I have used Michael Niehaus excellent script for dumping all task sequence variables during OSD which is great for troubleshooting. https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mniehaus/2010/04/26/dumping-task-sequence-variables/ However it dumps all TS variables including: _SMSTSReserved variables which for instance contains the Network access account username and password in clear text. The same goes for the Domain Join account used in the…
Configuration Manager 1611 Technical Preview available!
Great to wake up to a new release of Configuration Manager Technical Preview 1611! The Configuration Manager team must have been really busy, first shipping 1610 and then a week after 1611 technical Preview. Truly impressed by the work they are putting in the product! Not that many new features in 1611 Technical Preview though…
MBAM TPM Password Hash and Windows 10 1607
In Windows 10 1607 the TPM Password Hash is no longer accessible from within windows. This is design change to increase the Security in windows 10 which you can read more about here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/keep-secure/change-the-tpm-owner-password Quote: “Starting with Windows 10, version 1607, Windows will not retain the TPM owner password when provisioning the TPM. The password…
Web Service for OS Deployment – SCCM, Configuration Manager Current Branch
There are a couple of OS deployment webservices out there like the legendary one from Maik Koster that is great (Should be built-in the product!) We have been using and developing our own OSD webservice at Onevinn which we used a couple of years now. It has been developed by my college Johan Schrewelius who…
Configuration Manager OSDBackground
There are many solutions out there for setting the OSD background to show progress during OS deployment. My college Johan Schrewelius at Onevinn has written a great one that shows: Note: OSDBackground have been replaced with TSBackground which have the same functionality and more. https://ccmexec.com/2019/06/tsbackground-for-configmgr/ Time elapsed Host information Current OSD Step Custom background Yes,…
Context difference between a Task Sequence in MDT and SCCM
I have gotten this question so many times now when writing scripts and blog posts what the difference is between a Task Sequence in MDT and SCCM. In some scenarios this makes a huge difference and is important to know about. When you execute an OSD Task Sequence in MDT you are logged on as…
2016 Microsoft® MVP Award!
After checking the inbox and the junk mail folder just to be sure many times today, THE mail finally arrived! It is a true honor to be awarded MVP for yet another year, my sixth time! Thanks to all of you! and Microsoft for making this happen and all your support!!
Tweaking PXE boot times in Configuration Manager 1606
In Configuration Manager 1606 we got a new option to tweak our PXE boot times, TFTPWindowsSize which we can change in the registry on our PXE enabled DP’s. PXE booting a machine can never be fast enough! https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt627944.aspx#BKMK_RamDiskTFTP Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\DP Name: RamDiskTFTPWindowSize Type: REG_DWORD The default value is 1 (1 data block fills the window)…