Creating a clean software package environment

In this post we are going to discuss how to create a clean software packaging environment, or package street/package factory.

 1). It is highly recommended to use a virtual machine and a good tool is VMware Workstation for PC or VMware Fusion for Mac. If you use Windows 8(or higher), then you could use Hyper-V, which is free (see my other post HERE on how to enable this)
 
2). Choose an Operating System. Preferably Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit (depends on what environment is most used in your company, possibly both are needed).
 
3). Create a 30 GB virtual hard disk and a 10GB virtual hard disk (used for page file) and attached to your virtual machine. If you have a SSD in your host system, it is recommended to point it to that disk (to achieve best performance)
 
4). Install Windows to the freshly created virtual hard disk(the 30 GB one)
 
5). Turn Off Automatic Updates then Run Windows Updates but only Security Updates, Service Packs, and other Critical Updates. Avoid Language Packs, Windows Defender, Internet Explorer Updates, and Driver Updates. You are best off not installing any dependencies like Visual C++ or .NET Framework. In this case, if your software complains then you'll know what .NET Framework your software package needs. You can then add it as a dependency (for instance when creating the package using Adminstudio).
 
6). Turn Off System Restore
 
7). Disable Extra Features from Programs / Add or Remove Windows Features you will not need. It is necessary to create a reference computer that is as clean as possible.
 
8). Create your page file. You may need to format your 6GB Hard Drive.

Right Click Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced Tab -> Performance Settings -> Adjust for Best Perfomance -> Advanced Tab -> Change... -> Uncheck Automatically manage paging File size for all drives -> Check Custom size -> Click your Second 6GB Drive -> Take the amount of Physical Memory in your PC and double it for both Initial size and Maximum Size EX 2048 Physical is 4096 -> Click Set -> OK -> OK -> OK -> Restart
 
9). Turn off Services you don't need. Services.msc Double click a service, Choose Disabled, Click Stop, Click Apply. 
Services I disabled were:

• Disable BITS
• Disable MpsSvc (Windows Firewall)
• Disable wuauserv (Windows Update)
• Disable WSearch (Windows Search)
• Disable WinDefend (Windows Defender)
• Disable Themes
• Disable wscsvc (Security Center)

 
10). Install VMware Tools, Parallels Tools, VirtualBox tools, Hyper-V Integration Services etcetera. Whichever hypervisor you are using. Reboot when done
 
11). Install your MSI Packaging Tool, (for instance, Admin Studio, InstallShield, AppDeploy, EMCO, Orca) I'm using AdminStudio
 
12). Add anything else you think you may need. Now you can configure your Machine how you want it. 
 
13). Shutdown the machine and create a snapshot/checkpoint. Now you can use your MSI creating tool, and create snapshots when done. You can also use this machine to create captures.

Howto: Install Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) on SCCM 2012 R2 (KB2938441)

Cumulative update 1 (CU1)(KB2938441) for SCCM 2012 R2 has been released! 
See this link for the Microsoft documentation.

In this blog we'll describe how to install this CU.

First, make sure you pick an appropriate time to install this update (preferably after Office working hours). Second, make sure you create a backup / snapshot / checkpoint before proceeding with installing this CU.

Download the CU update by requesting the hotfix (see the Microsoft link at the top of this post)

 Extract the update by doubleclicking the executable, or by rightclicking it, and extracting it manually.

 Click next on the Welcome Screen.

 Click 'I accept', and click Next.

 If all the prerequisites have passed, click Next.

 Check the box to update the console, and click Next.

 Click the 'Yes, update the site database' radio button, and click Next.

 Leave all the checkmarks, and click Next.

 Change the Package name if desired.

 Change the Package name if desired.

 Change the Package names if desired.

 Review the Setup summary. If everything is OK, click Install.

 Monitor the progress of the installation.

 Click 'View log', to monitor all the components using CMTrace.

 When finished, click Finish.

 Reboot the server.

 Check the version by opening the SCCM Console, and click About. The version should be 5.0.7958.1203.

 Next, select all the CU1 packages, and click Distribute Content.

 Click Next.

 Add distribution point(s) and click Next.

 Review the summary, and click Next.

 Once done, click close. You can then deploy the packages to the appropriate device collections if desired.

 

Optionally you can check the Site status and Component status in the Monitoring pane.

How to determine the installation status of this cumulative update
This cumulative update changes the following Configuration Manager version numbers and installation properties.

Site systems

The CULevel value is located under the following registry subkey:



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Setup

Note: The CULevel value is set to 1 for Cumulative Update 1.

Administrator Console

The version that is displayed in the About System Center Configuration Manager dialog is 5.0.7958.1203 (as stated above, including the screenshot)

Client

The version that is displayed on the General tab of the Configuration Manager Control Panel item or the Client Version field of device properties in the Administrator Console is 5.00.7958.1203.

Endpoint Protection Client

This update brings the anti-malware client version to 4.5.0216.0. You can find the version information by clicking About on the Help menu of the Endpoint Protection client UI. 

You now succesfully have installed the CU1 update! :)

Howto: Create a Driver Package in SCCM 2012 R2

Welcome back! Today we'll discuss how to create a driver package in SCCM 2012 R2, and add it to a Task Sequence. We will discuss how to use a WMI query in the Task Sequence, to distinguish the model to get the correct driver package. This way, we prevent that the wrong drivers will be installed on a certain device!

So lets start off by opening the SCCM console, and browsing to 'Software Library'.
Then rightclick 'Driver Packages' and click on 'Create Driver Package'

 Give the driver package an appropriate name, in this case we are making a package for the DELL XPS 17.

Point it to the correct UNC path, and click on OK.

Next, we'll import the driver to SCCM. Rightclick 'Drivers', and click on 'Import Driver'.

A Wizard appears. Choose the location of where the driver resides.

Next, the wizard will show the recognized drivers.

Optionally, you can create or select a categorie. In this case, it's a Storage driver.

Next, choose the driver package where you want to add the driver(s) to. Optionally, you can check the checkbox 'Update distribution points when finished'.

You can optionally also add the driver to a boot image, and update the distibution point when the wizard finishes.

Check the details to see if everything is correct.

The drivers are being imported.

Everything went OK!

Next, you can update the driver package on the distribution point.

Accept the warning message.

Now, you can update the boot image(if needed) on the distribution point.

Follow the short wizard.

Now, you can edit the appropriate task sequence to include the driver package. First off, it's wise to retrieve the WMI information for the specific model.

1. Open a command prompt on the model (in this case a Dell XPS 17).
2. Type: WMIC Computersystem GET Model and hit enter
3. The output should be something like this:
Model
Dell System XPS L702X

Copy and paste this information to a Notepad, so that you can use it in your task sequence in a moment.

Next, rightclick the task sequence, and click Edit

Add an 'Apply Driver Package' step, in the appropriate place in the task sequence.

Give it the correct name, and choose the correct driver package.

On the Options tab, using 'Add Condition', you can add a Query WMI rule.

Paste in the following code:
SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem WHERE Model LIKE ""

Put the model you got from the WMI query you ran, between the quotation marks.

Click on Test Query. If it says that it contains valix syntax, the query should work.

Save the task sequence. Now you are ready to roll out a machine with the correct drivers!

Howto: Create a device collection based on manufacturer in SCCM 2012

In this blog we'll discuss how to create a device collection in SCCM based on a device manufacturer.
This can be usefull when targeting hardware specific applications for instance.

First off, we'll need to get the manufacturer as it is noted in WMI. In our example, we used an ASUS.

The command you can run in the command prompt is:

wmic computersystem get manufacturer

 As you can see the return value is : ASUSTek COMPUTER INC.

 Next, we'll create a new device collection in the SCCM Console.

 Give it an appropriate name and optionally comment it. Choose 'All Systems' as the limiting collection. Click Next.

 Choose for 'Add Rule' and click on 'Query Rule'.

 Give the query a recognizable name, and click on 'Edit Query Statement...'

 Go to the Criteria tab, and click on 'Show Query Language'.

 Paste in the following code:

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceId = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Manufacturer = "ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC."

Notice the last line, where the manufacturer comes in.

Click Next and finish the wizard.

Then rightclick the collection and choose 'Update Membership'. 

After refreshing the console, you'll notice that it's populated with ASUS devices.