This program is currently not available

Have you ever seen this error when you have a non-manditory advertisment? It could be to several reasons. If you have a chain of programs it could be that one requires the no one be logged on or maybe that you have it disabled. Check the settings for each program or remove the chain and run just the first program and see if it downlaods and runs.

Adobe reader virtual and Pro

We have an environment where some machines are running Adobe Pro 7 and Adobe Pro 6. More often than not some run into a PDF they can’t open so the must use the Reader 9. Well in a test to see how a virtual Reader would act, this is what I found.

Reader virtual was installed First
Pro 7 is then installed.

As expected when Reader was installed any PDF you click on opens Adobe Reader virtual. A link in the web browser will launch the external PDF viewer since IE wasn’t sequenced with it.

When Pro 7 is installed the Default PDF behavior is shift to the Pro, as expected. Any PDF opened will open in pro.
Interestingly enough if you want to force Adobe Reader as the default behavior you can right click a PDF select “open with” then select “Application virtualization client” Always open with this.

Then when you click a PDF app-v will check and use the appropriate application but if you click on a PDF link in a browser window it will open with PDF pro since it can see the app-v settings. I am sure I can trick the browser by why bother. In the rare case you can’t open the PDF, or if it is very slow, you can simply download and open it by double clicking which will open it with the Virtual Reader.

There is no real reason to run these virtually or physically together other than the face that 6 and 7 are old. Machines that have Adobe 8 pro and Adobe 9 pro are just fine.

Java Collection that contains only java 1.6

A user on the MS forums was looking for a collection that contained computers with only Java 1.6 installed and not both 1.6 and 1.5. So here is a collection to do just that:



select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName like "Java(TM) 6%" and SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name not in (select distinct SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName like "Java(TM) 5%")

SP upgrade error

I upgraded to SP2 over the weekend. I didn't uninstall the MP nor did I uninstall WAIK before I began. Those objects upgraded with zero problems. The only problem I encountered was at the very beginning when you choose your download location for the updates.

Every time I choose the download folder it was state:
"component manifest was not found or it was invalid"

Well I simply moved the
ConfigMgr.manifest.cab
ccmsetup.cab
to a new folder and tried again. This time it downloaded and start the install.

I cannot say how long it took, but It wasn't several hours. I minimized the window and read the Sunday paper. When I returned it was pretty much done upgrading.

A restart wasn't required but I did it anyway since I like to restart after major upgrades and installs to ensure the platform is stable.

Microsoft Cert 071-686

It looks like I passed the Pro: Windows® 7, Enterprise Desktop Administrator Beta exam.
It still isn't listed on the Microsoft Website. I still have one more exam for Win 7 and I hopefully I will be a MCITP in Win 7.

New KB973499 - A memory leak occurs when many content location requests are received by a site server ConfigMgr 2007 SP1

A new hotfix is out for ConfigMgr 2007. It has to do with too many requests sent to the MP and a memory leak that may occur. More information can be found at the Micrsosoft configMgr blog



http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/archive/2009/11/16/new-kb973499-a-memory-leak-occurs-when-many-content-location-requests-are-received-by-a-site-server-configmgr-2007-sp1.aspx

Windows 7 Ultimate, commemorative Edition

Well I received my commemorative copy of Windows 7 today. It is a thanks for beta tests of Win 7. Microsoft also sent me 6 copies of Windows 7 RC DVDS when it was published. Thank you Mircorosft for the generous gift.

Win 7 Cab files for OSD

For those that inject the drivers into the image of Dell machines, the win 7 cabs are now out

http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Dell+Business+Client+Operating+System+Deployment+-+The+.CAB+Files

Passed Win 7, 71-685 exam

Well I received my passing notice for the Win 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician beta exam.

We have a Win 7 test machine in our office which I have only played with a little but have been reading all the documentation for Win 7 and all the articles on it. Knowing Vista would help you only a little bit.

MMS 2010 Call for Sessions

Well MMS is a month earlier this year, it usually falls on my wedding anniversary :(

Well call for sessions is now open!!!

https://www.mms-2010.com/CFT/default.aspx

So not only was I wrong about the day....I was wrong about the month!!!

ConfigMgr Sp2 and R3 Webcast

Did you want to get in on the ground floor and learn about the changes and advances in Sp2 and R3 here is your chance.

On Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
TechNet Webcast: Technical Overview: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 and R3

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032428200&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

MMs 2010 Registration

Registration opens for MMS 2010 on November 3, 2009.

If you want to stay in the Venetian Hotel or with the Palazzo Hotel you need to book early!
If you think you want to present but you still want to attend if you don't then go ahead and register. If you become a presenter then they will credit your registration and hotel fees.

Nov 20th might be close to when the Call for Sessions opens, that is my guess. Just keep watching the mms site: http://www.mms-2010.com/ or the www.myitforum.com pages for more information.

Win 7 day and ConfigMgr Sp2 Day

Well we know that today is the official release day for Win 7. There is a buzz that today Sp2 for ConfigMgr 2007 (SCCM) will also be release. Since it is still only 6AM over in Redmond, I can assume it won't be pushed to the web for a few more hours. Once it goes live I will add the link to this page.


ConfigMgr SP2
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3318741A-C038-4AB1-852A-E9C13F8A8140&displaylang=en

Quicktime 7.6.4

If you have deployed Quicktime either virtually or physically you have noticed that Apple slipped in a new application Apple Application Support. I am not quite sure what this application does but it won't work without it now.

When you virtualize Quicktime it will not pull in this new application by default.
While this is run during the sequecing it isn't capture into the virtual file structure. C:\program files\common files\Apple\Apple Application Support

Uninstalling when you don't have an MSI

Many times you need to remove software from the clients but how do you do that when you installed it using an EXE?

Well the answer is quite simple, msiexe /x {GUID}

Where GUID is pulled from the registry of the client. If you look in the Resource explorer of the machine and find the software you want to remove then scroll over to the right it will have the GUID. This can found in the programs Registry settings also.

Lets look at Adobe Air uninstall key:

Adobe Air:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{00203668-8170-44A0-BE44-B632FA4D780F}

Uninstall string:MsiExec.exe /I{00203668-8170-44A0-BE44-B632FA4D780F}
------------------------------

Sometimes you can look in the Software section of the program such as for Adobe Reader
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\9.0\Installer
ENU_GUID:{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001}

Eitherway you now have several ways to find the uninstall method for the application.

It doesn't always work but at least you now have a starting point

Boundaries, Boundaries, Boundaries

I don't think it is expressed enough how critical boundaries are to your site. I know I have bloged about it before. It happened again that another administrator at my University selected the campus AD as their boundary instead of their AD Site name or something else. This caused all machines in the AD to pull into his All Systems collection (not that he had permisson to perform any action on the machines). I discovered it after Patch Tuesday when machines wouldn't patch or do anything. Now it looks at first that the MP or IIS is just not working correctly. After watching my patch status I could see that "some" of the machines would patch so obviously it was "kinda" working. It then occured to me that I had something similar happen about 6 months ago. On a client I opened the LocationServices.log file and sure enough it was saying that it's MP was xxxx.foo.com instead of aaaa.foo.com. A quick email to the admin and the problem was solved. I went over and showed him some key settings on his site that should be set. Of course it is like drinking water from a fire hose. I showed him key things and points. I think I overwhelmed him more than helped but ConfigMgr is something you need to get into slowly and in our enviroment that means that a single person is managing the entire ConfigMgr enviroment and doing other IT work, making learning slow and hard sometimes.

Both times this happened it was due to a brand new site coming up. It isn't a big deal and easily corrected but this brings home how important proper boundaries are to the site. We had similar issues when parts of the camps were on SMS 2003 as well. I know I saw a quicksetup guide by a ConfigMgr admin and I need to go find it and see where they have boundaries in the list and at what importance level. There needs to be a key set of configuration changes that must be made once the site is online, boundaries should be near the top, if not #1.

I did get a kick out of see the SCCM Unleashed book on his desk, written in part by several MVPs. I finally have my own copy to read. I did notice I am on page 1111 under free tools. That was a surprise to me. I had no idea it was there.

MMS 2010 call for sessions coming soon

If you are thinking about presenting at MMS 2010 (http://www.mms-2010.com/) you need to start thinking of topics. My prediction is that they will open between the 12 and 19 of November with the cut off date around December 17th. This is only a prediction but should be pretty close. Once they open I will post the link. "Many will enter, few will be chosen" Think about a topic in ConfigMgr that a large group would be interested in and has a high value. It could be a simple or complex topic. Isn't necessary to have a demo during the presentation but it is always nice to break it up.
If you don't feel comfortable about being on stage by yourself then find a partner. They do have a coach there that you can take classes and hopefully improve your stage presence. I speak from personal experience that it can be a bit overwhelming to stand there and see hundreds of your peers staring back. Good luck and happy thinking!!!

Change cache location

Sometimes you have a cache folder needs to move because of space issues

To do this at install time you need to use the SMSCACHEDIR attribute:
CCMSetup.exe SMSCACHEDIR="D:\sccm\cache"
Will force the client to install the cache folder to the D drive in a new folder

Maybe the client is already installed but you want to change the folder. Here is a VbScript that you can push down to the client. This takes a fraction of a second to run on the client so they are not affected by the change. Be aware that Cache cannot have any advertisment that is active. If so then you can't move the cache.

--------------------------
Dim oUIResourceMgr
Dim oCache
Set oUIResourceMgr = CreateObject("UIResource.UIResourceMgr")
Set oCacheInfo = oUIResourceMgr.GetCacheInfo
oCacheInfo.Location = "D:SCCM\Cache"
-------------------------------------

Uninstall when not in a collection

Alot of admins would like to uninstall software when the computer is not in a collection. While this thought processes is sound it can't be done. ConfigMgr needs to send policy to machines that are in a certain collection.

So how do we get around this problem.
I want to point back to a blog post I have labeled, "Collections in reverse"
http://sms-hints-tricks.blogspot.com/2009/03/using-collections-in-reverse.html

What I do is simply have a collection of the software I want people to be allowed to have, say Google Earth.
Then I have a collection of people that are NOT in the google earth collection. Now when I place an "approved" machine in the google Earth collection nothing happens since this is a user based install via the web, but the computer is removed from the uninstall collection. Otherwise, the day after they install it the machine would kick off the uninstall.


So you see, you still need to create a collection of computers, in this example we have 2 the approved collection and the Uninstall collection.

Manage Computers via SCCM console

Have you wanted to manage a machine from the SCCM console only to find there is no tool to do it. So you must lauch Computer Manager and then connect to the remote machine. Well here is the simple right click tool to help you do just that.

<ActionDescription Class="Group" DisplayName="ConfigMgr" MnemonicDisplayName="ConfigMgr Tools" Description="ConfigMgr Tools" SqmDataPoint="100">
<ActionGroups>
<ActionDescription Class="Executable" DisplayName="Computer Management" MnemonicDisplayName="Computer Management" Description="Manage remove computer">
<Executable>
<FilePath>c:\WINDOWS\system32\compmgmt.msc</FilePath>
<Parameters>/computer:\\##SUB:Name##</Parameters>
</Executable>
</ActionDescription>
</ActionGroups>
</ActionDescription>

Place this in the query node, machine node etc and restart the console. Now you can right click on a machine and select Manager Computer. Granted this will only work if your account has the appropriate permissions to the machine.

Configuration Manager 2007 R3

Yes, Microsoft is releasing a R3 for ConfigMgr. This is the first R3 release in MS history.

Jeff Wettlaufer, Sr. Technical Product Manager, announces it in a blog post:

"Configuration Manager 2007 R3 will release will release as a beta at the end of October 2009, with a targeted release of late Q1 calendar 2010."

http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2009/09/08/announcing-system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3.aspx

sccm driver pack

Well as of today Dell has updated some driver files for SCCM.

The Dell Optiplex 760 has a new driver pack (9/4/2009) under Systems Management

What is even better is that some of the models are showing a pack for System Center Configuration Manager. This should make it easier to load and inject drivers into the image. I will see if I can run down the model list and list a few here for you to see.

Microsoft Subnet

For those of you that aren't aware there is a new blog site in town (at least to me):

Microsoft Subnet

http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/microsoft/

They have some very good articles and insites. There are also contests each month for you to read the blog entries.

Check it out. I think you will like what you see. I do so far!!

MMS 2009 Hands on Lab

Seems the MS is sending out the Hands on Lab (HOL) DVD again. I just recieved notification that it had been shipped. Much like last year, they can't put the entire HOL session on the DVD because they require Virtual PC but they do have many of the walk thrus so you can do it yourself at home or at work. Very nice work. They don't have to pass this on to us but it is a nice jesture, not to mention nice for those that couldn't or didn't have time to get in to the Lab.

SMS Newsgroups

I hear every so often that "There are no SMS forums or newgroups anymore." Well this is not the case. The SMS newsgroups are alive and still kicking.
If you go here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sms/bb839598.aspx
and click on any of the SMS newsgroups links you are passed to a page that says "Welcome to Microsoft Discussion Groups " but no data is listed. This is partly due to a bad link which hopefully will be corrected soon. In the mean time here is a corrected link to get you o the Admin newsgroup, from there you can move to any of the other newsgroups.

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.sms.admin

Windows 7 RTM

Well like most people we already know that in October Windows 7 will be released to the public. I received my official notice from Technet that Windows 7 is available for download via MSDN. Happy production testing. I hope to have several posts about us configurating and deploying it via SCCM to our network when our time comes. I don't think it will be close to Spring break
(March) or christmas 2010. Since we are higher education, we have certain periods of downtime that we can take full advantage of. Much was the same for Office 2007. We deployed it via our christmas break so you left with 2003 and came back to 2007.

SCCM 2007 SP2

We have all read what Sp2 covers, Server 2008 R2 , SP2 and other options. Well here is everything in a single list and nicely laid out.

http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2009/08/05/configuration-manager-2007-service-pack-2.aspx

Based on the life cycle you can expect Sp2 around Christmas and again here is also mentioned.

SCCM Unleashed

update note: This is now shipping.....

Seems that Amazon and other places now have a date for publication August 6, 2009 Barnes and Nobel have August 10, 2009. Before it was "around" July 21st." One of the authors is Greg Ramsey a fellow MVP and Dell employee. He is very cool Buck Eye.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/System-Center-Configuration-Manager/Kerrie-Meyler/e/9780672330230 (Barnes and nobel pre order)
$44.99 Online price(Save 25%) *
$40.49 Member Price*

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0672330237?ie=UTF8&tag=sccmtools-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0672330237 (Amazon Pre order)
$37.79*

* Prices as of July 22, 2009

Microsoft Releases SCAP for ConfigMgr

I received an email from Micrsoft announcing that SCAP was complete and ready for download.
Below is the link
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc677271.aspx

Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) is the program designed to help protect your system through checks with NIST and vulernabilities.
http://scap.nist.gov

With SCAP you can ensure that your machines are secure per the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) mandate. Even if you are not a Government entity it is still good to use this because it can check for possible security problems and will help you lock down your machines. I beta test this...very impressive...I am hoping some of the changes were made to the applicaiton to fully take use of the vulnerability scanning. With this your server could download the latest vulnerabilities and scan your network and let you know if you have a hole (i.e. Word zero day hole, Mozilla hole, etc.)

MMS 2010

The Microsoft Management Summit is the top conference for IT management. I highly recommend it!! Here is the "save the date" site. Look to this site in the future for more information.

http://www.mms-2010.com/

I have presented twice and I am still in awe of the number of people and knowledge at this event. Think of all that brain power in a single building.

Right click Status Messages

I received a nice email from Robert Mitsch about my status messages right click tool. Back in the days of SMS 2003 in late 2005 I had tried to work with the statview.exe application for the status messages but didn't have the time nor could I find some good documentation so I just kept it the way it was with statusmessages.exe. Well he has it working with statview. Shown below is the new method. The differences are as follows:
1. No longer to you need to select server and hit enter
2. Messages no longer pull ALL messages in. This caused problems sometimes. It now pulls in around 1 month of messages.

<filepath>C:\xxxxxxx\AdminUI\bin\i386\statview.exe</filepath>
<parameters>/SMS:Server=\\##SUB:__Server## /SMS:Path=##SUB:__Namespace## /SMS:System=##SUB:Name##</parameters>

Changes will be made here on SCCM Tools website
http://www.sccm-tools.com/tools/rightclick/rightclick-statusmessages.html

and on my original blog post
http://sms-hints-tricks.blogspot.com/2008/06/right-click-tool-status-messages.html

Removing registry keys with Regedit

Many times working with sccm we need to push out registry keys which is easy with a .reg file and regedit...."regedit /s key.reg" This adds all your keys to the registry and is very quick at it.

But what if you want to remove keys. Well you can use Vbscript or other lang to edit the registry or you can use a regedit. Yup a special "minus" sign will remove a key or tree.

[HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\xwing]
"key1"="value"
"key2"="value"
"key3"="value"


Say we want to remove the entire tree. We do this by sending the reg file with the following change

[-HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\xwing]

Everything in xwing and sub keys will be deleted.


Now say you want to just delete key2 then you send this
[HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\xwing]
"key2"=-

This will remove only key2 from the registry.

What is nice about this is that it won't throw an error if nothing is there so you can send it down to all machines whether they have the key or not.


MS KB article
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516

Deploy Adobe Acrobat Updates

See an update on deploying patches to x64 machines
http://sms-hints-tricks.blogspot.com/2010/07/adobe-updates-on-x64.html

Every couple of months Adobe will release a patch for their products. If you're like us you might be running several versions of Adobe Acrobat (7,8,9) at the same time.

Depending on how you want to upgrade these software titles determines your approach. At one time we had a collection for each update. As the computer was patched it was inventoried and moved to the next collection. On some machines we might send down a batch file that would force all the patches back on in the hopes that the software knew what had been installed and would skip the older version. Here is the latest way we push down the patch. We have a single collection for Adobe 8,9 Patches. It looks for machines that have adobe 8 but are not at the latest patch level. Now you simply run this vbs script on the collection. The script determines the patch level and applies the appropriate patches.

------Adobe 8--------
Dim objShell, RegLocate
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
On error resume next

Dim sngVersion

'''' Adobe 8.0.0
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.0.0" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd810_efgj_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 8.1.0
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.0" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd811_all.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 8.1.1
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.1" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p 8.1.2 patch.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 8.1.2
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.2" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd813_all_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 8.1.3 allows for jumps in patches
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.3" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p Adobe_Pro_8.1.6.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if

'''' Adobe 8.1.4 allows for jumps in patches
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.4" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p Adobe_Pro_8.1.6.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 8.1.5 allows for jumps in patches
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.5" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p Adobe_Pro_8.1.6.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if

'''' Adobe 8.1.7
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.6" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd817_all_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if

'''' Adobe 8.2
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="8.1.7" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd820_all_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if
-------------------
Adobe Reader 8 updates collection
select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName like "%Adobe Acrobat 8%" and SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Version != "8.2.0"






-------------------------------------------------


-----------Adobe Pro 9 updates--------------------------------------
Dim objShell, RegLocate
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
On error resume next

Dim sngVersion

'''' Adobe 9.0.0
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000004}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="9.0.0" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcroPro-std9.1.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 9.1.0
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000004}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="9.1.0" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p Adobe_9.1.2_pro.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


'''' Adobe 9.1.1
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000004}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="9.1.1" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p Adobe_9.1.2_pro.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if

'''' Adobe 9.1.3
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000004}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="9.1.2" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd913_all_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if

'''' Adobe 9.2
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000004}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="9.1.3" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd920_all_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if

'''' Adobe 9.2
sngVersion = objShell.RegRead ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000004}\DisplayVersion")
if sngVersion="9.2.0" then
objShell.run "msiexec /p AcrobatUpd930_all_incr.msp /qb /norestart", 0, True

end if


WScript.Quit
----------------------------------------------------



Adobe Reader 9 collection
select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName like "Adobe Reader 9%" and SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Version != "9.2.0"

What's new with Microsoft?

Here is some information from the
System Center and Virtualization Readiness Newsletter: May 2009

On-demand Webcasts:

• How Microsoft does IT: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Client Health Strategies (Level 300)
• How Microsoft does IT: Using Local Policies to Solve Complex System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Client Challenges
• How Microsoft does IT: Deploying Windows 7 Using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and OSD
• How Microsoft does IT: Using Virtualization with Hyper-V to Deploy System Center Configuration Manager 2007
• How Microsoft does IT: Delivering Internet-based Client Management

Client Management Bootcamp to launch July 2009

"To help our partners leverage these opportunities, the BG team has developed the System Center Client Management Bootcamp. This training will teach partners how to effectively position, sell and deploy the System Center Client Management Suite to address common customer challenges around client management." Topics include:

· Client virtualization
· Optimized client architecture, planning and deployment
· Deploying and optimizing Windows 7 and Office 14
· How to Deliver a Client Management Suite Proof of Concept
· Service Manager 1-day deep dive

Inventory Certificates

Ok here is the link to the code to inventory certificates.

http://www.sccm-tools.com/tools/vbscript/vbscript-certificates.html

Inventory Certificates

Recently we found some Native Mode computers that had expired computer certificates. When this happens the client becomes unhealth and thus stops responding. Until the cert is renewed it will just sit in a dead state. Well instead of working "reactively" I want to be "proactive." Now I have found several differnet reasons for certificate renewal errors which I have document one or more here in my blog. With my latest work with Sherry Kissinger, another MVP in the ConfigMgr area we were able to create a VBscript that would pull the cert data and inject into WMI so it can be pulled at inventory time. Since the expiration date (and count down in days) is pulled a report can be run that will tell you if a computer is getting ready to expire or has already occured.

The only difficult issue is that it relies on Capicom, which some admins don't use. It will attempt to register the dlls so it can inventory. I haven't found a better way to do this. .NET offers some but again you are dependent on an installtion of .NET and some other assemblies. Well hopefully I can have some others confirm this works correctly in their test enviroments. I will then post the code here, link from the original post in the Technet Forums and move it into production.

MMS 2009 Presenation

So you either went to the session with Greg and me or you have watched it the recording.
I have a tools website that I slow been working on
www.sccm-tools.com


Here are some of the tools that I personally have created:
http://sms-hints-tricks.blogspot.com/2008/06/right-click-tool-status-messages.html
http://www.sccm-tools.com/tools/rightclick/rightclick-clientactions.html
http://www.sccm-tools.com/tools/rightclick/rightclick-Collectionaddcomputers.html

a good way to find tools online is to search with these parameters
"sccm tools"
"right click tools"
"Console extenstions"

MMS 2009

Well like many ConfigMgr people I am here in Las Vegas at MMS 2009. If you went to the SuperFlow sessions by Steve K then you heard about the newest superflows and when you can expect to see them. He also talked about the MVPs and the superflows they are creating. I have been working for about 4 to 5 weeks with some of the Docs people to setup the outline for a Native Mode Superflow. It might just be the most complex and biggest superflow. To release a good version we scale down what is publised in the first revision. It could take 2 or 3 to have everything published and linked. It think it will provide a great deal of insite to native mode deployment. I personally didn't find native mode very hard to deploy and the benifits are GREAT!!!!

Could the ConfigMgr console put you to sleep?

Well I am home because my wife is out of town and I have a sick 1 year old. Well he wanted to roam around so I sat down and remoted to my ConfigMgr server. Like all good IT personell, I "volunteer" alot. Well he wanted to be picked up so I placed him on my lap while I ran throuhg logs and status messages. It took about 15 mins before he started to do the head bob and 5 minutes later he was out. Now he has only been up for about 1 hour so either he really needs more sleep or that console is not for children under "5 years of age." We saw at MMS 2008 that even a 5 year old can image machines so I think we need a disclaimer for working with System Center products. Not recommended for childen under the age of 5 years of age. Drowsiness may occur.

SuperFlows

Stop by the Birds of a Feather (BOF) session at MMS 2009 to hear what is going on with Superflows....

------------------------------
BY05 Configuration Manager SuperFlow Showcase
Tuesday 6:45 PM 7:45 PM, Casanova 606
Speaker(s): Steve Kaczmarek, Doug Eby
Track(s): Systems Management
Session Type: Birds-of-a-Feather
Products(s): Configuration Manager 2007
At this Birds-of-a-feather session we will showcase 6-8 of the newest Configuration Manager SuperFlows currently in development or available for publishing. A SuperFlow is a downloadable interactive content model that provides troubleshooting, process flow and other data flow information in an interactive format. We will also demonstrate an authoring template that can be used to create SuperFlows.

Query to find computers with user missing application

This is something I did pretty quick, it could easily edited on a computer report

First you need to create a query with no object type (see image) Now paste this into the query editor. You will not be able to use the Query designer for any help. This particular example looks for computers missing a specific Version of Flash. Paired with it are the lasted logged in user, user, title, department. You may need to extened the AD User Discovery as mentioned in a previous blog for title and department information.

-------------------------------------------------------------

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_User.Name,SMS_R_System.LastLogonUserName,SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.UserName,SMS_R_User.title , sms_r_user.department from SMS_R_System
inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId
inner join SMS_R_User on SMS_R_User.Username= SMS_R_System.LastLogonUserName
where SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name not in (select SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName like "%Flash Player%" and SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Version = "10.0.22.87")
--------------------------------------------------------------

Native machine will not pull down computer certificate

Did you ever have a machine that just won't pull down the Computer certificate? You do everything you can think of and it just doesn't work. When you do a run>MMC.exe and add Certificates to the console then you can right click on personal certificates and request a cert. You might see this error

The certificate request failed because of one of the following conditions:-The request required an exchange certificate from a Certification Authority (CA) that is not started.-You do not have the permissions to request certificates from the available CAs.

if so then you might need to add the EnableDCOM entry to the machine with a value of Y

The EnableDCOM registry entry is located in the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole

then restart the machine and wait for GPO to pull down the cert. The client should now be happy again.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929494

See this other post on Certificate errors
http://sms-hints-tricks.blogspot.com/2008/02/sccm-client-certificate-problems.html

Using collections in Reverse

We all know you can create a collection to uninstall software but how about a collection Authorized software. This basically due to Google Earth. We run our computers in a locked down user only mode, so they can't install software. Well Google Earth gets around this by installing to the applications folder and in the profile. Users download it and then never update it so we create a collection to allow only authorized users to keep it. Here is how we did it.

Parent Collection (Computers allowed to run Google Earth)
Child Collection (Query and find every machine that has it not in the parent and uninstall every day.


Parent Collection is based on some queries and some direct memberships. Collection id is SYS00447
Child collection:

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceId = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName = "Google Earth" and ResourceId not in (select ResourceID from SMS_CM_RES_COLL_SYS00447)

The child is limited to All Worstations so I can pull in all the computers and then we use the "not in parent collection ID"

Have fun with it....

App-V Internet Plugins/ Active X controls

I thought I would write a bit about App-v and Internet plugs. It took me a long time to understand and to make IE work with Virtual plugins.

When you are ready, load the virtual enviroment. Then launch IE and load up your plugin, Flash, Quicktime plugin, etc. The stop the capture and it will pull in all your controls. Now to make it work you need to perform a special task. When you are presented with the application lists and you have the option of deleting applications and creating shortcuts you need to select Add Shortcut.

Add a shortcut to c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe. Give the shortcut a name like "IE with Flash"

This should appear on the programs menu (or where you select to save it to)

The user will have their favorites and most of their settings. We use the IE deployment tool and found that it pulls the deployment default homepage not the homepage the user has changed it to. Hopefully I will make some screen shots and post them.

App-V First Application

Well I finally had a chance to work on some Virtual Applications. I have virtualized Real Player and now QuickTime. I am hoping to remove them from computers so I can easily update them or just quickly remove them from the machines when the software needs to be patched.

Real player doesn't have a nice uninstaller. Only part of it is silent and it leaves behind folders that make app-v applications crash. This is due to App-v seeing a c:\program files\real folder.

When I did Quicktime I wanted to make sure that the IE plugin worked as well. This was easier that I though it would be. Just after Quicktime installs I open IE and launch a page that has an embedded quicktime movie. I install the activeX control and then stop the app-v install. Next at the window where you can remove application I simply add a shortcut to c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe. I make the shortcut name "Internet Explorer with Quicktime" This link is placed in the Quicktime shortcut folder.

One thing I will mention is that although IE 7 had all my shortcuts, favorite, history etc the home page opened to my default homepage that I set with the IE deployment tool. So it only carries over some of my settings. But the end result is IE that plays quicktime. Now I can elminate part of the security problems as well as installations/uninstalls from SCCM.

New Configuration Manager Team blog

System Center Configuration Manager Team Blog
The official blog of the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager Product Group
http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam/

Here you will find information about Configuration Manager directly from people working directly on it at Microsoft.

MMS 2009 Session list live

You can now look at the session list for MMS. Note that they are currently in a state of flux so sessions might be added, removed or changed. Hands on labs are not yet published
http://mms-2009.com/public/sessions.aspx

Below is the abstract of my presentation with Greg Ramsey, also an MVP.

SY35 Configuration Manager 2007 Console Extensions
Speaker(s): Greg Ramsey, Matthew Hudson
Track(s): Systems Management
Session Type(s): Breakout Session
Products(s): Configuration Manager 2007
This session will focus on how to setup Configuration Manager to use console extensions, what parameters can be passed, how to use them to reduce time on mundane task, and increase efficiency to support your Site. Console Extensions allow the administrator to "right click" on objects and resources to perform certain functions. Commands include but not limited to: Policy refresh, inventory, collection listing, restart, reports, client log viewing, and administrative functions. Learn where to find these and other tools and how you can add them to your site. Attendees will not need programming experience for this session but will be taught basic understanding of the XML structure which is required to utilize console extensions.

ConfigMgr 2007 VHD

Here is a link to the Configuration Manger 2007 VHD. Use any of the Micrsoft Virtual Machine programs to pull in this file. Now you can test and evaluate SCCM to see what you think.

You might noticed that there was a VHD a while back but the link died. Here is your chance to pull it down. It is quite large and seperated into parts.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e0fadab7-0620-481d-a8b6-070001727c56&displaylang=en&tm

HAVE FUN!!!!

Presenter at MMS 2009

Well I had a quiet prediction that this week or early next week would be the time frame Microsoft would annouce the line of up presenters. As it turns out I recieved an email early this morning that my presentation would be used.

Greg Ramsey, MVP and I cross paths last year at MMS and we also had parts of our presenations that crossed. So I asked him if he wanted to do a joint presentation. When it is officially posted, I will link and copy over the abstract. We will presenting on SCCM console extensions and how to set them up /create them.

How deploy a certain application

Many times we all search for something like "How to deploy adobe" or something similar for SMS or SCCM. A nice place to start is AppDeploy http://www.appdeploy.com
They have a user base of applications and versions where you can lookup how to deploy a certain application and problems you might have. I like to start here as well.

New Configuration Manager MVPS 2009

Congrats to the latest MVPS for Jan 2009


John Nelson – US
John Marcum – US
Matthew Hudson – US
Rob Marshall – UK
Adrian Stoian – Romania
Binheng Wang – China
Zhiwen Ma – China

The ConfigMgr Advanced Client encountered a certificate .... that could not be verified

Have you seen this error message after modifying the Site Certficates on your SCCM 2007 site?


Advanced Client encountered a certificate for Management Point XXX that could not be verified. Message ID 10822

Well if you have the certificates fix then the client will work correctly by sending data and receiving advertisments. The problem is that the cached certs need to be refreshed so the old info is removed.

To do this you need to repair the client. If you change the push setting to include the following command RESETKEYINFORMATION=TRUE or login script "CCMSetup.exe RESETKEYINFORMATION=TRUE " etc

Now you simply need to right click on the client and select Repair and you should see "The SMS Advanced client was repaired. The current version is 4.00.6221.1000" or something similar.

About Configuration Manager Client Installation Properties

MVP 2009 in Configuration Manager

Well happy New Year!!!

Today I received a MVP welcome email
Here is an abridged version....

------------------


Dear Matthew Hudson,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2009 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others.

At Microsoft, we believe that technical communities enhance people’s lives and the industry’s success because independent experts, like you, help others extract greater value from products and technologies through the free and objective exchange of knowledge. As a Microsoft MVP, you are part of a highly select group of experts that represent technology’s best and brightest who share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

On behalf of everyone at Microsoft, thank you for your contributions to technical communities.
-----------------------

Where have I been active in the last year:
This Blog...
www.sccm-tools.com (a new website I have been bringing up)
Microsoft Technet forum for Configuration Manager
Old Community Newsgroups for SMS
myITforum
Bug reports for SCCM
MS Documentaiton errors for SCCM