Category Archives: SCCM

System Center Configuration Manager

what to check if you receive a message in SMSPXE.log stating PXE provider is not active. Ignoring DHCP discover message on your System Center 2012 Configuration Manager distribution point

Posted on August 16, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction After a PXE boot failure, and after some troubleshooting  I wanted to share the reason why it was failing in case others have the same problem. The actual failure message observed in SMSPXE.log is quite descriptive as long as … Continue reading →

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How can I pause a task sequence in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on August 15, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Sometimes things don’t go as planned, you are deploying an operating system to a computer and the task sequence fails. You can use normal troubleshooting methods such as     press F8 and review the smsts.log in CMTrace     review … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | Leave a comment

How can I set the DPI setting when deploying Windows 8 to the Microsoft Surface Pro with Configuration Manager 2012 SP1?

Posted on July 23, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction If you’ve followed my previous guide here,  you’ll have learned how to Deploy Windows 8 to the Microsoft Surface Pro using Configuration Manager 2012 SP1, however that guide didn’t show you how to set the DPI (dots per inch) … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment and Deployment Kit, ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | 1 Comment

How can I deploy Windows 8.1 using System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

Posted on June 29, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction AT the build conference in San Francisco yesterday Microsoft unveiled a preview version of Windows called Windows 8.1, and in conjunction with the recent release of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager preview, we have the ability to deploy … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment and Deployment Kit, ConfigMgr 2012 | 1 Comment

How can I install System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on June 26, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction   Today at Tech Ed Europe 2013 in Madrid, Brad Anderson announced the availability of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager preview (amongst other things). In this post I will focus on installing the R2 preview release on Configuration … Continue reading →

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using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager – Part 14. Using Compliance Settings

Posted on June 10, 2013 by ncbrady

In Part 1 of this series we created our new LAB, we got the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ISO and extracted it, then copied it to our Active Directory server. We then created the System Management container in AD, … Continue reading →

Posted in Compliance Settings, Compliance Settings, ConfigMgr 2012, Custom Client Device Settings, Windows 8 | Leave a comment

using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager – Part 13. Deploying Windows 8 X64 with custom Start screen

Posted on May 4, 2013 by ncbrady

In Part 1 of this series we created our new LAB, we got the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ISO and extracted it, then copied it to our Active Directory server. We then created the System Management container in AD, … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | 2 Comments

When creating a new Task Sequence in Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 the Partition disk step might be hardcoded to 30368MB in size if using a captured image

Posted on April 30, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Sometimes things don’t go as planned, when creating a new task sequence to deploy Windows 8 on a New Computer with no partitions I got a catastrophic failure after selecting the Task Sequence. The reason was simple but I … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | 1 Comment

using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager – Part 12. Connecting PowerShell and Building a reference image of Windows 8 with .Net 3.5

Posted on April 12, 2013 by ncbrady

In Part 1 of this series we created our new LAB, we got the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ISO and extracted it, then copied it to our Active Directory server. We then created the System Management container in AD, … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | 1 Comment

when updating PowerShell CMDLets help file for Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 CU1 you receive an error

Posted on April 11, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Microsoft released Cumulative Update 1 for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 and it contains updates to the PowerShell CMDLets in addition to bugfixes. As part of the update you can update the help files for the PowerShell CMDLets … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 1 Comment

PXE boot failure after upgrading to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1

Posted on March 20, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction I’ve seen reports about problems with PXE boot specifically related to the boot images not getting properly upgraded during the upgrade to Service Pack 1, and I came across this problem yesterday, the suggested fix’s published by others online … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment and Deployment Kit, ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | 4 Comments

How can I determine what Antimalware Policy is applied to my SCEP 2012 SP1 client ?

Posted on February 17, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction One of the many changes in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 is related to the way the System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP) client processes anti malware policy. A new functionality called Client Side Merge is included … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 2 Comments

using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager – Part 11. Upgrading the hierarchy to Service Pack 1

Posted on February 8, 2013 by ncbrady

In Part 1 of this series we created our new LAB, we got the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ISO and extracted it, then copied it to our Active Directory server. We then created the System Management container in AD, … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 1 Comment

when running /testdbupgrade for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 you get an error: SQL Native client 11 is not installed

Posted on February 7, 2013 by ncbrady

If you are upgrading from System Center 2012 Configuration Manager RTM to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 and are using /testdbupgrade to test the upgrade on a copy of your database, you may see the following error in ConfigMgrPrereq.log … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 1 Comment

how can I backup System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on February 3, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Backing up your Configuration Manager hierarchy is important for a variety of reasons including: preparation for avoiding loss of data preparation for upgrade failure and ability for site rollback preparation for hardware failure If you don’t enable the site … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 1 Comment