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!

Monitoring Deployments in SCCM 2012 R2

 

Monitoring Deployments in SCCM 2012 R2

If you are running in to problems with your Task Sequence deployments in SCCM, it is nice to have a central view of the errors, rather than looking in the local log files of the client.

This can be achieved by using Status Message Queries.

At first you will need to get the Deployment ID of the task sequence:

Then navigate to the status message queries section in your SCCM console:

Monitoring -> Overview -> System Status -> Status Message Queries, and click Create Status Message Query.

Give your query a name (include your Task Sequence name if you like), and click 'Edit Query Statement'.


Then click on 'Show Query Language'

Copy the following Query into the Query Statement, and click OK.

Replace the site code (P01) and the Deployment ID (P012002A), in the query with your own data.
select stat.*, ins.*, att1.*, att1.AttributeTime from SMS_StatusMessage as stat left join SMS_StatMsgInsStrings as ins on stat.RecordID = ins.RecordID left join SMS_StatMsgAttributes as att1 on stat.RecordID = att1.RecordID inner join SMS_StatMsgAttributes as att2 on stat.RecordID = att2.RecordID where att2.AttributeID = 401 and att2.AttributeValue = "P01200ED" and stat.SiteCode = "P01" and att2.AttributeTime >= ##PRM:SMS_StatMsgAttributes.AttributeTime## order by att1.AttributeTime desc

 

Click OK and finish the wizard.
Now we can try and run the query.

Rightclick the query, and click on Show Messages.
You'll get a question to fill in a time span:

 

Click OK.
You should see something like this:

 

Now you can doubleclick any message to see its details.

Happy troubleshooting!



 

 



Howto: Deploy Wifi profiles with SCCM

In this post we are going to discuss the possibility of deploying Wifi profiles using SCCM. We are not going to cover the built-in possibility of the distribution of Wifi Profiles in SCCM 2012 R2, because this is limited. We will cover this in a future post.

To start, we have to download a little application called WirelessKeyView.
We will use this little tool to export and import the Wireless profile(s).

Once downloaded, run this tool on a reference machine. Open a command prompt, and key in: wirelesskeyview.exe /export C:\temp\wifi.txt

This will export the profiles to a text file in C:\Temp.

Now copy the text file and the files for WirelessKeyView to your SCCM server (preferrably to the location where the rest of your applications/packages reside).

Now create a batch file with the following commands:

 copy wifi.txt %ProgramData%

WirelessKeyView.exe /import "%ProgramData%\wifi_.txt"

exit /b 0

What this script will do is that it will copy the wifiprofile to your ProgramData directory. The second line will make sure the profile is imported.

Now you can create an application in SCCM which will deploy the above. You can point the detection method to the Programdata\wifi.txt file. Make sure you run the application in the 'user context'.