Archive for category Tips and Tricks
MDT 2010: Creating a repository
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 22/07/2010
When doing a simple setup I create 3 folders – MDT, MDTLogs and MDTSetup. MDT is the production share, MDTLogs is for log files and MDTSetup is for my drivers (to be imported), my custom scripts and the applications (copy of).
Every installation is different – some use DELL, others HP and some even ACER, so what about creating a batch that can setup folders within the repository for a specific hardware vendor.
A simple batch like this with 4 parameters (make, model, architecture & revision) will create the folder structure for you
Note. If you are deploying DELL machines then just go here and download their CAB files, extract them (using WINRAR) to the newly created folders and finish off with importing them into MDT using the workbench.
MDT 2010: Injecting Intel storage drivers into a XP WIM
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 21/07/2010
This is GREAT news for admins working with MDT and Windows XP deployments – a script that can inject Intel storage drivers into a XP WIM.
So build your base XP image using Virtual PC and do a capture. Now deploy the WIM and during the deployment use the script to inject the storage drivers like you would do in SCCM.
If I count the hours that I’ve spent on written the perfect sysprep.inf file to build my XP Master image and at the end do a capture … damn
Get the script here and give the man some love and respect!
MDT 2010: Trace32 replacement?
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT, Tips and Tricks SCCM on 15/07/2010
Looks like Specops is working on a Logviewer for use with MDT and SCCM.
Could this be a replacement for Trace32 (SMS Trace)?
Get the Beta here (Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0 is required to install and run the Specops Logviewer)
MDT 2010: Troubleshooting MDT 2010 LTI – 2
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 24/06/2010
In Johan’s presentation on Troubleshooting MDT 2010 LTI (go to 55:16) Johan shows how to troubleshoot your CustomSettings.ini file
He creates a folder called MDT, copy the files ZTIDataAccess.vbs, ZTIGather.wsf, ZTIGather.xml, ZTIUtility.vbs, CustomSettings.ini and Microsoft.BDD.Utility.dll to the folder and then creates a batch (Gather.cmd) that run cscript.exe ZTIGather.wsf /debug:true
This is a great trick for troubleshooting your CustomSettings.ini file without actual doing an OS deployment
I added the following bits to the trick:
I’ve copied Trace32.exe (from the SMS 2003/ConfigMgr 2007 Toolkit) to the MDT folder
Created a .reg file called Trace32.reg that set Trace32.exe as the default logfile viewer and placed it in the same folder
Then I’ve added these 4 lines of code to Johan’s batch
—
mkdir C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\ & echo. 2>C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\BDD.log
regedit /s “%~dp0Trace32.reg”
start /max “%~dp0Trace32.exe” C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\BDD.log
start “ZTIGather” /min cscript.exe “%~dp0ZTIGather.wsf” /debug:true
—
You can download Trace32.reg and Gather.cmd here
Now SMS Trace (Trace32.exe) will start maximized and show BDD.log will it’s being written to
MDT 2010: Application export example
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 22/06/2010
Here is an (untested) ps script exported using MDTApplicationExport.exe
The script will create Applications containing some of the registry tweaks that I use during an Windows XP deployment
The CONFIGXP Application calls all the tweaks and is configured as a mandentory application in Customsettings.ini
MDT 2010: Friendly names when Selecting the Domain OU
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 21/06/2010
I use this tweak from Xtreme Consulting to get friendly names when Selecting the Domain organizational unit (OU) in MDT 2010.
But how do I get the correct format into DomainOUList.xml?
I run these commands:
Dsquery ou –name “*Desktop*”> “%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\DesktopOU.txt”
Dsquery ou –name “*Laptop*”> “%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\LaptopOU.txt”
(Based on an Active Directory structure with desktops placed in an OU called Desktop and laptops placed in an OU called Laptop)
More on Dsquery here
SCCM: OSD App Tree updated to vers. 2.6
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks SCCM on 12/03/2010
I like OSD App Tree. It is a easy way to allow user interaction during a Task Sequence (TS). The app has been upgraded to vers. 2.6 and can be downloaded here and the documentation can be found here
The newest version have the ability of creating the TS variables isLaptop, isDesktop, isServer like we know them from MDT.
Configuration is done within an singel .xml file, so fire up Notepad++, create your custom .xml and test it in you pre-live TS.
MDT 2010: Do not install WDS and Office Live
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 13/11/2009
I have dedicated TS’s to build my base images. In these TS’s I patch the installation (call me a control freak). During OSD I then use ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf to get the latest patches installed.
Now, I don’t want Windows Desktop Search, Live Essentials and Office Live add-in in my deployments (which would get installed per default).
Adding these 3 entries in Customsettings.ini will skip the 3 installs:
WUMU_ExcludeKB1=940157
WUMU_ExcludeID1=af5c516f-1764-4dc0-b1e9-1e20dbee815c
WUMU_ExcludeID2=9514bb43-f49d-499b-a655-9d64caf68976
MDT 2010: Win7 and that pesky System Partition
Posted by Lars Krogh in MDT 2010, Tips and Tricks MDT on 06/11/2009
A great MDT 2010 hint taken from XTREME Consulting’s blog (posted here):
If you have installed Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 through either the Windows media or MDT then you have noticed that a 100 – 300 MB system partition is created that is hidden when you finish in the final operating system (well it is not really hidden, it just doesn’t have a drive letter).
The Microsoft Windows team made that decision so that bitlocker could easily be enabled at a later time without having to repartition the disks. However if you don’t ever plan on enabling Bitlocker on your Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 systems you can use MDT with an extra variable in the customsettings.ini and MDT won’t create the extra partition.
The variable is: DoNotCreateExtraPartition = YES
MDT 2010: Create a custom Template
Posted by Lars Krogh in Tips and Tricks MDT on 29/10/2009
I have a custom client and a custom server template in my MDT lab.
I use MDT to create the images I deploy in my SCCM production environment.
From the Deployment Workbench
1.) Create a new Task sequence and give it a TaskID
2.) Make your changes
3.) Now close the Deployment Workbench
4.) Go to \\<deploymentshare>\Control\<TaskID>\
5.) Make a copy of ts.xml and rename it to my-new-custom-template.xml and copy the file to c:\program files\Templates. Edit the XML file and change the second line with your own name and description:
<sequence version=”3.00″ name=”My Custom Client Template” description=”Client Template for installing Windows Clients”>
The next time you walk through the wizard to create a new task sequence the template can be chosen from the drop down menu…sweet!
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