ConfigMgr 2012

Migrating to Windows 8 by using hard-links with ConfigMgr 2012

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After the release of Windows 8 last week we can already start thinking about migrating. When I’m thinking about migrations I always like the computer-refresh scenario’s where we can use hard-links. In this post I will show a basic task sequence to capture user files and settings, either offline or online, with help of hard-links. I already showed the basics of that in an earlier post last year when ConfigMgr 2012 was still in Beta. Since then the Wizard screens have not changed so I will not show that again, but  I will show some more information about what happens. Prerequisites To support migrating to Windows 8 we need ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 (which is currently still CTP) in place with at least the following packages: …

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Add HTA-Support to a Boot Image with ConfigMgr 2012

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With ConfigMgr 2012 lot’s of things got simplified. One of those things is adding extra components to the Boot Images. Before it was possible to add these extra components by either using the MDT integration, or manually running DISM. Now it’s possible to do this from the console! Of course, in the background it’s still DISM that does the action. In this post I will show an example of how to add HTA-Support to a Boot Image with ConfigMgr 2012. Of course the same steps apply to adding any of the optional components to a Boot Image. In the ConfigMgr Console browse to Software Library > Overview > Operating System > Boot Images, right-click a Boot Image and click Properties. In the Properties, select the …

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Deploy App-V version of Office 2013 with ConfigMgr 2012

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One of the new features coming with the Service Pack 1 release of ConfigMgr 2012 is the support for App-V 5. So what is a better way to try this feature then deploying the just released Microsoft Office 2013 Preview AppV packages in combination with the just released App-V 5.0 Beta 2 Desktop Client. But then the big question is, how can we deploy this? Well, I thought it was pretty straight forward, but there where a few caveats that everyone should know and pay attention to. Challenge 1: App-V Package Name The first thing I ran into was that I couldn’t import the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview App-V package in ConfigMgr. It appeared that the default configured Package Name was to long for a …

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Deploying Windows Server 2012 including Roles and Features with ConfigMgr 2012

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This week, for me, was all about deploying Windows Server 2012 (which is currently still in RC), with ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 (which is currently still in CTP) and MDT 2012 Update 1 (which is currently still in BETA). So it was one big test case, but it showed a lot of possibilities for the coming releases. For those who follow me on twitter this post will contain a lot more information about the short tweets that I already did the last week. For instance, the need for running your own Build-and-Capture Task Sequence got a lot smaller with Windows Server 2012 (and Windows 8), because the default install.wim will install on the C-drive ánd ConfigMgr 2012 brings Offline Servicing. So when you’re used to deploy …

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Overlapping Boundaries and ConfigMgr 2012

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In ConfigMgr 2007 everybody’s first reaction about overlapping boundaries was “don’t do it!”, but is that the same in ConfigMgr 2012? Well, the answer on that differs per situation. In this post I will describe the three different situations/ scenario’s about overlapping boundaries and ConfigMgr 2012. Scenario 1 – Overlapping boundaries for automatic site assignment: NOT supported! The site to which the client will assign is still unpredictable when there are multiple boundary groups that includes the current network location of the client (and of course, the boundary groups are assigned to different sites). Scenario 2 – Overlapping boundaries for content locations: Supported! It will enable the client to get a list of all the content locations that are connected with a boundary group that …

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System Center 2012 Configuration Manager RC2 is available!

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For those who didn’t read it on Twitter, Facebook or mail yet, ConfigMgr 2012 RC2 is available for download! Last night I received the following mail: Dear : Thank you for downloading one or more System Center 2012 pre-release components. System Center 2012 Release Candidate is now available as part of the Microsoft private cloud evaluation: » Download Microsoft private cloud evaluation software Enjoy! Your TechNet Team By starting the download I was pleasantly surprised to see that a part of this download is ConfigMgr 2012 RC2 (see picture).

System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection point in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (RC)

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Last week there was finally another update on ConfigMgr 2012. Besides some small changes, they also slightly changed the name of the products in the System Center –family. It all (including Endpoint Protection) now starts with System Center 2012! This post will be about the new Endpoint Protection point in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. During the beta’s it was already clear that Microsoft was going to change something about the integration of ConfigMgr 2012 and FEP 2012, and they did! They removed the Endpoint Protection from the Forefront –family and fully integrated it with ConfigMgr 2012! I also mentioned before that I’m not really the “step-by-step guide maker”, but in some cases there are exceptions and this is another one of these cases. In …

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System Center 2012 Configuration Manager RC1 is available!

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For those who didn’t read it on Twitter (my Twitter almost exploded), Facebook or mail yet, ConfigMgr 2012 RC1 is available for download! For more information, read here the mail of Microsoft Connect: We are extremely excited to announce the availability of the release candidates for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection (formerly known as Forefront Endpoint Protection 2012) today. Both releases are available through a single download package on the Microsoft Download Center.  You can learn more about this release at our Server and Cloud Platform blog. Thank you for your on-going program participation and product feedback as it was instrumental in achieving this important milestone!  Our next CEP session will focus on the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager …

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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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