Using USMT 4.0 and ConfigMgr 2007 while migrating from local profiles to partially redirected profiles

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This time I want to devote a post to a situation I haven’t been in that often. The customer was migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7, well.. nothing special here, but also migrating from local profiles to (partially) redirected profiles, well.. that’s a challenge. So to capture the userdata AND -settings we had to come up with something special. Of course we could do some things with scripting, but the biggest challenge was the fact that the new (partially redirected) profile location was only available after the first logon to Windows 7. With this information I started thinking about USMT 4.0 again. Most often you use this to migrate on a computer basis, but we made an exception on this. We came up with …

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Auto Deployment of FEP Definition Updates with ConfigMgr 2007

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This week Microsoft released Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2010 Update Rollup 1 (including some extra tools). The tools update included some extra policies and also a Definition Update Automation Tool. Together with this, there was also an article published about Definition Update Automation with Configuration Manager. Personally I don’t like the idea of creating a new Task with the Windows Task Scheduler, while we’ve got Status Filter Rules within ConfigMgr. With these rules we can make a “connection” between the scheduled synchronization of the Software Update Point (SUP) and the start of the Definition Update Automation Tool. Otherwise the tool might run while there hasn’t been a new synchronization of the SUP. To prevent this, I will show in this post how to create the …

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The best informational links about FEP 2010 (and its integration with ConfigMgr 2007)

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This time I want to devote a post to some of the best informational links about Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2010 (and its integration with ConfigMgr 2007). These links can make it a lot easier to plan, scale, install, manage and troubleshoot your ConfigMgr 2007 with FEP 2010 integrated -environment. FEP 2010 General Information  – This link provides some general information about FEP 2010. Link: http://www.microsoft.com/fep/ FEP 2010 Deployment Case Study @Microsoft – This link provides some information about the case study used by Microsoft IT for FEP 2010. Link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg543127.aspx FEP 2010 TechNet Library – This link provides all the information available in the Microsoft TechNet Library about FEP 2010. It includes planning, scaling, installing and managing a FEP 2010 –environment, with or without …

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Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Beta is available!

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For those who didn’t read it on Twitter, Facebook or mail yet, MDT 2012 B1 is available for download! Some of the best things that are mentioned in the release notes, are that it supports ConfigMgr 2012 B2 and also still supports ConfigMgr 2007 SP2! Besides that it also supports the deployment of ALL operating systems from Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 until now. So it only delivers extra’s! For more information, read here the mail of Microsoft Connect: Thanks for your ongoing interest and participation in the MDT beta review program. We hope you’ll take the time to preview and provide feedback on MDT 2012 Beta 1. Download the beta materials on Connect: https://connect.microsoft.com/site14/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=8689 Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Beta 1 rides the …

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Forefront Endpoint Protection 2012 B for ConfigMgr 2012 B2

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There was still something missing with ConfigMgr 2012 B2 and that was the Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) integration. Well, that’s been taking care of now. It’s now available already for a week (see: Forefront Endpoint Security Blog), so it’s about time to take a first look at it. The installation hasn’t changed much since FEP 2010 with ConfigMgr 2007 (see also: ConfigMgr 2007 and Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010), except that it’s now ConfigMgr 2012 B2 aware. The first thing that I noticed was that the FEP 2012 B client is not really the FEP 2012 client yet, but the still FEP 2010 client (evaluation version). Both have version number 2.0.657.0. The next thing that I noticed was that there actually didn’t change that much… Of …

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How to Capture User Files and Settings Offline (WinPE) or Online (FullOS) using hard-links with ConfigMgr 2012 B2

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This post will be another one about capturing user files and settings, but this time with ConfigMgr 2012 B2. I hope everyone still remembers my post about capturing user files and settings in ConfigMgr 2007 (and especially how much work it was). Usually I’m not really into writing ‘step-by-step guides’, but this time I will make an exception. The reason why I’m making this exception is that I want to show how easy it’s done now. It’s becoming really close to just next-next-finish. There are only four packages needed for/ by this step-by-step: Boot image package ConfigMgr client package USMT 4.0 package Image package When these packages are present, right-click the Task Sequence node and select Create Task Sequence. After that follow the step-by-step below. …

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A collection of changes to the Collections in ConfigMgr 2012 B2

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In this post I will try to give an overview of the changes made to the Collections in ConfigMgr 2012. The first notable changes in the Assets and Compliance workspace are: The Collections are now divided in User Collections and Device Collections. It’s now not possible anymore to have users and computers in one Collection. It will always be an User Collection OR a Device Collection. The standard Collections are now limited till, All User Groups, All Users, All Users and User Groups, All Desktop and Server Clients, All Mobile Devices, All Systems and All Unknown Computers. Both, the All Users and User Groups –and  the All Systems –Collections, are not editable. These Collections are used as the base for all of the other Collections. …

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The NEW Distribution Point in ConfigMgr 2012 B2

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I already tweeted last week that I really, really like the new Distribution Points in ConfigMgr 2012. Around that time they started writing some really good posts at the ConfigMgr OSD Blog about the new Distribution/PXE Point and Content Management. Even though these posts give really good information I still feel like I have to write down what I really, really like about it. So in this post I will sum up some of the cool new features/ properties of the new Distribution Point in ConfigMgr 2012.  Distribution Point Role: The Distribution Point Role is now merged into one single type that can be used on workstations and server. Also there is now the ability to choose (and prioritize) two drives for the use of …

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ConfigMgr 2012 BETA 2 is available!

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For those who didn’t read it on Twitter, Facebook or mail yet, ConfigMgr 2012 BETA 2 is available for download! For more information, read here the mail of Microsoft Connect: The Configuration Manager Team is pleased to announce the release of Configuration Manger 2012 Beta 2!  It is now available on Connect: https://connect.microsoft.com/ConfigurationManagervnext/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=34794 Please reference the Supported Configuration Document and Release Notes which can be found on: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/4/5/54508737-EB00-4B65-8DB3-F0D810FA3A9F/Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 Supported Configuration.pdf http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg703318.aspx A few notes before you get started: Please use only SQL Server 2008 SP1 and CU 10 or 11 (SQL 2008 SP2 or SQL 2008 R2 is not supported) Ensure site server computer has internet access to download pre-requisites or run setupdl.exe from an internet connected computer Ensure Windows Firewall …

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Asset Intelligence Reports are not showing correct data since the upgrade to ConfigMgr 2007 SP2

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This blog post is going to be a short explanation about why the Asset Intelligence (AI) Reports are not showing the correct data after an upgrade to ConfigMgr 2007 SP2. The cause of not showing data was actually more logic then I first thought. One of the items on the checklist for an upgrade (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee344152.aspx) is the following: If you have customized the default SMS_def.mof hardware inventory reporting file, you must create a backup of this file before upgrading the site. When upgrading a site, customizations made to the existing SMS_def.mof file will be overwritten. Maybe this still doesn’t make sense, but it will after the following piece of history about enabling AI in ConfigMgr 2007. In the ConfigMgr 2007 RTM version AI had to …

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