System Center Configuration Manager

Shavlik now integrates with ConfigMgr. Software Updates

Kent Agerlund — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:34:13 GMT

Most of you already have knowledge about the power of SCUP used together with ConfigMgr. System Center Custom Updates (SCUP) gives you the possibilities to include 3rd. party updates in your normal Configuration Manager software update deployments. One of the downsizes to SCUP is that it requires high level of knowledge about each update you want to distribute.

Shavlik now offers ConfigMgr. Customers to subscribe to a very rich catalog of 3rd. party updates. Read more about the solution http://www.shavlik.com/scupdates.aspx and to see full list of updates supported - http://forum.shavlik.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=15901

New Configuration Manager guides are ready for download

Kent Agerlund — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:26:54 GMT

Microsoft has released a couple of new guides ready for download. I have read the guides and they are really great. They can (and must) be used in every single Configuration Manager Deployment project. They will walk you through some design considerations as well as providing useful information about the features and provide you with best practices. Happy reading :-) it’s only about 400 pages in total.

The guides can be downloaded from:

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Deployment Guide

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Software Distribution Guide

System Center Configuration Manager Software Update Management Guide

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Operating System Deployment Guide

Hide and Show software update notifications

Kent Agerlund — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:33:20 GMT

As you might now; most agent settings are configured for the entire site. However with a little reading in the Configuration Manager SDK you will quickly learn how to customize agent setting on individual clients. One of the challenges that I run into the most; is hiding software update notifications from some clients while allowing a full notification on other computers.

You can solve this challenge in two different ways.

Hide all software update deployments and create a package that will display notifications on some clients
Allow software update notifications and create a package that will remove the notification on some clients.

Configure the Software Update Client Agent

In this example I will allow all notifications and create a package that will remove the notification icon on computers in a specific collection.

The package

The script to be used in the package can be downloaded from the ConfigMgr. SDK. You only need to modify the script to match your scenario. In my example I have configured the UserExperienceFlag to 2 which will remove any notifications.

To create the package

Copy the code below and save it as a VBS file.
Create a new package with the VBS file
Run the package under the local system account and without any user interaction on computers where you DON’T want any user notifications.

' //***************************************************************************
' // ***** Script Header *****
' //
' // Solution:  Config Mgr
' // File:      HideNotifications.vbs
' // Author:    Configuration Manager 2007 SDK, modified by Kent Agerlund
' // Purpose:   Remove software update notifications from the notification area
' // Values:    SetUserExperienceFlag| 0=Use Policy, 1=Always display notifications    
' // Values:    SetUserExperienceFlag| 2=Never display notifications    
' //
' // ***** End Header *****
' //***************************************************************************
'//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'//
'//  Global constant and variable declarations
'//
'//----------------------------------------------------------------------------

dim updatesDeployment
    
set updatesDeployment = CreateObject ("UDA.CCMUpdatesDeployment")
updatesDeployment.SetUserExperienceFlag 2

Configure the Software update deployments

Make sure you configure a deployment deadline for those computers that don’t display software update notifications otherwise updates will never be installed.

You can download the ConfigMgr 2007 SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=064a995f-ef13-4200-81ad-e3af6218edcc&displaylang=en

Tripple check your software updates this month

Kent Agerlund — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:23:03 GMT

As some of you might already be aware of; MS10-015 (KB977165) might cause a BSOD. As far as I have read the problem is not the update itself, but caused by an existing infection on the computer. For updates on this issue be sure to check - http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2010/02/11/restart-issues-after-installing-ms10-015.aspx

Monitor the size on your inventory data

Kent Agerlund — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:55:29 GMT

As you might know SMS/Configmgr; has some secret files that can change the way agents behave. One of the files is called archive_reports.sms. When you add this file to the inventory temp folder (\system32\ccm\inventory\temp\) it will prevent the inventory xml files from being deleted after they are send to the management point. This can be very useful when you want to track the size of each inventory file. In my screen dump you can see several xml file. I use this feature to spot the change in file size whenever I enable new classes in my sms_def.mof file (AI classes, custom classes etc).

As you can see from the pictures it’s easy to check the size of each file and also to read the information – very useful. Just remember to delete the archive_reports.sms file when you are done testing.

The file has been around for many years, and I am pretty sure you will find the information on other blogs as well.

IBM Deployment Pack v1.2 for ConfigMgr released

Ronni Pedersen — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:12:20 GMT

The IBM Deployment Pack for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) is used to configure IBM hardware components prior to deploying Windows using Microsoft SCCM. This kit extends Configuration Manager 2007 by providing a convenient integrated user interface that will be familiar to SCCM administrators. The Deployment Pack completes the end-to-end deployment scenario in environments where IBM-specific configuration steps are required including RAID, IMM, RSA2, BMC, and BIOS/UEFI.

Key features include:

IBM-specific drivers, agents, and firmware
Scriptable hardware configuration tools for the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE)
Sample configuration files and scripts, including sample Sysprep and Unatted.txt files

Download here.

Distribution Manager – NAL error

Kent Agerlund — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:39:59 GMT

Its Friday the weekend is coming up and what I don’t want is a day filled errors . On the other hand, errors can be a cool way to start the weekend – if you get them solved! The first 10 minutes at the customer site went according to my plan. I got some coffee and began to distribute a new package. The coffee was black and strong (which is good) but my package never made it to the distribution point (which is not good).

The error

The status in the console was stuck in Install Pending. I looked at the distmgr.log file on the site server and saw these entries:

RDC:This is a Share Type DP. Will use the Share Name smssoftware$ for RDC signature    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 12:56:47    5308 (0x14BC)
Cannot create NAL path for the distribution point ["Display=\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"]MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 12:56:47    5308 (0x14BC)
STATMSG: ID=2323 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER" SYS=sccmDP SITE=DK1 PID=7992 TID=5308 GMTDATE=Fri Jan 29 11:56:47.052 2010 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=2 AID0=400 AVAL0="NS100027" AID1=404 AVAL1="["Display=\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"]MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=Dk1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 12:56:47    5308 (0x14BC)
Error occurred.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 12:56:47    5308 (0x14BC)

Notice the NAL path error. I have seen this error many times before but always related to missing permissions on the distribution point.

Investigating the error

For a brief moment I thought about reapplying ConfigMgr. SP2 but somehow that always seems to be an act of desperation. In stead I enabled NAL logging and started to dig deeper into the distmgr.log file.

NAL logging

NAL logging is enabled in registry on the site server. For more information about NAL logging check http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243385/

Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NAL
Create a new Key called Logging
Create two new DWORD values log To with a value of 3 (decimal) and Verbosity with a value of 7 (decimal). The value 7 will give you warnings, errors and information messages.
Once NAL logging is enabled I went back into the distmgr.log file (along with a fresh cup of coffee).

What the distmgr.log file revealed

With NAL logging enabled I refreshed the distribution point for one of my packages and saw these new entries:

Attempting to add or update a package on a distribution point.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
for ["Display=\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"]MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\, no connection account is available    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
STATMSG: ID=2342 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER" SYS=sccmDP SITE=DK1 PID=7964 TID=4256 GMTDATE=Fri Jan 29 12:31:51.601 2010 ISTR0="Acrobat Reader" ISTR1="["Display=\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"]MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=2 AID0=400 AVAL0="NS100027" AID1=404 AVAL1="["Display=\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"]MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\"    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
RDC:This is a Share Type DP. Will use the Share Name smssoftware$ for RDC signature    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
NAL[4] - Call to the Abnetwork DLL's DllGetClassObject function succeeded.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
NAL[2] - Provider list is already initialized.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
NAL[4] - Attempting to create path for MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
NAL[2] - CreatePath, wrong provider: ABEXPRT. Trying next provider...    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
NAL[2] - CreatePath, wrong provider: LOCAL. Trying next provider...    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)
NAL[1] - ERROR: could not create the path.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:31:51    4256 (0x10A0)

That’s the error, the distribution manager component is trying to create the folder using a wrong provider.

The solution

Now when I knew what was causing the error I could start fixing it. The NAL providers are stored in Registry and all 4 providers (LOCAL, MSWNET, NWNDS, NWBIND) was found the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NAL\Providers\Active Orders key. I did discover that the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NAL\Server\Connections\Operational Active Order was missing an important value.

As you can see the only provider listed is Local. I added MSWNET to the list and restart the SMS_executive service.

I refreshed one of my packages while reading distmgr.log (with trace32.exe). As you can see in the log the problem is now fixed and I can start my weekend with a smile on my face :-)

NAL[2] - Provider list is already initialized.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)
NAL[4] - Attempting to create path for MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)
NAL[2] - CreatePath, wrong provider: ABEXPRT. Trying next provider...    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)
NAL[2] - CreatePath, wrong provider: LOCAL. Trying next provider...    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)
NAL[4] - CreatePath, MSWNET is the correct provider.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)
NAL[4] - Provider MSWNET successfully got objects for path MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)
NAL[4] - Successfully created the path: MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=DK1"]\\sccmDP\smssoftware$\.    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER    29-01-2010 13:50:50    2516 (0x09D4)

SMS 2003 support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 clients

Ronni Pedersen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:02:41 GMT

Microsoft has released a new compatibility pack for SMS 2003 SP3 that’s adds Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as supported clients. However since main stream support for SMS 2003 has already ended I would highly recommend that you start migrating to Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 ASAP, and only use this update as a "workaround" until you everything migrated.

More info and download:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974014

Enjoy.

Software Updates – Waiting for another installation to complete

Kent Agerlund — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:11:42 GMT

Looking at the compliance reports I see that most of updates are installing ok but some are constantly saying “Waiting for another installation to complete”

The updates won’t install and end-users are constantly getting an error saying the another installation process is already running. It’s not another running process causing the problem, so restarting services won’t help. Information is stored in WMI and most likely is caused by an earlier installation that failed.

To fix the problem

Log on to the client and stop the Windows Management Instrumentation Service – WMI
Rename the Repository folder to RepositoryOLD. The folder is found in %systemroot%\system32\WBEM
Restart the Windows Management Instrumentation Service. This will create a new Repository folder and the software update installation will be able to start.

WEBdav fails on Windows server 2008 R2

Kent Agerlund — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:16:25 GMT

Just spend a few hours this morning troubleshooting a new Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 R2 installation. After configuring the Management Point I started to receive these errors:

Sitecomp.log:

Component [SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER] could not install correctly on server Servername. WebDAV on the Windows Longhorn server is not configured correctly.

MPsetup.log

<12-30-2009 09:00:07> WebDAV settings is not setup appropriately
<12-30-2009 09:00:07> [Allow property queries with infinite depth] should be true (true)
<12-30-2009 09:00:07> [Allow Custom Properties] should be false (false)
<12-30-2009 09:00:07> [Allow anonymous property queries] should be true (false)
<12-30-2009 09:00:07> Allow [All users read access to All content] authoring rule should exist (exist)

The problem with the log files is, that they are not telling the truth. I did already install and configure the WEBdav component as I have done several times before.

Reason behind the problem

For some reason the WEBDAV_schema.xml files is not being updated by the changes in the IIS console (the file is found in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\schema\)

The solution

Stop the IIS service
Take ownership of the file
Assign your own account the correct permissions required to modify the file
Remove the Read only attribute on the file
Open the file, find these lines and change whatever values they have to the ones listed below.

<attribute name="allowAnonymousPropfind" type="bool" defaultValue="true" />
<attribute name="allowInfinitePropfindDepth" type="bool" defaultValue="true" />
<attribute name="allowCustomProperties" type="bool" defaultValue="false" />
Start the IIS service
Restart the SMS Site Component Service
Check the MPsetup.log file and verified everything was OK
Open a browser and type http://localhost/SMS_MP/.sms_aut?MPLIST The result of this must NOT be an error. Run the check from the MP server or replace localhost with the MP name.

MPsetup.log after editing the xml file

Disable Adobe Reader JavaScript

Kent Agerlund — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:47:18 GMT

Adobe has just informed about a critical vulnerability in Adobe Reader 9.2 and earlier versions - which is well… all Adobe Reader versions :-) An update to fix the vulnerability will be released mid January 2010.

You can read the bulletin here - http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-07.html

Disable Adobe Reader JavaScript manually

1. Launch Adobe Reader.
2. Select Edit>Preferences
3. Select the JavaScript Category
4. Uncheck the 'Enable Acrobat JavaScript' option
5. Click OK

Disable Adobe Reader JavaScript with a configmgr. package

1. Create bat file with this entry
reg add "HKCU\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\9.0\JSPrefs" /v bEnableJS /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /F
2. Copy the bat file to a network share and create a new package in ConfigMgr.
3. Create a new program and make sure it Runs with user’s rights and only when a user i logged on.

MMS 2010 registration now open

Kent Agerlund — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:10:51 GMT

As always a huge delegation of Danes will invade Las Vegas in late April. 2010 wont be any different, SCUG DK will be there and hope to see all of you. For registration and more information check the MMS 2010 site - http://www.mms-2010.com/public/home.aspx

New and updated version of SCUP 4.5

Kent Agerlund — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:21:47 GMT

Great news for those of you who uses SCUP 4.5 to create custom updates. An update to SCUP has just been released and is ready for download. With updated version we now have the ability to create and publish msp files to ConfigMgr without crashing the SCUP console – nice :-)

You can download the new version here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0446cce9-94a4-4fb0-b335-e7516044063d&displaylang=en

You can download 3rd. party catalogs here - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/configmgr/bb892875.aspx

SCUG Event on Wednesday – NEW LOCATION and avaiable seats

Kent Agerlund — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:02:21 GMT

Great news; we have moved the meeting to a new and bigger auditorium. This means that we still have available seats left. To join us send a mail to event@scug.dk with you Name, Company name and SCUG user name. For more information about the event check - http://scug.dk/content/Events.aspx

Address and location

The address is Teknologisk Institut, main entrance 1, Gregersensvej, 2630 Taastrup

Software installed the last 7 days

Kent Agerlund — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:57:51 GMT

This report will list all software registrered in Add/Remove programs and installed during the last 7 days.

The SQL code

SELECT     TOP (100) PERCENT dbo.v_R_System.Name0, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0, 
                      DATEDIFF(Day, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0, GETDATE()) AS [days since installed]
FROM         dbo.v_R_System INNER JOIN
                      dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS ON dbo.v_R_System.ResourceID = dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID
GROUP BY dbo.v_R_System.Name0, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0, DATEDIFF(Day, 
                      dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0, GETDATE())
HAVING      (DATEDIFF(Day, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0, GETDATE()) > 0 AND DATEDIFF(Day, dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0, 
                      GETDATE()) < 7)

System Center Configuration Manager

Shavlik now integrates with ConfigMgr. Software Updates

New Configuration Manager guides are ready for download

Hide and Show software update notifications

Configure the Software Update Client Agent

The package

To create the package

Configure the Software update deployments

Tripple check your software updates this month

Monitor the size on your inventory data

IBM Deployment Pack v1.2 for ConfigMgr released

Distribution Manager – NAL error

The error

Investigating the error

NAL logging

What the distmgr.log file revealed

The solution

SMS 2003 support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 clients

Software Updates – Waiting for another installation to complete

To fix the problem

WEBdav fails on Windows server 2008 R2

Sitecomp.log:

MPsetup.log

Reason behind the problem

The solution

MPsetup.log after editing the xml file

Disable Adobe Reader JavaScript

Disable Adobe Reader JavaScript manually

Disable Adobe Reader JavaScript with a configmgr. package

MMS 2010 registration now open

New and updated version of SCUP 4.5

SCUG Event on Wednesday – NEW LOCATION and avaiable seats

Address and location

Software installed the last 7 days

The SQL code

The Report