Month: September 2012

How to apply the default install.wim of Windows 7 to C:\ with ConfigMgr 2012

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It’s already known that the default install.wim of Windows 8, by default, applies to C:\, but wouldn’t it be great if there was this same functionality for Windows 7? That way there is no need for a Build and Capture task sequence anymore to maintain a thin image. Applying the default image to C:\ in combination with offline servicing of updates will do the trick. Well… I’ve got good news! In this post I will show how to apply the default install.wim of Windows 7 to C:\! Configuration The configuration is actually very easy, it’s more about knowing that it exists. ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, which is currently still in BETA, brings a set of new task sequence variables. One of these variables can be used …

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Using the power of Orchestrator to move a computer to a different OU via ConfigMgr 2012

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The power of Orchestrator 2012 to automate actions is getting bigger and bigger, as the community for it grows and by that the number of Integration Packs (IPs). Of course there are also IPs for ConfigMgr, from both Microsoft itself and the community (via CodePlex). Besides that there wasn’t a real integration between ConfigMgr and Orchestrator, yet, but with MDT 2012 Update 1 a really nice new cool feature was introduced. This feature is the Execute Runbook –step during a Task Sequence. It gives anyone, with or without real programming skills, more robust options during a Task Sequence, as long as an IP exist for the action anyone wants to perform. Just remember, lots of these IPs are created by the community. So deliver useful …

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Managing User Data and Profiles with ConfigMgr 2012

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This week I want to devote a post to something new in ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, which is still in BETA, called User Data and Profiles Configuration Items. These configuration items contain settings that can manage folder redirection, offline files and roaming profiles via ConfigMgr 2012! This means that another Group Policy setting is coming to ConfigMgr. Prerequisites Even though this sounds, to me, really promising for the future of ConfigMgr, there is a small catch. That small catch is the second bullet of the prerequisites, following now: Configuration Manager 2012 Service Pack 1 Windows 8, or Windows Server 2012 Configure Enable User Data and Profiles to Yes in the Compliance Settings, via either Default Client Settings or a Custom Client Device Settings (see picture). Configure …

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Deploying Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 with ConfigMgr 2012

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This week I want to devote a post to deploying the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 8 using ConfigMgr 2012. Even though the installer is only available as a Windows Update Standalone Installer, in my opinion it should be deployed using the application model in ConfigMgr 2012. This gives me the possibility to show some basics about the manual applications in ConfigMgr 2012 and more specifically, about the Detection Rules and the Requirements. In a step-by-step way I will go through the wizards of creating and deploying an application. During this I will give some extra explanation with the step about the Detection Rule, as it has to be manually created and there are many options for that. RSAT for Windows 8 can …

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Configuring Collection Membership Evaluation in ConfigMgr 2012

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The title for this small post sounds like a huge configuration, but it’s not. It’s just one setting. In this post I will show how to change it and, maybe more important, what it does. In ConfigMgr 2012 every collection has a checkbox Use incremental updates for this collection. This option is to periodically scan for only new or changed resources from the previous collection evaluation and update the collection membership with only these resources. This is what in ConfigMgr 2007 R3 was called Dynamically add new resources. The biggest difference is that now the interval can be configured. Configure To configure the interval navigate to Administration > Overview > Site Configuration > Sites. Now select the Site and click Settings > Configure Site Components …

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