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 Explorer behavior. Many organizations must install...

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 more popular due to its ability to handle large...

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 an enterprise. More information on MBAM can...

I have recently been working with a customer on a Windows Vista to Windows 7 migration. During the Refresh deployment task sequence, BitLocker is suspended on the C and D partitions. On occasion we had issues where by protection was not always successfully being suspended on the D partition, which caused...

"Why deployment is so hard?", “Where can I find all related information?” What else I need to consider?” Those or similar questions are normal during my customer projects. After getting the same questions again and again, I’ve decided to create a Mindmap with all common links...

For a while I have been meaning to write up a solution around dynamic computer naming in Zero Touch. Many people have emailed or commenting on how useful this would be – so here goes. Zero Touch Installation relies on a combination of System Centre Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) and Microsoft...

As some of our regular readers will have seen, I released version 2.0 of the MDT Debugger a short time ago. This version 2.1 is just a minor update with the following changes/improvements: Fixed a bug in the output window that caused some process output not to be captured and displayed Added...

So a couple of weeks ago, I was working on a image engineering engagement for a customer. During image engineering I use an automated MDT 2010 task sequence to build the reference machine, customise it and then sysprep and capture it automatically. I typically use the ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf task in the...

It's been a while, but I'll now continue this series of basic tips in the hope to help avoid some deployment unpleasantness that you might rub shoulders with at some point! In this post I'll explain 5 common errors that people make when configuring their newly deployed Windows 7, and what you should...

Thanks you all for your patience waiting for the full set of deployment walkthrough videos to be posted on TechNet Edge . As per my previous post , over the past few months I have been updating the deployment walkthrough videos and I am pleased to announce that the whole video series has now been posted...

I know that many people used the Walkthrough videos that I created around Lite Touch deployment with MDT and Zero Touch deployment with Configuration Manager – as I got so many great emails about them. Over the past few months I have been updating the videos that I originally released as well as adding...

I wanted to highlight a new solutions accelerator that has been published, which I think is particularly relevant to deployment because it is something that I have to address in most of the deployment projects I work on. The guide is called "Windows User State Virtualisation (USV)" and discusses the...

When you pre-load an OEM build on machines, they are usually set-up to perform Mini-setup as soon as they come up. Customers sometimes have difficulties ensuring that these machines boot to WinPE using boot media or PXE rather than simply performing Mini-setup using input from the user. Usually, if this...

When working on deployment projects, there is often a requirement for a workstation to be customised on a location by location basis. Common workstation customisations which are applied in this manner include: Localisation settings (locales, keyboard settings, time zones, Windows (Windows Vista...

My esteemed colleague - Doug Klokow who is a Senior Consultant in the worldwide deployment practice, working with Windows 7 TAP (Technical Adoption Program) customers in the US has put together a most useful set of instructions regarding Windows 7 deployment using MDT 2010 and MAK keys. This is of benefit...

Following on from Aly’s excellent article about configuring MDT to support Boot from VHD I thought I would add some words about WDS and boot from VHD. Windows Server 2008 R2 contains an enhanced version of the WDS server. I will talk about some of the other enhancements in a later post – today I will...

One of the more difficult scenarios that customers have found in the past is multi-booting a new OS. The effort needed to re-partition the drive to allow for the new OS is sometimes too great. One new solution that is gaining ground in deployment is Boot From VHD. This allows you to take a VHD file with...

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is a set of tools and documentation that support the configuration and deployment of Microsoft® Windows® operating systems.. By using Windows AIK, you can automate Windows installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, configure and modify images...