Task Sequence – sccm.haas.se

Install .Net 3.5 as a feature from the task sequence

Sometimes what seems so easy turns out to be a little bit more complicated.

If you install the MDT-extensions for SCCM 2012 you will get the excellent option to add roles and features. It turns out that only .Net Framework 4.5 will actually install and not 3.5 if you’re installing Windows 8 / Server 2012. The media is on the source media (*.iso/DVD) but not a part of Windows by default.

SCCM Task Sequence Hangs

A lot of people use a Task Sequence to deploy applications after the Operating System has been installed. A customer of mine had an incident where the TS hung because Hotfix KB2761938 wasn’t installed on the clients. This stopped the clients from receiving applications. Except for installing the hotfix on the clients there’s a pretty easy fix for this.

But first, here are the symptoms of a hung Task Sequence:

Remove computer from collection after installation

I just have to mention this great link. When you’re done with an OS-Deployment and eventually want to remove the computer from the install collection, a common way to do this is with a script in the end of the Task Sequence. But this is a much sexier way to do it, by removing the computer from the CM-server when the status message from the Task Sequence is marked as finished.

Danovich is the author.
http://blog.danovich.com.au/2010/03/12/remove-computer-association-from-collection-after-sccm-task-sequence/

IE9 in SCCM

I noticed a few people have been googling for this so I just thought I’ll post a short how-to on this.

Let me first say that before the combined IE9 + language pack came out I tried to bundle IE9 and the language pack with the Internet Explorer Administrator Toolkit (IEAK). That worked fine but I wasn’t able to deploy that package in the Task Sequence. I don’t know why this didn’t work because the package deployed fine with normal software deployment.

Since then MS has released IE with the integrated language pack, you can find all versions here: 32bit and 64bit

Deploying is very simple. Simply create a package with the following program Command Line, depending a little bit on which IE9-exe file you’ve downloaded:

ie9-windows7-x86-enu.exe /update-no /quiet /norestart

Advertise the program or put it in your Task-Sequence after “Setup Windows and ConfigMgr”.

Update1 :

If you want to be able to choose between languages for Internet Explorer in your Task-sequence you can always bundle the English IE9-version in your base-image and then run the language-packs on top of that. The language packs for IE9 and Windows 7 are found here.

The language packs come as MSU-files that are installable through the WUSA-command. So to install the 64bit version of the Swedish language pack on top of an English Internet Explorer 9, simply run:

wusa IE9-Windows6.1-LanguagePack-x64-sve.msu /quiet /norestart

Of course, remember to download the matching version of the language pack depending on if you’re using 32- or 64bit Windows.

Important Update2:
Internet Explorer 9 Setup does a really evil thing in the registry. It creates this key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\NoIE4StubProcessing

This little registry key breaks all Active Setup commands for 64-bit Windows 7! Note that this regkey is not set on the SysWOW64 registry folder so it only applies to 64-bit Active Setup. Therefore the command that’s supposed to create shortcuts for the taskbar and Start Menu doesn’t run. Instead you might end up with a broken IE9-icon that points to the users Home Directory (i.e. H:) !

Apparently, this key was used in IE5(!) when you wanted the installation to be really, really quiet.

So in order to have a successful installation, delete this reg-key after the installation of IE9. Here’s a link how to do it:

I found the information regarding this bug here.

Was this helpful? Please leave a comment.
/Mathias

[EDIT: WUSA. Not WUSE. Thanks Kcirtap!]

USMT Offline Migration in Windows PE with Hardlinks

This is something I wanted to do a long time and thanks to Niall Bradys excellent guide at Windows-Noob.com it was easy. Except for the parts that were hard. :-) There seems to be a few problems with USMT4 at the moment. Especially with 64-bit Windows 7. I’ll tell you in a sec. what I ran into…

I also wanted to make Niall’s Task Sequence a little shorter with VBScript, I like my Task Sequences short and snappy. Or at least, as short as they can be. Peter van der Woude also has a post on this, but hey, I’m using VBScript! :-)

Let’s get on with it. What are we talking about here? User backup of all important files, bookmarks, user profiles and their desktops using Microsoft User State Migration Toolkit v4. We want to do this not from within Windows but during the Windows PE state before we apply a new OS.

The good thing about doing this in Windows PE and with Hardlinks is pronounced Speed. Hardlinks make file copying locally and over the network unnecessary. It needs no extra disk space and there won’t be any locked files as when you’re doing migrations from within Windows. It’s not magic but it’s pretty close.

Also if you have a computer that doesn’t boot into Windows but has lots of important files on it and with a readable disk – this is the only way to copy that data.

The only thing you can’t do with USMT and Hardlinks in Windows PE is if you’re replacing the hardware. USMT with hardlinks in Windows PE mode is for re-installing the computer with a new OS (or OS version) only. For other scenarios you need a server-state store. That method is not covered in this post.

Let’s jump straight to business. Here’s what my Task-sequence looks like, stripped off stuff that’s not important for what we’re trying to illustrate here.

First a short overview of what it does. All the meaty details are further below. You can download the entire Task Sequence here. (Rename it to *.xml and import into SCCM.)

No program in the Task Sequence

You’re trying to add a program in your Task Sequence but the program in your package doesn’t appear?

This can be one of two things.

Either you’re allowing your users to interact with the program or the program can only run with a user logged on. This is not possible since the task sequence is supposed to be unattended.

Choose “Whether or not a user is logged in” and uncheck “Allow users to interact with the program”.

/Mathias