Category: Deployment

Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1

With the release of the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement (see Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 Released for details), there is a new version 3.1 version of Windows PE available. If you plan to install this update, you need to be aware of an issue when using this with MDT 2010 Update 1.

With MDT 2010, Deployment Workbench will look for a “boot.wim” file from one of the imported operating systems that has the same build number as Windows AIK (e.g. “boot.wim” from a Windows 7 RC, build 7100, operating system to go with the Windows AIK for Windows 7 RC). If it finds a match, it will use that WIM instead. Why do we do this? Because the “boot.wim” contains the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), a component that isn’t available in Windows AIK.

So let’s get a little more specific. First, some background details:

  • The build number for the RTM version of Windows 7 is 6.1.7600.16385.
  • The build number for Windows AIK for Windows 7, released with Windows 7 RTM, is also 6.1.7600.16385. This is stored in the registry.
  • The build number for Windows 7 SP1 is 6.1.7601.17514.
  • The build number for the files included in the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement, including Windows PE 3.1 and all the Windows PE feature packs, is also 6.1.7601.17514. But since this supplement is installed by replacing files in the Windows AIK installation directory using XCOPY, the registry isn’t updated so MDT still thinks the Windows 7 RTM version (6.1.7600.16385) of Windows AIK is installed.

Now, let’s assume that you have Windows 7 RTM x86 installation files present in your deployment share, and you haven’t installed the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement. MDT’s processing when creating a boot image will look like this:

  • Is there a boot.wim available with the same version number as Windows AIK (6.1.7600.16385 = 6.1.7600.13685)? Yes, copy it to a temporary folder and mount it.
  • Inject the required Windows PE optional components from the Windows AIK installation directory into this mounted boot image.
  • Inject the needed MDT scripts.
  • Commit the changes to the WIM file and copy it to the deployment share.

Now, install the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement and update the deployment share:

  • Is there a boot.wim available with the same version number as Windows AIK (6.1.7600.16385 = 6.1.7600.13685)? Yes (because MDT doesn’t know that Windows AIK has been updated, the registry still says it is version 6.1.7600.16385), copy it to a temporary folder and mount it.
  • Try to Inject the required Windows PE feature packs from the Windows AIK installation directory into this mounted boot image. All fail, because they are for Windows PE 3.1 and won’t work with the Windows PE 3.0 boot image copied from the Windows 7 RTM files.
  • Stop.

The actual error will look something like this (repeated for each Windows PE feature pack):

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Processing 1 of 1 – Adding package WinPE-HTA-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.1.7601.17514
Error: 0x800f081e
The specified package is not applicable to this image.
The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log
Exit code = –2146498530
DISM /Add-Package failed for component C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-hta.cab, rc = -2146498530.

Solution:

Modify the Settings.xml file in the deployment share’s “Control” folder to tell MDT to never use the boot.wim. The settings look like this:

<Boot.x86.UseBootWim>True</Boot.x86.UseBootWim>
<Boot.x64.UseBootWim>True</Boot.x64.UseBootWim>

They should be changed to instead say:

<Boot.x86.UseBootWim>False</Boot.x86.UseBootWim>
<Boot.x64.UseBootWim>False</Boot.x64.UseBootWim>

As a result of this change, MDT will no longer use the boot.wim from the Windows 7 RTM installation files. Instead, it will always use the winpe.wim from Windows AIK. And since the Windows PE feature packs in Windows AIK should always match the winpe.wim in Windows AIK, this will always work.

Note that this will never be an issue with MDT-generated boot images used with ConfigMgr 2007, as MDT will always use the winpe.wim from Windows AIK when generating these. (ConfigMgr 2007 doesn’t yet support Windows PE 3.1, so don’t install the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement yet if you are using ConfigMgr.)

More info check: Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 Supplement

Deploy office 2010 and a previous office version together on one PC with MDT 2010

Deploy office 2010 and  a previous office version together on one PC with MDT 2010. Then you need to do the following things

Needed.
– Office 2010 ISO
– Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool

1. Make sure you have a working Office 2007 deployment. Check this How to deploy Office 2007 with MDT

2. Extract the Office 2010 ISO to the application folder on de MDT Server

2. Extract AdminTemplates_32.exe or AdminTemplates_64.exe to a folder.

3. Copy the Admin folder that you can find in the extracted folder to the Office 2010 folder that you created at step 1.

4. Run setup.exe /admin

5. Check the Screenshots for the settings
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6. Save the file in Updates folder that you find in Office folder. I named the file setup.MSP

7. Create a new application without source files.

imageimage
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Command Line is:
setup.exe /adminfile “\\mdtservername\deploymentshare$\Applications\Microsoft Office 2010 x86\Updates\setup.msp”

MDT 2010 Automatically Move Computers to the Right OU

When I deploy client computers you have always 2 client Tasks. One for Laptops and one for Desktops.
I already blogd about joing domain. Jou can find it here. http://www.wardvissers.nl/2009/12/20/mdt-2010-join-domain/.

I had a issue joining the computers to the right ou for the two tasks.

I found a great solution to fix it.

Here is how I did it.

Open the right Task Sequence. I my case it was laptop.

This is de default setting
image

Change this to: Gather local data and proces rules. Fill at Rules files customsettings.ini in.
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Open Customsettings.ini

Change the following

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

to

[Settings]
Priority=TaskSequenceID, Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

Add the following text.

[LAPTOP]
MachineObjectOU=ou=laptops,ou=ward,dc=wardvissers,dc=local

You can do this also for Desktops.

When you deploy a new computer the computer is now in the right OU.  I love MDT Open-mouthed smile

Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010

I was attended on twitter on the following video’s. I watch some of them. They are really interesting Open-mouthed smile

The Vid’s
TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 1 of 7)Reviewing the Available Options in the Deployment Workbench

TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 2 of 7)Create and Explore the Configuration Database

TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 3 of 7)Configuring Role Methods in the Configuration Database

TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 4 of 7)Configuring Other Methods in the Configuration Database

TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 5 of 7)Configuring the Deployment Point to Use the Configuration Database

TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 6 of 7)Using Linked Deployment Points

TechNet Video: Advanced Deployment Scenarios using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: (Part 7 of 7)Custom Edit the Deployment Wizard to Add a New Page

MDT The task sequence has been suspended.

The error was: The task sequence has been suspended.
LiteTouch has encountered and Environment Error (Boot into WinPE)

I had a strange problem with MDT. When I booted the in WinPE.

Rebooting and again started the WinPE image did nothing same error again.

Solution is very simple.

You have to remove two directory’s C:\_SMSTaskSequence\nul  and C:\MININT

After that you can resume deploying the OS TaskSequence you want.

For sure I cleaned the Disk with Diskpart.

MDT 2010 Multiple Partitions Issues & hidden Bitlocker partition

I had a new laptop where I wanted to deploy Windows 7 x64 Enterprise and walked to a bug in MDT 2010. Default config.

I configured 2 partitions to use the whole disk. See screenshot.
imageimage
When I deploy the task I get the following error

IMAG0003
He wants to format partition D. But partition D is not availably. 
I ended the task and opened the PE window and started Diskpart and listed the volumes.

IMAG0001

The strange thing was that the extended partition has the drive letter S had and it was a raw partition.

After studying ZTIDiskpart.log (X:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS\ZTIDiskpart_diskpart.log)

I found out that there was no space left to create a 300mb partition for saving Bitlocker information.

So what did ZTIDiskpart.wsf. ZTIDiskpart.wsf gave the last partition that was created the drive letter S. This is the default letter for the Bitlocker partition. So hey wanted to format the file system with fat32. Because in my case the partition size was 200GB he cannot format the disk.

Solution:

Setting the extended partition to use 95%. Then MDT have enough space to create a 300mb hidden partition for Bitlocker.

image image

MDT 2010 Importing automatically the right driver

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 has some nice improvements to handle drivers. I will describe how I like to manage drivers in MDT 2010.

Some time I wrote i article about how to get the Name & Model from a computer. This is very important when you want to import only the right drivers automatically.

First we have to build the ‘Out-of-Box Drivers’ folder structure and import drivers. I have subdirectories for each architecture, brand and model.  This is what my folder tree looks like:

MDT 2010 - Out-of-Box Drivers

However, you can build your own structure, as long as you respect the proper model & brand (make) name of the vendors.

Build Out-of-Box Drivers tree

To build up the folder structure you have to know the model name of your hardware. To retrieve the proper computer name execute at powershell command prompt: ‘Get-WmiObject -Class win32_computersystemproduct | fl Name,Model,UUID,Identifyingnumber,Vendor’, to get the exact name WMI queries to determine the computer model. In my case the computer name is “Latitude D830”.

Now that we have drivers imported in our Deployment Share, it’s time to move on.

1. DriverGroups

DriverGroups existed in MDT 2008 already, although the MDT Team added subdirectory support in MDT 2010.

At deployment phase MDT uses WMI to query the proper computer model and only the current model drivers will be injected. In order to get this working properly, you have to use the EXACT model name in your Out-of-Box Driver tree.

Inject the correct drivers in your Task Sequence

Add a new step in your Task Sequence to inject the correct drivers. MDT will query the computer name and inject the drivers which corresponds with the computer name from the Out-of-Box folder structure, right before applying the image at deployment.

MDT 2010 - Set Task Sequence Variable (Add Task) MDT 2010 - Set Task Sequence Variable (DriverGroup)

I use ‘DriverGroup_001’ as Task Sequence Variable, and Win7×64\%Make%\%Model% as value for my Windows 7 x64. You have to adapt this to your Out-of-Box tree.

MDT 2010 - Set Task Sequence Variable

As I use a DriverGroup I’ve disabled the ‘Inject Drivers’ task.

Customsettings.ini

As my Task Sequence handles everything, there isn’t anything needed here.

If you don’t like to use a new Task in your TS, you can add DriverGroup variables in customsettings.ini like this:

DriverGroup_001=%Make%\%Model%

DriverGroup_002=Printers

2. Selection Profiles

New in MDT 2010 are DriverSelectionProfiles. These are easy for new MDT admins, very straight forward and easy to use.

Overview:

MDT 2010 - Selection Profiles Overview

First you have to create a Profile (or use one of the default profiles):

MDT 2010 - Selection Profiles, select folders

You can even select Packages and Applications, use it for “bad drivers” aka driver setup packs.

Select what drivers you want to add to the profile;

MDT 2010 - Selection Profiles, add profile

After making the profiles you can use them in your Task Sequences. The default ‘Inject Drivers’ settings are on the left, the customized one on the right:

MDT 2010 - Selection Profiles, task sequence MDT 2010 - Selection Profiles, task sequence

You can add  Selection Profiles for drivers/packages or whatever you want. Just add an extra step in your task sequence like above.

Customsettings.ini

As with DriverGroups you can choose to handle the DriverSelectionProfile in customsettings.ini or in your TS.

Example:

DriverSelectionProfile=Dell Latitude D520 x64

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 Update 1 is RTM

Microsoft has released a new version of MDT 2010 named Update 1.

It’s a great tool im loving it.

What new:

For System Center Configuration Manager 2007 users:

  • New “User Driven Installation” deployment method. An easy-to-use UDI Wizard allows users to initiate and customize an OS deployment on their PCs that’s tailored to their individual needs.

  • Support for Configuration Manager R3 “Prestaged Media.” For those deploying Windows 7 and Office 2010 along with new PCs, a custom OS image can easily be loaded in the factory and then customized once deployed.

For Lite Touch Installation:

  • Support for Office 2010. Easily configure Office 2010 installation and deployment settings through the Deployment Workbench and integration with the Office Customization Tool.
  • Improved driver importing. All drivers are inspected during the import process to accurately determine what platforms they really support, avoiding common inaccuracies that can cause deployment issues.

Bug Fixes and small improvements

  • LTI Wizard performance improvement. The LTI Wizard now takes less time to initialize and shows up faster.
  • Issue in validating connection to the server fixed. In a few scenarios, MDT 2010 used to report the error message, "A connection to the distribution share could not be made" when a task sequence is run. The Microsoft Support article, “Error message when you use MDT 2010: ‘Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed,’” at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977566 describes this issue in detail. This issue has been fixed in MDT 2010 Update 1.
  • Support for installing Windows 7 roles and features. MDT 2010 Update 1 adds support for installation of Windows 7 operating system roles and features.
  • Looping issue with x64 custom Windows images fixed. In MDT 2010, ZTI–System Center Configuration Manager deployments could get into an infinite loop when deploying an x64 Windows image captured by LTI. This issue has been fixed in MDT 2010 Update 1
  • Error handling improvements in MDT task sequence templates. In MDT 2010, task sequences appear to finish successfully even when they really failed. These issues are fixed in MDT 2010 Update 1.

Download the new version HERE 😀

Deploy Office 2010 with Multiple Languages with MDT 2010

I Like Office 2010. For me it is the best Office version i ever worked with.
MDT 2010 it’s great tool that Microsoft created.
Now i will talk about how you deploy Office 2010 with Multilanguage packs with MDT 2010.

Step 1: Download the Office 2010 English version booth will be in x86 & x64

Step 2. Download the Office 2010 (language) Multilanguage iso only available from the Microsoft Volume Licensing site. Both in x86 en x64.

Step 3. Add the Office 2010 English version to MDT 2010 here office-2010-uitrollen-met-mdt-2010

Step 4. Extract the Office 2010 (language) Multilanguage iso with 7zip in the same application folder witch you created in Step 3.

Step 5. When you open MDT 2010 management console and you go to the Office 2010 Application that you added in step 3. You wil see that MDT sees more the one language. In my case it was en-us and nl-nl. The Screenshot is from the older MDT 2010 you MDT sees Office 2010 as Office 2007. MDT 2010 beta 1 supports Office 2010. I found till now no issues deploying Office 2010.

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Step 6. Check the languages that you want. Check the Screenshot how i did it.

Step 7. Deploy the a Windows XP or Windows 7 client with Office 2010 Multilanguage versions.

Step 8. You can check with Microsoft Office 2010 Language Preferences or the languages that you configured are installed.
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Step 9. Use Group Policy to set the language settings for users

    1. Download the Office 2010 policy template files to your computer. You will find them HERE

    2. Make a new GPO named Office 2010 languages settings it is a user policy.

    3. Under User Configuration in the console tree, right-click Administrative Templates.

    4. Click Add/Remove Templates, and then click Add.

    5. In the Policy Templates dialog box, click the template that you want to add, and then click Open.

    6. After you add the Office 2010 templates, click Close.

    7. Open the Group Policy object (GPO) for which you want to set policy.

    8. Double-click User Configuration and expand the tree under Administrative Templates.

    9. Locate language-related policies in the Microsoft Office 2010 \ Language Settings node.

    10. Select the languages that you want to use for each setting.

    11. Save the GPO.

    12. Go Testing

    Where to find the right MDT 2010 logs

    Each MDT 2010 script automatically creates log files during its execution. The names of these log files match the name of the script—for example, ZTIGather.wsf creates a log file named ZTIGather.log. Each script also updates a common master log file (BDD.log) that aggregates the contents of the log files that MDT 2010 scripts create. MDT 2010 log files reside in C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS during the deployment process. Depending on the type of deployment being conducted, the log files are moved at the completion of the deployment to either %WINDIR%\SMSOSD or %WINDIR%\TEMP\SMSOSD. For Lite Touch Installation (LTI) deployments, the logs start in C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLogs. They end up in %WINDIR%\TEMP\DeploymentLogs when task sequence execution is complete.

    MDT 2010 creates the following log files:

    BDD.log: This is the aggregated MDT 2010 log file that is copied to a network location at the end of the deployment if you specify the SLShare property in the Customsettings.ini file.

    LiteTouch.log: This file is created during LTI deployments. It resides in %WINDIR%\TEMP\DeploymentLogs unless you specify the /debug:true option.

    Scriptname.log: This file is created by each MDT 2010 script. Scriptname represents the name of the script in question.

    SMSTS.log: This file is created by the Task Sequencer and describes all Task Sequencer transactions. Depending on the deployment scenario, it may reside in %TEMP%, %WINDIR%\System32\ccm\logs, or C:\_SMSTaskSequence, or C:\SMSTSLog.

    Wizard.log: The deployment wizards create and update this file. 

    WPEinit.log: This file is created during the Windows PE initialization process and is useful for troubleshooting errors encountered while starting Windows PE.

    DeploymentWorkbench_id.log: This log file is created in the %temp% folder when you specify a /debug when starting the Deployment Workbench.

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