Michael Niehaus' Windows and Office deployment ramblings
MDT 2010 Update 1 Beta available for download
As you may have noticed, either from the https://blogs.technet.com/msdeployment blog or via an e-mail...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 05/16/2010
Driver Management: What you are doing
Thanks to Rod, Chris, Reed, and others who helped encourage people to check out the driver...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 04/29/2010
Driver Management: What do you think?
Johan and I talked about various ways to handle drivers with MDT 2010 (Lite Touch) and ConfigMgr...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 04/29/2010
ConfigMgr 2007 Driver Management: The Novel, part 2
In the previous posting at...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 04/29/2010
Dumping Task Sequence Variables
Several people asked me after the troubleshooting session I presented at MMS 2010 how to write a...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 04/26/2010
MMS 2010: Seek out the Windows deployment experts
MMS 2010 is bound to be a busy week for everyone attending. But while you’re there, be sure to...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 04/16/2010
Make sure a ConfigMgr task sequence has all the packages it needs
If you’ve done ConfigMgr OS deployments, you’ve probably seen an error dialog like this before:...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 04/07/2010
Hiding (and showing) the task sequence progress dialog box
fThe task sequencer used in MDT 2010 and ConfigMgr 2007 is designed to show you at all times what’s...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 03/26/2010
New Solution Accelerator Beta Available
The beta version of the Configuration Manager Dashboard is now available on the Connect...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 01/31/2010
Fixing Office Upcoming Appointments gadget to work with Office 2010
I just finished installing Office 2010 on all my home computers, and immediately ran into a “wife...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 12/16/2009
Have questions about MDT 2010?
We have created a new forum on TechNet specifically for MDT-related questions – no question is too...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 12/16/2009
Ready for Office 2010? It’s not far away.
The Office 2010 Beta has been available for a short while now and should be released sometime next...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 12/07/2009
RIS-style naming with MDT 2010: Use a web service
I’ve been toying around with using a web service that could be used to implement RIS-style computer...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 12/06/2009
Workaround posted for ConfigMgr SP2 issue with USMT 4.0
Levi Stevens posted a blog entry today describing a workaround for an issue with ConfigMgr SP2 and...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 12/01/2009
Dynamic application detection with Lite Touch, Revisited
Over a year ago, I posted a blog entry at...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 12/01/2009
In the Seattle area? Come to the Windows Networking User’s Group meeting
On Wednesday, December 2, the Windows Networking User’s Group is having their monthly meeting at the...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 11/30/2009
Two webcasts next week
I’ll be busy next week, with two different webcasts targeting different groups of people. If...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 11/28/2009
Using the MDT database from a web service without writing code
One of the new features in the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is ADO.NET Data Services. This enables you to...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 10/27/2009
New version of the MDT Wizard Editor is available
For those of you who customize the MDT wizards, you may want to check out the new version of the MDT...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 10/12/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #21: Copying extra folders
When MDT 2010 replicates content to a linked deployment share, you can choose whether to copy...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 10/01/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #20: General Purpose ConfigMgr wizard
In MDT 2008, we provided unknown computer support for ConfigMgr 2007, since it didn’t provide that...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/30/2009
ConfigMgr SP2 is speedy
People have made fun of ConfigMgr, and every version of SMS before that, for being “slow moving...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/29/2009
Setting up an image factory, part 1: Using MDT 2010 Lite Touch with SCVMM 2008 R2
Yes, I’ve been promising this blog posting for quite some time. And I’ve been working on this for...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/23/2009
Running PowerShell scripts as part of a task sequence
Both MDT 2010 Lite Touch and ConfigMgr 2007 run the same task sequencer. This task sequencer...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/21/2009
Automatically update MDT 2010 boot images in WDS
You’ve probably gone through this cycle if you are using WDS to PXE boot computers to start bare...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/09/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #19: Improved Driver Management
I’ve been distracted while we worked on fixing the remaining bugs in MDT 2010, which was finally...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/09/2009
Sorting the contents of an MDT 2010 deployment share
Quite some time ago (well over a year ago – time flies) I posted a script at...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/09/2009
Automating Long-Running MDT 2010 Tasks
There are a few operations in the MDT 2010 Deployment Workbench that can take a while. We’ve...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/09/2009
MDT 2010 has been released!
It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally there: MDT 2010 was released today. See...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 09/08/2009
Prepopulating Windows Experience Index (WEI, a.k.a. WinSAT) numbers in Windows 7
In Windows Vista, the first time the operating system booted up it would run through a series of...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 08/26/2009
Speaking at TechEd Australia and TechEd New Zealand
I’ll be speaking at TechEd Australia (September 8-11 in Gold Coast) and TechEd New Zealand...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 08/26/2009
New Intel iaStor driver available
Many of you have been “challenged” by this driver: when you import it into the MDT Deployment...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 08/21/2009
Windows AIK for Windows 7 is available for download
Grab it from the download center via...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 08/06/2009
Querying the MDT database using a custom model
This seems to be a frequent question that comes up: “I am working with PCs from <vendor> that...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/17/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #18: Selection Profiles
As mentioned previously, MDT 2010 now allows you to create as many folders as you want, in whatever...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/12/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #17: Customizable boot image process
I mentioned before that the boot image creation process used by the Deployment Workbench is...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/10/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #16: PowerShell support
It seems like an understatement to just say that MDT 2010 now supports PowerShell to automate...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/10/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #15: Finish actions
When you perform a Lite Touch deployment, the task sequence runs through to completion, and then you...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/07/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #14: Database improvements
There were two main database limitations in MDT 2008 Update 1: We didn’t add any new “settings”...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/03/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #13: New task sequence templates
There are two new Lite Touch task sequence templates provided in MDT 2010: Capture only...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/01/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #12: USMT 4.0 hardlink support
Version 4.0 of the User State Migration Tool will release with Windows 7. The RC version of it...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 07/01/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #11: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 support
A few people asked why I hadn’t talked about support for these new OSes yet. First, these were...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 06/30/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #10: Detection of signed drivers
When importing drivers into MDT 2010, Deployment Workbench will validate if each driver is signed;...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 06/30/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #9: Copy and paste support in the Deployment Workbench task sequence editor
In previous versions of MDT, there was no way to copy a step or a group of steps between two task...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 06/30/2009
MDT 2010 New Feature #8: No more visible command windows when booting Lite Touch Windows PE
In MDT 2008, the Windows PE startup process was something close to this: Windows PE started CMD.EXE...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 06/30/2009
TechEd Australia: Now that’s a giveaway
Jeff Alexander posted the details of an interesting offer for the upcoming TechEd Australia...
Author: Michael Niehaus Date: 06/30/2009