Better Together
“Better Together” is the intended strategy for Microsoft Endpoint Manager Configuration Manager and Microsoft Azure for managing Windows 10 systems.
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0
Cloud Management Gateway Choices
One way that a CMG is more complicated though is in the multiple possible requirements choices that you can use to fulfill the prerequisites. If you’re not paying attention to the details in the official documentation, it’s pretty easy to confuse the requirements, mistakenly conflate them, or miss an important condition.
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8
Missing Update Folder Within an Update Package
I did some quick cleanup of the update packages in my lab the other day before running the Automatic Deployment Rules. Unfortunately, this appears to have deleted a source folder and distribution manager was all too happy to let me know that the update package1Update Packages are referred to as Deployment Packages in most places in the admin console, however, I refuse to refer to them as such as they have no direct connection to…
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4
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4
Configuration Manager, PowerShell
Boundary and Boundary Group Import and Export
Sadly, Microsoft Enterprise Manager Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) has no built-in methods to export or import boundaries and boundary groups. This shortcoming is reasonably easy to address with PowerShell though, so I did a quick search on the web and found a bunch of examples for boundaries but none for boundary groups (I didn’t look that much though). What I found though were longer, custom scripts that only provided export capabilities. Not liking these and thinking…
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1
Configuration Manager, Operating System Deployment
Building a Windows 7 Image (Revisited)
This is a follow-up to a previous post: Building a Windows 7 Image. Why you may ask? Well, mainly for testing. If you are moving off of Windows 7 to Windows 10 finally, rapidly building Windows 7 is important for testing. Or, maybe you’re just unlucky enough to still have to deploy Windows 7. Either way, here are the updated items to slipstream into the base Windows 7 Service Pack 1 WIM image to have…
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0
Configuration Manager
Four Types of Wake-on-Lan
There are four types of Wake on Lan (WoL) currently in System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr/SCCM). Each operates differently and must be accounted for at the network level for them to work.
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4
Configuration Manager, Software Distribution
Command Synchronicity
Although Synchronicity is one one of the best songs ever from one of the best bands ever, this post isn’t about Gordon Sumner, Stewart Copeland or Andy Summers. This post is about two myths that folks insist on perpetuating and need stamping out: synchronous and asynchronous command execution in Windows. These come up in System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr/SCCM) for two main reasons: Application-based Deployment Type Detection Methods and simple batch file usage.
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2
Announcements
UI++ 2.11.1.2 and Startup Script 1.83
Updated versions of both UI++ and the ConfigMgr Startup Script are now ready for download and use.
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5
Announcements
UI++ 2.11.1.1 Production Ready!
Just released: 2.11.1.1! Mainly bug fixes. Check it out here: UI++ Also remember that for support, suggestions, hints, samples, discussions, or whatever concerning UI++, please visit the forums.
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1
Configuration Manager, Software Update Management
What Automatic Deployment Rules Actually Do
A common point of confusion for folks just starting with System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr or SCCM) is exactly what Automatic Deployment Rules (ADRs) do.
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26
Configuration Manager, Software Update Management
Software Updates and Automatic Deployment Rules in ConfigMgr
Configuring Automatic Update Rules (ADRs) in System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr or SCCM) comes up often in the forums and at customers as there is no one, clear-cut way to configure them. Here’s a run-down of what I normally recommend and configure:
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8
Configuration Manager, Software Update Management
Software Update Point Facts
As part of a (longish) Reddit forum thread, I posted the below facts about the Software Update Point (SUP) role in System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr). This is not a comprehensive list of facts by any means, but there are a lot of misconceptions and incorrect assumptions that the below facts address and so here they are replicated (with a few slight changes and additions) for your reading pleasure.
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6
Configuration Manager, Operating System Deployment, Windows
Per User Login Message
Challenge A common challenge with Windows 10 Upgrade task sequences is handling user logins if there are any restarts during the task sequence. After the restart happens, a user can log back into the system but has no way of knowing that a background process (the upgrade task sequence) is running. Additionally, after the user logs in, the task sequence progress bar may take a while to be shown again (or may never reappear). This…
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0
Configuration Manager, Operating System Deployment
Task Sequence One-liners
New page added: Task Sequence One-Liners: Task Sequence One-liners page. The page is also available as a sub-menu of the top-level Script FTW! menu of this site. What is a One-liner? A one-liner is a single script line used to perform a task. This page contains a collection of useful one-liners that can be directly used as is within a Run Command-Line task sequence step. It’s important that they are just “one-line” so that no content…
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6
Configuration Manager, Software Update Management
Servicing Plans in Configuration Manager
Servicing Plans in System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr/SCCM) offer ConfigMgr admins the ability to automatically schedule the download and deployment of Windows 10 feature updates. This post is about why you should not be using them. Yes, that’s correct, you should not be using servicing plans to deploy feature updates. This post isn’t about using task sequences to deploy feature updates though, that’s the subject for a different post.