Ben Hunter

The Last Post

Well I am sad to say that this is my last post. But don't worry I have something better.

I have been thinking for quite a while that there are so many different blogs out there with useful deployment information. This is great but it can be difficult to keep track of them all, there must be a better way.

With this in mind myself and a number of other guys that have deployment related blogs have decided to combine our efforts into one blog called "The Deployment Guys".

But that is not all.... We have also managed to convince a number of deployment gurus from within Microsoft Services that do not currently have blogs to contribute.  These are guys that have great information to contribute and will really add something to the blog.

So look out for posts from Richard Smith, Daniel Oxley and myself as well as a host of others. We have a lot planned.

I have high hopes for this new blog hopefully you will find it useful as well.

So subscribe to the RSS feed and enjoy.

http://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

Microsoft Deployment - Released

Well it looks like I no longer have to answer the question "when will Microsoft Deployment be released?" with the response "sometime soon :)".

Microsoft Deployment is now released!!

I wont go into all the details of what MDT does, you will find that information in many blogs (including my previous and future posts) and within the MDT documentation itself. Instead I would simply congratulate the development team for producing a worthy successor to BDD.

If you want to download MDT then you will find it here.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - TechNet Magazine article worth reading

One of my fellow Microsoft Services consultants from the UK Adam Shepherd, has just had an article published in TechNet Magazine.

The article provides advice on how to scale BDD. This includes how to to support multiple databases, use DFS-R and how to leverage WDS.

The advice is based on learning's from real world so you should find it practical. If nothing else it should help you further understand just how flexible BDD really is.

So go out there and read this article and remember to keep an eye out for future articles from Adam, they will be good!

PS. It is worth having a good look around TechNet Magazine as there are a number of good deployment articles in previous issues.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD is now Microsoft Deployment

The big secret is now out!

BDD has officially had a name change, the next version will be called Microsoft Deployment. I was hoping the new name would be "the solution accelerator formerly known as BDD" but I don't think that even made it to first cut because the acronym would have been too long (TSAFKABDD).

I think it is fairly obvious that now the server and desktop deployment tools had been unified into one solution accelerator that it needed a a more appropriate name.

So start making up new acronyms as I don't want to type Microsoft Deployment out every time. My bet is on MDT, what do you think will stick?

As well as announcing the new name the Microsoft Deployment Team have released Microsoft Deployment RC1. This contains a number of enhancements over Deployment 4 Beta 3 but there a three that are particularly dear to my heart...

The MDT guys have noted the number of people that create custom task sequences to test application deployment. With this in mind they created a new task sequence template that allows you to create a custom task sequence.   This means that you no longer have to create a task sequence that includes a disabled operating system deployment task to get a custom task sequence to work.

The second thing that you may notice is the nice interface they have created for configuring BitLocker, I have included a screen shot below:

And the third thing I like is the little piece of SOLUTIONACCELERATORS branding they have added to the bottom of the properties windows of every task :)

So everyone, "Act Faster. Go Further" and download Microsoft Deployment RC0 from the following location:

https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=14&DownloadID=8689

P.S. I hope you like my gratuitous use of the Solution Accelerators slogan! The marketing guys would be proud:)

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - How to create a Custom task sequence with reboots

I am often asked how to setup a custom task sequence that will continue after a reboot.

If you have created a custom task sequence to install a number of applications that includes a reboot then you will know the problem I am taking about. When you do this you will find that the computer will reboot and then return to the logon prompt. The computer does not automatically logon :(. So you logon manually and BDD does not continue, so you have to manually launch the litetouch.wsf script :(. Then FINALLY the script will continue happily, until next next reboot at least.

Well I don't find this very convenient and I bet you don't either. So I have created a script that will setup required components to allow the BDD processes to continue as they would in a normal BDD deployment process.

The script configures three main components:

1. Populates the required auto logon keys in the registry
2. Populates the MININT folder with the scripts required to launch the script at when the client reboots
3. Configures the BDD script to launch at reboot by creating a shortcut to the litetouch.wsf script in the "all users" startup folder
4. Configures the correct phase information so that BDD knows what phase it should process

I find this script very useful, hopefully you find this script as useful as I do.

To implement the script follow the steps detailed below:

Update the deployment point rules

The script uses the ADMINPASSWORD property specified using BDD rules to determine the password that should be used for the local administrator account. If this is not correct then you can change the following line from the script to correctly reflect the value you want to use:

 oShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\DefaultPassword", oEnvironment.item("AdminPassword"), "REG_SZ"

Update the scripts folder

Next you must add the script to the .\distribution\scripts folder. You will notice that the script names have the prefix "Z-" this is because BDD automatically copies all scripts that start with "Z" from the distribution share to other deployment points when they are updated.

Update the build task sequence

The next thing you do is add the scripts to the build task sequence. I would recommend creating an application for each script that executes a script and then add it to the task sequence as shown below. It is important to note that the "CUSTOM TS - Setup for reboot " task is run before the first reboot is performed.

Update your deployment points

Finally you should update your deployment points to so that these changes are propagated to the correct places.

For more information about custom task sequences then please refer to the following links:

• Deployment 4 task sequences
• BDD 2007 task sequences
• More BDD 2007 task sequence information

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 -How to ensure the computer is in the correct OU

As promised in a previous blog post here is a script to move a computer to the correct OU from within the host operating system.

There are two situations where I find this script useful:

1. When a computer object already exists in Active Directory for the computer you are deploying. In this situation the existing computer object will be reused and the computer will remain in the original computer objects OU.
2. When you are using a Staging OU during deployment. In this situation the computer is added to a staging OU when it is joined to the domain.

In both of these situations I want to ensure that the computer is in the correct OU when the deployment is finished.

To implement the script follow the steps detailed below:

Update the deployment point rules

The script uses the MACHINEOBJECTOU property specified using BDD rules to determine the OU that the computer object should be moved too.  You will need to ensure that your rules specify a value for this property for each computer.

The following properties to be declared in the deployment point rules. These properties are used to connect to AD and move the computers. The account used must have the rights to create and delete computer objects in the domain:

DomainAdminDomain
DomainAdminPassword
DomainAdmin

Update the scripts folder

Next you must add the script to the .\distribution\scripts folder. You will notice that the script names have the prefix "Z-" this is because BDD automatically copies all scripts that start with "Z" from the distribution share to other deployment points when they are updated.

Update the build task sequence

The next thing you do is add the scripts to the build task sequence. I would recommend creating an application for each script that executes a script and then add it to the task sequence as shown below. it is important to note that the "Move Computer" task is run near the end of the State Restore phase, particularly if you are moving the computer from a staging OU.

Update your deployment points

Finally you should update your deployment points to so that these changes are propagated to the correct places.

If you want to see how to move the computer to a staging OU from within windows PE then refer to my previous blog post.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

Deployment 4 - UPDATE - How to create a custom task sequence

I have previously mentioned how to create a custom task sequence to save time when testing application installation in BDD 2007.

You will find the article here.

There are two problems you could run into when using this process with Deployment 4.

1. If you create a custom task sequence based on a REPLACE template then it fails saying it cannot find \distribution$\control\ts.xml
2. If you use a different template then I get an error saying you haven’t specified a deploymenttype value.

These problems are caused by checks put in place to verify the type of task sequence being executed. This design essentially means that you cannot use a custom task sequence unless you include an “Install Operating System” task in the task sequence.

Don't worry, there is no need to despair...... I have a solution.

1. Simply add an “Install Operating System” task to your the task sequence and then you can disable it.
2. Never use a Replace template to create your custom task sequence.

The task sequence and the process will then function as it would in BDD 2007.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - How do you do it?

I am often asked how I install and configure BDD 2007.

So I thought now was a good time to detail at a high level the process I go through to create and deploy operating system images using BDD 2007. This is not a step by step guide but more of a rant about how I do BDD and the reasons why.

The first thing I must say is that this is just my way of doing installing BDD. And I am sure that there are many people using BDD in different ways, which may well be better than mine. BDD is a very flexible framework and allows many ways to perform these tasks.

If you have any other suggestions about how to install BDD then I would love to hear from you. (I always like new ideas!)

So here we go....

I have broken the configuration process into a number of steps. Each step in the process is detailed in the flowchart below:  

So let’s go through each of these steps in more detail.

Install BDD 

Installing BDD is very simple, the steps I follow are listed below:

1. The first thing I do when installing BDD is install the prerequisites. This includes the WAIK and MS XML. These can be installed from within the BDD Workbench but I install them manually beforehand.
2. I then install BDD. I usually locate the distribution folder within a folder on D drive (or whatever drive is available) called BDD. I then use this folder to store all other BDD related folders. (this keeps things nice and tidy:)). For example I tend to create the distribution folder in D:\BDD\Distribution.

TIP - Make sure you are using BDD patch 1 as this includes a number of fixes.

Import Source Files

Before I talk about importing source files it is best to discuss my philosophy when creating images. I believe that the process you use to create your images should be fully automated (where possible) and easily repeatable. I NEVER build an image manually. Let me put this another way, the scenarios where you would need manually create your image are very rare and should be avoided.

One of the major strengths of BDD is its ability to fully automate the image creation process. If you want an image that is easy to recreate and manage then BDD is the tool for you.

A good example of why you should use BDD rather than manually building an image illustrated by image patching. Let’s say you manually created your image six months ago and now you want to update the image with extra patches. With BDD you would simply update your build task sequence and recreate your image, EASY. If you manually created your image you could take one of two approaches:

1. You could manually recreate your build and then add the patches. 
2. Deploy the image, manually update it with the latest patches and then recapture the image.

Neither of these approaches is recommended. The first will most likely introduce inconsistencies as it is very hard to create a repeatable image when you are doing it manually. The second process is BAD as you should not sysprep an image multiple times.

So with that rant out of the way let see how I import the required source files.

I import all of the files that will be used in the image creation and deployment process. These Source files are divided into four distinct groups:

• Operating Systems - Any operating system source files used during deployment. This can include Vista source files or even Windows PE 2004/2005 if you are deploying images using SMS.
• Applications - I use the applications option to import more than just applications. I create an application to for every task that I want to perform with BDD, from installing office to removing unwanted shortcuts from the start menu. By doing this I can easily keep a track of the tasks I have created and reuse them across multiple builds.
• OS Packages - If I am deploying Vista then I import language packs and patches. BDD will then integrate these automatically during deployment.
• Drivers - I import the drivers required drivers for each hardware model I will deploy. If I need to use driver groups then I import the drivers using the PowerShell scripts from my previous post here. 

TIP - Create a naming standard that clearly identifies applications. This makes management easier particularly as the number of applications increase. I like to apply a prefix to each application that defines its purpose. For example an application used to install Office 2007 would be called “INSTALL-Office 2007” and an application used to configure the sound scheme would be called “CONFIG-Sound Scheme”.

Create an "Image Creation" Build

A Build binds together a number of components, source files, configuration settings and the installation process (task sequence) defining how to create an image.  With this in mind let’s detail how I create a master image.

1. I create a Build using the New Build Wizard, specifying the operating system imported in the previous step.
2. I then add all of the applications that I want include in the image to the task sequence state restore phase.

Easy huh? It is really that simple. Of course you need to test the installation process and you are unlikely to get it right first time but it really is that easy.

The key point is that I always add the applications to the task sequence; I do not select them during deployment using the wizard. Using this method gives you control over when applications install. It also allows you to control when reboots occur.

TIP: Changes made to applications after they have been added to a task sequence are not propagated to the task sequence. So if you make a change then the best approach is to simply remove the application from the task sequence and add it again. The changes will then be applied to the build.

TIP: If the Master Image is to be deployed by SMS then make sure that you include the SMS client in the build.

Create and Capture master image

Now that I have created a build that defines how to create an image we need to execute the build and capture the image.

The first step in this process is the configuration of the Lab deployment.

1. Configure the deployment point to automate the build process. I tend to to update the deployment point rules so that the only questions I am asked are the capture method and the build I want to execute.
2. Ensure that the deployment point has been updated using the "Update" option (not "update (files only)").

Once the deployment point is configured we can capture the image. 

1. Boot to the LiteTouch_x86 image created - I tend to load the image onto a USB stick and boot from there but you could also use a Windows DS server or cut the image to a CD/DVD.
2. From the Lite Touch Wizard I select the build I just created.
3. From the Lite Touch Wizard I select the capture type. If it is SMS then I select prepare, for LTI deployments I select yes and specify where the image will be saved. The image will now begin to build.
4. If we specified the capture to be LTI then the image will be captured automatically. However if the image is to be deployed using SMS then the final step in the process is to capture the image using the SMS capture CD.
5. Once the image has been captured I then import it into the deployment workbench as a “Custom WIM”.

TIP: Instructions detailing how to fully automate the BDD Lite Touch Wizard are included in the "Configuration reference" document  included with BDD 2007. (Hint: look at the last two pages)

Create an "image deployment" build

One aspect of BDD that causes a lot of confusion is the purpose of Builds. Particularly as builds can be use to both create and deploy images. I prefer to think of builds is as task sequence that controls the execution of a series of scripts which has an operating system and settings associated with it. Task sequences can be used to control the deployment of an image or create an operating system image from scratch.

NOTE: The next version of BDD will no longer refer to builds; instead it makes the task sequence the center of the image creation process.

So with this in mind I create a build that is used to deploy the master image:

1. Create a build using the New Build Wizard specifying the operating system image I imported in the previous step.
2. I then update the task sequence adding the customizations required during deployment such as my SMS GUID reuse script (detailed in a previous post).

TIP: To avoid confusion over the purpose of each build use a naming convention that clearly identifies the builds purpose. For example a build that is used to create a master image could be called “Create-Master Image” and a build used to deploy the image could be called “Deploy-Master Image”.

Deploy the Image

The last thing we need to do is deploy the image we have created. While deployment methods can vary depending on the situation from using SMS to deploying via DVD or directly from BDD itself the overall principles remain the same.

I NEVER deploy an image using the lab deployment point. I always create another deployment point to deploy the image. If I am not using SMS OSD then I will create a Separate deployment point (Network) to deploy the image. This approach allows granular control over the rules used to deploy the image.

I always create a deployment process that is as automated as possible. This is achieved using rules to define values for BDD deployment properties. Where possible I use the BDD Database to define values for properties but I also use UserExit scripts and static assignment when required. Very occasionally I will prompt the user for information if required.

When deploying an image you need to ensure that the correct drivers and applications are applied during deployment. BDD manages the application of drivers for you but extra effort is required to manage hardware specific applications. To address this issue I import each application into the BDD Workbench and then associate it with the appropriate hardware type using the BDD database.

So here are the steps I follow to deploy the image:

1. Create a Deployment Point to deploy the image
2. Configure the Deployment Point with the rules required to automate the deployment process
3. Configure the BDD database
4. Create a database entry for each model type.
5. Create a database entry for each computer
6. Deploy the image.... NICE!

TIP: For further information on rules please refer to my previous post here.

TIP: For further information on prompting users for information during deployment then refer to my previous posts here and here and Johan’s post.

So that is how I create and deploy images using BDD. Low on detail and high on opinion I know, but this is an approach that I have found to be very successful. Hopefully you will be able to use some of these methods to make your deployments equally successful.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - Special characters special problems

Here is a simple tip when using BDD. DO NOT use special characters anywhere. They cause problems.

Let's illustrate this with an example. I create an application with the name "AT&T Dialer". Then when I add this application to the task sequence I see that it is now displayed as "INSTALL-ATT Dialer".

You can also have problems when you use special characters in your password. This causes issues when BDD tries to save the password to the unattend.xml file, causing the build to fail.

So my simple advice is, avoid using special characters as this is save you time trying to debug those "weird" errors.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

Deployment 4 – Who stole my build?

Well for those of you that have already installed Deployment 4 may have notice that Deployment 4 does not use builds anymore. Task sequences are used instead.

Task sequences are very similar to builds with a few subtle changes.

All of the task sequence configuration information is now maintained within the task sequence itself, NOT in the general and settings tabs settings tab.

So let’s compare builds and task sequences. The screen shots below are from a BDD 2007 build.

So where exactly is this information stored in Deployment 4?

The information is stored with the task that uses it. So for example let’s have a look at the operating system deployment task. As you can see from the screen shot below there is a drop down box that allows you to choose an operating system.

Now let’s look at the disk partitioning task. As you can see below this task allows you to specify the disk configuration in the task itself... NICE ... no more mucking around with diskpart files!!

I really like this new approach to to configuring settings. I think it will prove to be much more flexible than the way builds are configured. 

Unfortunately there is not currently an interface to configure the following operating system configuration settings:

• Admin password
• Product key
• Full name
• Organization
• IE home page
• Unattend/Sysprep file editing

Don’t panic! The Deployment 4 team is working on adding this functionality to the operating system deployment task before it is released. For now you will have to manually update the configuration files. As a teaser I have included a screen shot from an SCCM task sequence to show you the “apply windows settings” task, as this is what the final solution might look like.

For more information about task sequences please have a look at this post by Michael Niehaus.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

Deployment 4 (the next version of BDD) - Beta 3 Released

It looks like the BDD team has been very busy! They have just released Deployment 4 Beta 3 the worthy successor to BDD 2007.

Having spent a reasonable amount of time testing Deployment 4 I must say I am very impressed, particularly when it is combined with SCCM.

So what is it that has impressed me about Deployment 4?

• Support for both desktop and server deployment
• Integration with SCCM - right into the SCCM console itself
• Enables the use of static IP's (very important for server deployment)
• Enhanced disk partitioning support
• Support for multiple task sequences - Templates are included for both client and server deployment
• Builds no longer exist - Everything revolves around the task sequence now!
• Support for multicast deployment when combined with Windows Server 2008
• Support for web service calls as part of the rule processing

These are only a few of the improvements, more detailed information is included in the release notes.

But the thing I like the most about deployment 4 is the subtle changes, those little improvements to the deployment workbench and task sequences that make deployment easier.

While there are significant improvements from BDD 2007 the overall  concepts remain the same. So, you should easily be able to get up to speed.

So go and test it for yourself (particularly with SCCM). I know you will be pleasantly surprised!

Deployment 4 is now available for download now at the following location:

https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=14&DownloadID=8689

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - How to move a computer object in Windows PE

Many of my customers have Group Policy settings that are very restrictive and cause problems during operating system deployments. For example the legal notice messages can interrupt an automated logon process.

This can be a real hassle to get around when deploying so to solve the issue the I perform by performing one of the following steps:

1. If the computer is already in the domain - I move the computer to a "Staging OU" that has no group policy settings applied.

2. If the computer is not in the domain - I ensure that the computer will be created in the  "Staging OU".

This process is performed during the State Restore phase from within Windows PE. At the end of the deployment I then run another script that moves the computer to the correct OU, the group policy is applied and everyone is happy. :)

To make this happen I use two scripts:

1. Z-MoveComputer-StagingOU.wsf - This script move the computer to the "Staging OU" and updates the MachineObjectOU property with the "Staging OU" value.

2. Z-MoveComputer-SwapOUValues.wsf - This script runs after BDD has configured the Sysprep or Unattend.xml files, it's purpose to change the MachineObjectOU and  "Staging OU" properties back to their original values.

I have attached the required scripts, to implement the scripts follow the steps detailed below:

Enable ADSI in Windows PE

Windows PE must have ADSI enabled (not officially supported) for these scripts to work, the steps below details how to enable ADSI.

To enable ADSI to in Windows PE 2004/2005 (ZTI Only) you will need to perform the following steps:

1. Update Extra.inf located within the WinPE source directory with the following lines:

                  [ExtraFiles]

                  activeds.tlb = 1,,,,,,,2,0,0,,1,2

                  adsldp.dll = 1,,,,,,,2,0,0,,1,2

2. Update the BDD OSD deployment point creating an updated Windows PE source

3. Import the new Windows PE source into SMS

4. Recreate SMS deployment CD

To enable ADSI in Windows PE 2.0 (LTI) then follow Johan Arwidmark's instructions here.

Update the deployment point rules

1. The following properties to be declared in the deployment point rules. These properties are used to connect to AD and move the computers. The account used must have the rights to create and delete computer objects in the domain:

               DomainAdminDomain
               DomainAdminPassword
               DomainAdmin

2. You also need two new custom properties to be declared in the deployment point rules:

               StagingOU – The full staging OU path, this is in the same format as the MachineObjectOU property.
               DomainDC – The name of a Domain Controller to connect too.

Here is an example CustomSettings.ini file:

               [Settings]
               Priority=Default
               Properties=StagingOU,DomainDC

               [Default]
               StagingOU=OU=Staging,DC=domain,DC=com
               DomainDC=DC01
               DomainAdminUser=Account
               DomainAdminDomain=domain
               DomainAdminPassword=password

Update the scripts folder

Next you must add the scripts to the .\distribution\scripts folder. You will notice that the script names have the prefix "Z-" this is because BDD automatically copies all scripts that start with "Z" from the distribution share to other deployment points when they are updated.

Update the build task sequence

The next thing you do is add the scripts to the build task sequence. I would recommend creating an application for each script that executes a script and then add it to the task sequence as shown below. It is important to note that the "Move Computer" script must be run before the Configure task and the "Revert OU" script must be run after the configure task.

Update your deployment points

Finally you should update your deployment points to so that these changes are propagated to the correct places.

If you want to see how to move the computer to it's final OU (MachineObjectOU) then have a look at this blog post.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - Time saving tips - How to manually restart the build process

When troubleshooting the BDD deployment I often make a change then test. Then find that I need to make another adjustment and test again. Well this this process can be time consuming especially if you have to wait for Windows PE to reboot each time.

Well I have a couple of tips to help speed this process up!

When troubleshooting BDD 2007 deployment issues there is a quick way to restart the deployment process without having to restart the computer. I detail methods for both LTI and ZTI deployments that should save you a lot of time in the deployment process below.

ZTI Deployments

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have enabled the "Lab Shell". The Lab Shell allows you to start a command prompt from within Windows PE. Once you have enabled the Lab Shell then you can use the methods detailed below once the build process has failed:

       1. Delete the MININT folder - This folder contains information from the previous failed deployment and can cause problems if not removed.

                      rd C:\MININT /q/s

       2. Delete the _SMSTaskSequence - This folder contains information from the previous task sequence and can cause problems if not removed.

                      rd C:\_SMSTaskSequence /q/s

       3. Remove any network connections - SMS will try to reconnect to the distribution point, this process will fail if these connections exist.

                      net use * /d

       4. Restart the build process

                      OSDShell

LTI Deployments

The process to restart an LTI deployment is also very similar to the ZTI process. Once the build process has failed perform the following steps:

       1. When the build process fails you should close the summary window using the window close button in the top left hand corner. Do not use the finish button.

       2. Maximize the command prompt window.

       3. Delete the MININT folder - This folder contains information from the previous failed deployment and can cause problems if not removed.

                      rd C:\MININT /q/s

       4. Delete the _SMSTaskSequence - This folder contains information from the previous task sequence and can cause problems if not removed.

                     rd C:\_SMSTaskSequence /q/s

       5. Remove any network connections - SMS will try to reconnect to the distribution point, this process will fail if these connections exist.

                      net use * /d

       6. Restart the build process

                      X:\Deploy\Scripts\LiteTouch.wsf

Hopefully these tips will help save you time when troubleshooting the BDD deployment process.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - A pretty good ZTI front end

In the past I have written a number of blogs about how you can use the LTI wizard to create a customized front end for your ZTI deployments. They detail both how to use the wizards to gather information, how to automatically enter this information into the database once you have gathered it and hint at how you could extend this functionality yourself without too much trouble.

So with that preface I must direct you all to Johan Arwidmark's site. Johan has created a pretty good ZTI front end in my opinion (as well as his own) using some of the techniques that I mentioned. He has taken it a lot further though and created a front end with a number of impressive features that is easy to understand and use. These features include:

• Dynamically querying the database for roles and presenting these as a drop down box.
• Dynamically querying AD for organizational units and presenting these as a drop down box.
• Dynamically querying SMS/OSD for package information and presenting these as a drop down box.

However the feature that I am most impressed with is how it demonstrates the usefulness and simplicity and flexibility of the BDD LTI wizard. So if this front end doesn't provide all of the features you are looking you should be able to easily adjust it to meet your requirements.

So go and have a look at it yourselves I am sure you will mind it most useful!

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

BDD 2007 - How to Prompt for information then update the database

I have previously published posts detailing how you can perform bulk updates to the database and how you can use the LTI wizard to prompt for information in ZTI deployments. Now I think it's about time I show you how to combine these two features and populate the database with the information gathered by the wizard.

This process can be very useful when you are trying to build a client that is not in the database. Generally the build process starts and a database lookup is performed to determine the settings, but there are no settings in the database so the build fails. This is not always the best situation and you may not want to manually update the database every time you need to build a computer.

So with this in mind I have created the solution detailed in the flowchart below:

The following steps detail how to implement this process.

Copy files to the ZTI$ share

First we must copy the following files to the deployment point. I have included a sample Custom_Wizard_Definition_ENU.xml file in the attached ZIP file.

• BackButton.JPG
• Custom_Wizard_Definition_ENU.xml
• DeployWiz_Initialization.vbs
• DeployWiz_Validation.vbs
• Wizard.css
• Wizard.hta
• Wizard.ico
• WizUtility.vbs

Update the deployment point

Next we must update the deployment point bootstrap.ini file. I have included a sample bootstrap.ini and UserExit.vbs files in the attached zip file.

To update files on the deployment point, complete the following steps:

  1. Add the CheckDatabase value to the properties line of the deployment point bootstrap.ini file:

Properties=CheckDatabase

  2. Add the following lines to the [Default] section of the deployment point bootstrap.ini file:

CheckDatabase=#CheckDB#

UserExit=UserExit.vbs

OSDInstallProgram=Install

  3. If no user exit file currently exists, copy the userexit.vbs file to the ZTI folder.

  4. Copy the CheckDB function from the userexit.vbs file provided to the current file.

  5. Replace the <DB SERVER> value in the userexit.vbs file with the name of the server hosting the BDD 2007 database (for example, Data Source=MyDBServer).

Update the Custom_Wizard_Definition_ENU.xml File

The Custom_Wizard_Definition_ENU.xml contains the control information for the wizard. You must customize this file to meet your requirements. The sample file included in the attached file will only prompt for the computer name, but this can easily be updated to include other information such as roles or OU information.

So I hope this helps, it may not be used by everyone but there are certainly times when you will find this process invaluable. 

For more detailed information about updating the database please refer to this post.

For more detailed information about using the LTI wizard with ZTI please refer to this post.

Note: These scripts are set up to use the MAC address as a unique key to store information in the database. You can easily update the scripts to use other values, such as a serial number or asset tag, if required.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.