With System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service pack 1 came new ways to manage new OS types.  Mac and Unix/Linux management were big additions, but perhaps equally big was the expansion of mobile device management to manage things like iOS...

This week Microsoft rolled out a BIG hotfix (90 hotfixes) rollup for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 . To better understand all the goodness it gives you check out the AskPFEPlat blog or go to the source of one of the guys who helped put...

There are all kinds of new features in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (SCCM 2012) and you have probably read about, watched video, or made use of many of them. As I visit customers I find there is one very cool feature that most folks don’t...

Back in the SMS 2.0 days I was doing phone support and I would often have to listen to statements of disbelief when I told customers to create a Dial_Me_in_baby.sms file in order to enable logging to troubleshoot their issues. While that file is no longer...

As much as I love it, it may occasionally be necessary to remove the System Center Configuration Manager client.  I recently had a customer who could not get a machine to upgrade from 2007 to 2012 and after attempting many things we did a manual...

I had a customer doing some custom permission setting in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager the other week and after adding folks to a few existing security roles all was good except that these limited rights users could not create collections. ...

I hit an odd issue with a customer recently that was not easy to figure out or troubleshoot so I would like to share the problem and solution in hopes that others can avoid the pain we had to go through.   The issue is, in general, very straight...

Driver management has never been a fun aspect of Configuration Manager.  It is one of those necessary evils to enable a bigger solution of great OS deployment.  Done according to product design it consists of 3 general steps: Import drivers...

Today’s tip is one which many folks already know, but surprisingly many folks, even those who have used the product for a long time, have some how missed.  Due to some work I put into this many years ago it holds a special little place in my ConfigMgr...

Many of my customers are in similar situations where they do not include application deployment in their OS imaging process but instead rely on Configuration Manager to deploy apps after the OS is up and running. The biggest complaint I hear is about...

There are several tips on how to stop accidental deployment of task sequences (one of my favorite links is to a blog post by Frank Rojas ).  One of my customers had come up with a fairly good idea on this topic I wanted to share also. Like programs...

Today’s post isn’t a tip or trick per se, but rather an issue that is not well documented that I hit with a customer. When you install ConfigMgr 2012 you will notice that .NET 4.0 is a pre-req.  If, after installing the site, you decide you want...

If you are new to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and learning the new Role Based Authentication (RBA) model you may not initially grasp the concept that you grant a user a role and scope to define their security access. I find this gets people...

One of the things I often get asked to do is to look over ConfigMgr 2007 installs and provide feedback on any issues I see.  One of the things I look at is the folders in \Microsoft Configuration Manager\Inboxes.  These folders contain all the...

I was working with a customer once and we were looking for a good way to separate laptops from desktops within Configuration Manager when we hit upon this little known “memory” trick that I wanted to share. Often times people use the Win32_SystemEnclosure...

All kinds of news today.  A piece I find interesting…, ConfigMan is no longer going to be available as a stand alone product, but instead as part of a suite.  A good write-up is linked below. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-details...

What I like about Configuration Manager is that there is always new things to learn.  I had one of those learning points recently.  I was with a customer and after explaining that during a PXE boot WDS would detect the architecture of the client...

While the ConfigMgr product has matured over the years the general category of client health continues to make admins curse.  For those that don’t know what I’m referring to (lucky folks), “client health” generally refers to making sure all the components...

I co-worker of mine pointed out a large amount of 30102 and 30103 status messages being generated by FEP 2010 clients.  If you run a status message query on your system you can see them, but nothing in the UI brings them to your attention by default...

If you spend much time around Configuration Manager you become aware that a lot of it runs through WMI.  WMI is “Windows Management Instrumentation” and is essentially Microsoft’s implementation of a internet standard called Web Based Enterprise...

OK, I will reveal one of my own skeletons today.  I have setup the FEP definition update tool several times for customers but in my own lab I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out why it would not run correctly.  For those...

Heads-up to everyone out there.  The RC of System Center Configuration Manager 2012 is now availible for public download.  You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27841 .  Notice how Forefront Endpoint Protection...

One of my customers asked me to build this example query and I figured I would share with everyone, not just one company.  it can be handy when you are doing OS Deployment testing and you need to look up a machine based on its MAC address to delete...

Before System Center Configuration Manager was known as “ConfigMgr 2007” or “SCCM” it was Systems Management Server (SMS). You have probably all heard the joke about what SMS stood for; Slow Moving Software. Well, those that have not adjusted their lifestyles...

Last night I decided to tackle a minor, but annoying, problem in my household. I have a Zune and I use my 10 credits every month to buy music that I like. I don’t have physical media for these songs and perhaps I’m just old school, but I wanted physical...