would add a quick blog.

In the UDI wizard on the build your own page add a bitmap. Set the property Source to images/filename.bmp

udi

Then copy your selected bmp files to mdt_tookit_package\Tools\x64\Images and mdt_tookit_package\Tools\x86\Images.

Save your changes in the UDI wizard designer and update the MDT tools package in SCCM Console 🙂

Running a CMD prompt as SYSTEM

Running a CMD prompt as SYSTEM

Common troubleshooting steps to replicate how ConfigMgr operates prior to testing out deployments is to determine how an applications reacts when running as System.

A useful chink in the armoury here is to use PSTools from the SysInternals Suite.

Launch PSExec from a command prompt and run the following:

psexec -i -s cmd.exe

Hey presto a new window operating as SYSTEM 🙂

ConfigMgr OSD Goes to sleep z……….z………..z

ConfigMgr OSD Goes to sleep z……….z………..z

Recently I was working for a client on a Surface Pro 3 project with a very clean foundation platform as I like to do for a dynamic build. One disadvantage (which would fill a blog of opinions on its own) is the Office Install which can often take a long time.

I had a scenario whereby during this step my Surface Pro’s would drift off to sleep and until they were woken would simply ‘sit’ during the build process until an action on the keyboard or mouse was performed. They would then carry on.

After a bit of digging, during the OSD process the Balanced Power Scheme is applied as default from Windows 8.1 which includes the 10 minute sleep function. As Office takes longer than this it impacted the devices whether plugged in or not.

To combat this issue I placed a conditioned step in the Task Sequence to remedy the situation:

Power

Power2

This will allow the build process to continue uninterrupted and allow the normal GPP Power Settings to apply once you get into Windows for whatever your power policies are.

ConfigMgr 2012 PostAction

ConfigMgr 2012 PostAction

One new feature brought about from ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 onwards is a Task Sequence variable known as SMSTSPostAction.

This variable is used to store 1 (Yes Just 1) post action task which connects the Task Sequence to the Windows Environment.

The Variable is to be set during the Task Sequence (perhaps near the end).

The scenario I have found it most useful is a simple restart command which will initiate Group Policies to apply (particularly useful for GPP’s) as this acts differently to the ‘Restart’ action initiated by ConfigMgr.

Example of use:
TSVAR

TSVAR2

The example I have used it for is simply to restart the machine to allow my Group Policies and GPP’s to apply after the Windows 8.1 Task Sequence has finished to save the support team initiating a restart.

Hope this help and I am sure it can provide a multitude of uses.

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