The ActiveX Installer Service (AXIS) is a Windows technology that enables the installation of ActiveX controls to a standard user in the enterprise. It consists of a Windows service, a Group Policy administrative template, and a few changes in Internet...

So – your development cycles have been completed and now you are ready to deploy the much anticipated Windows 8 based application that you have developed to your clients. You will quickly realize that the deployment of your newly created Windows...

In October last year I published a script that is designed to remove the built-in Windows 8 applications when creating a Windows 8 image. After a reading some of the comments in that blog post I decided to create a new version of the script that is simpler...

Last October I posted an update to the script to automatically set the PATCH property used by ccmsetup.exe to install client updates during the Configuration Manager client installation in a task sequence.  That update was to make the script compatible...

PXE support has been added to Surface Pro as part of the May firmware update.  This means that as long as you have the Surface Pro Ethernet Adapter and installed the firmware update you can now perform PXE based deployments to Surface Pro. For detailed...

In the last month the Surface Pro team have started releasing driver and firmware pack s that include all on the drivers and firmware required for Surface Pro. This pack is a simple zip file that contains all of the drivers as INF files that can be installed...

In a recent project we faced an interesting problems using the Windows 8 Mail App. Windows 8 include a built-in email app named Mail (also referred to as Windows 8 Mail or the Windows 8 Mail app). We used a Standard User Account without any local Admin...

Many companies have started using Windows 8 and have noticed with some of the new features there are times when things just don’t seem to work the way they expected them too; this was due to configuration needs and not actual issues in many cases. ...

In my previous blog entry , I explained my customer’s need for stand-alone USMT Capture and USMT Restore task sequences and their need for a notification box to pop up and let the technicians know the process completed successfully.  This post will...

    Recently, I had a customer that wanted separate, stand-alone USMT Capture and USMT Restore task sequences.  They had key depot locations that would allow users to drop off an old machine, and have the depot technicians image and restore...

Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise that allows Windows 8 Enterprise to boot and run from mass storage devices such as USB flash drives and external hard disk drives. It is a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 environment. During a recent...

One of the challenges that I frequently come across is the shift from 32-bit operating system environments to 64-bit operating system environment during deployment projects. Windows 7 ships as both 32-bit as well as 64-Bit, with the 64-bit version becoming...

With Windows 7 deployments, BitLocker installation for Operating System and data volumes has typically been configured as a post Operating System deployment activity – usually using the Enable BitLocker task sequence actions or by using the manage-bde...

Have you tried to change the default wallpaper on the Windows 8 lock screen? Now I live in Seattle and quite like the stylized picture of Seattle but in an enterprise environment you may want a more “corporate” image. Until now you have...

  [Correction – November 14th 2012] I have been informed that the new built in roles and features functionality of MDT 2012 Update 1  has the following very useful functionality. It will automatically try to find the SXS folder in the deployment...

Update – An updated and simpler version of this script is now available here - http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2013/06/07/update-removing-built-in-applications-from-windows-8.aspx . When creating a Windows 8 Image for the Enterprise...

If you are creating a Windows 8 image then you most likely want to customize the Start Screen layout that users see when they logon for the first time. However the question is "how should I customize the Start Screen?" There are three approaches that...

Update 2013-06-12: The newest version of this script can be found here . Two years ago I posted a script to automatically set the PATCH property used by ccmsetup.exe to install client updates during the Configuration Manager client installation...

MDT 2010 introduced a new feature called Finish Actions .  This allowed you to set the variable FinishAction to either SHUTDOWN, RESTART (or REBOOT), or LOGOFF and the computer would be shutdown, restarted, or logged off after the task sequence ...

When deploying Windows clients using Configuration Manager 2007 and MDT 2010 Update 1, there is often a requirement to run task sequence actions as a domain user as opposed to the local system account. For example, in order to perform actions on a computer...

MCS UK are looking for a technical consultant to specialise in client deployment (Windows 7 and Windows 8), Systems Centre 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) – to view and apply...

My favorite feature in Systems Center 2012 Configuration Manager (Configuration Manager) is without a doubt the new and shiny self-service Application Catalog portal. The new Application Catalog feature is packed with benefits for both the application...

The script has been updated to abort if the TPM is not Active and to create Endorsement Key Pair if it does not exist on the TPM. Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) provides features to manage BitLocker encryption of computers...

  In my previous post ‘ How to Limit or Restrict the Use of Bootable Media Devices for OS Deployment Using SCCM ’, I showed you how to limit or restrict outdated boot media devices.  As promised, I am now going to offer a solution for stand...

Microsoft is working with a number of compatibility partners to host Internet Explorer 6 Migration Roadshow events around the UK. With support for Windows XP coming to an end on the 8 th April 2014 and IE6 standing in so many people’s way of migration...