ConfigMgr

WaaS–Post 2–In Place Upgrade TS

WARNING... WORK IN PROGRESS...  This has been in my drafts for a couple months, I'm pretty busy so I don't know when I'll get to polish it, so for now, just publishing it with intent to go back and update it.  Since I wrote this, there has been several changes already, due to advances in CM, finding bugs, etc.  Anyway, because this is really never going to be 100% done, just going to click publish now, so you can start playing with it...
PS.. Mike Terrill is working on a very detailed blog post that will hopefully answer many of your questions as well, but he is waiting for making his more polished, he takes more pride in his blog posts than I do. 🙂

Download the Task Sequences and Content ---> HERE <---  I will try to keep that updated as I update my Lab's TS

Ok, so about a couple weeks ago, I posted the Pre-Cache Compat Scan Task Sequence, in Part 1, now it’s time to go over the IPU.  It’s taken a couple weeks as I keep updating, refining, and finally came to the realization, I could keep tweaking this forever and never get around to posting.  So, I figured, I should just post this, even if it’s not 100% complete.  Just this should be pretty helpful to many.

Read moreWaaS–Post 2–In Place Upgrade TS

Customize SetupComplete.cmd and SetupRollback.cmd

Why?  Ever want to run a few tasks after upgrade, or more importantly, ensure a few things happen if the upgrade goes south and rollsback?  Why not hitch a ride on what ConfigMgr is doing natively and add a few things you need.

Supported?  Highly unlikely.  Please test, and please don’t say “Gary did it” as rationalization when someone asks why you decided to do this.

Do you do it?  Heck yes I do, in my lab.  Need to get a little more test results before implementing in Production

How do you use it?  I’m not telling! Oh wait, that’s why I’m blogging.  I modify the SetupRollback.cmd to ensure the machine is pulled out of provisioning mode when it the upgrade rolls back, and to set a registry key for our reporting, and trigger hardware inventory.

More background.
ConfigMgr has two files in the c:\windows\ccm folder that it uses:

  1. SetupCompleteTemplate.cmd
  2. SetupRollbackTemplate.cmd

Read moreCustomize SetupComplete.cmd and SetupRollback.cmd

Windows 10 Lock Screen

So, you think you’re setting the lock screen, just to have OSD finish and be like “Why is the lock screen missing and showing a dark blueish color?” or “Argh, it’s the stinking Windows default lock screen, not the one I wanted”. Perhaps you have a lab, and don’t activate your PC’s, so you get the rotating Bing Picture of the day, which is actually pretty cool and all, unless you’re trying to test Lock Screens.  Thanks to Doug (managedoug.com) for bringing this to my attention and having me dig into it a bit more.

I’ve got Several Steps to control this during OSD which include Copying Files over the default lock screen images, and setting registry keys, basically depends on exactly what outcome you’re looking for.

Scenario 1, you want to set the Lock Screen and NEVER allow the user to change it.

Scenario 2, you’re cool with the user changing it, but want to set it to your own custom default.

To accomplish both, there are several things in common you need to do, so I’ll start with the steps you need to do for either situation, then break apart the single additional step that enables scenario 1.

Read moreWindows 10 Lock Screen

WaaS–Post 1–PreCache Compat Scan TS

So this will be the first of several posts, well, it’s sorta the second, this heavily relies on the Script I posted for writing values to registry & WMI a few posts ago, however I’ve made several modifications to it since then, and have done A LOT of testing. Hence my last post about testing Low Disk Space machines.

WaaS Process, as Designed by Mike Terrill & Keith Garner quick overview:

  1. PreAssessment:  Set of Rules run against hardware inventory data to rule out machines that be known to fail the upgrade. Rules include:
    1. Hardware Checks
      1. Models
      2. Free Disk Space
      3. Memory
    2. Software Checks (Software we know that needs to be at specific versions to survive IPU, or not block it)
      1. 3rd Party Encryption Version level
      2. 3rd Party AV Version level
      3. Several other Apps
    3. General Checks
      1. Last HWInv Date
      2. Last MP Checkin
      3. OS / Build / OS Arch
      4. CCM Cache Size
  2. PreCache / Compat Scan (Task Sequence): After it passes all of the rules, the computer then added to a collection targeted with this TS.  The TS is setup as a Required Deployment, and set to Pre-Download Content, and Download all Content before starting the TS.  Then will dynamically download the driver packages, run the Check Readiness, and then Compat Scan.
  3. Schedule for Upgrade: After it has been cached, and passes the compat scan, the machines can be schedule (added to collection targed with the upgrade).

That’s a really quick overview of how we’ve setup WaaS, we went over this in great detail @ MMS, and I’d expect Mike Terrill to eventually blog that detail, I just don’t want to steal all of this thunder, but felt you needed a little overview to explain where this TS fits in.

Read moreWaaS–Post 1–PreCache Compat Scan TS