Want to burn a ton of calories, cross-country ski, uphill :) want to burn very little calories... type.
January 2011 Archives
Great and very complete resource for PowerShell.
One Dell Driver CAB to rule them all!
http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Windows+7+Notebook+Combo+Driver+CAB
From Warren in an email to a list I'm on for the use of and reason for the creation of this CAB:
Strictly for the "Apply Driver Package" task. Dell leverages the Standalone Media heavily for deployment to remote users for which "Apply Driver Package" is required. We standardized on a few Combo driver packages and I'm updating them and making them available to everyone.
Great post integrating manage-bde into WinPE. Let me know if there is interest!
http://4sysops.com/archives/unlock-bitlocker-under-windows-pe/
It does way more then cloud, cloud is just the latest addtion :)
Good post on injecting drivers for the one off computers that are floating around out in the U. Yep, it's a post from a Dell ConfigMgr guy, Greg Ramsey, he's been working with SMS/SCCM for over ten years, and been and MVP for several of them (don't know exactly how many)
shortlink: http://bit.ly/eGpEZ1
Tune in to learn more about:
- New Latitude/Precision/and Optiplex releases
- Client Virtualization strategy
- OpenManage Server and Client
- KACE launch news
http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/01-25-11+Dell+Client+and+Systems+Management+Futures
Netsh you look better and better ever day.
Have a user that has logon problems (slow) see below!
Good reminder to not query the Win32_Product class in WMI. It doesn't say it applies to Windows 7, but it does.
Some nice tools from Microsoft Eduction for helping students in Math.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/products/student/math/default.aspx#over
Haven't tried this, but it might be useful. IT's from a new station in San Antonio, so I'd hope the did their research...
New post on partitioning disks to successfully enable BitLocker in a Task Sequence. Make sure to create a 100MB - 300MB partition for bitlocker and encrypt the rest.
This goes contrary to what I've relayed to some admins on partitioning. Even though it worked for me. without the bitlocker partition.. hmmm. But, as best practice, ensure your TSes have the partition.
Blogging so I can find this in case we run into this issue. Yep, some TSes are getting pretty big :)
200 proof powershell goodness!
Too many GPOs that need to effect all computers but don't have the time to merge them into one? Check out the below link!
Looks like a good hotfix for those running server 2008 R2 and iSCSI.
Great picture representing the different types of cloud services out there. And what is managed and where it is managed.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/wael/archive/2011/01/19/types-of-cloud-services.aspx
Attack Surface Analyzer is the same tool used by Microsoft's internal product teams to catalogue changes made to the operating system by the installation of new software.
Attack Surface Analyzer takes a snapshot of your system state before and after the installation of product(s) and displays the changes to a number of key elements of the Windows attack surface.
This allows:
- Developers to view changes in the attack surface resulting from the introduction of their code on to the Windows platform
- IT Professionals to assess the aggregate Attack Surface change by the installation of an organization's line of business applications
- IT Security Auditors evaluate the risk of a particular piece of software installed on the Windows platform during threat risk reviews
- IT Security Incident Responders to gain a better understanding of the state of a systems security during investigations (if a baseline scan was taken of the system during the deployment phase)
Attack Surface Analyzer takes a snapshot of your system state before and after the installation of product(s) and displays the changes to a number of key elements of the Windows attack surface.
This allows:
- Developers to view changes in the attack surface resulting from the introduction of their code on to the Windows platform
- IT Professionals to assess the aggregate Attack Surface change by the installation of an organization's line of business applications
- IT Security Auditors evaluate the risk of a particular piece of software installed on the Windows platform during threat risk reviews
- IT Security Incident Responders to gain a better understanding of the state of a systems security during investigations (if a baseline scan was taken of the system during the deployment phase)
For those of you that need to support Lenovo drivers, here's nice post on utilizing the Lenovo update retriever in your TS.
Good information and downloadable script for kicking off advertisements immediately after OSD. The benefit here is the script will kick off mandatory and nonmandtory advertisements, so the computer gets all the software.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2011/01/18/kick-starting-sccm-advertisements.aspx
Given our recent discussion on program retries in ConfigMgr here is a timely article on program retries.
http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/Articles.aspx?articleid=21732&zoneid=89
If you used Outlook 2007 you'll want to read the following article.
SP1 and Directory Services: What's New - Ask the Directory Services Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
I know you've all been waiting for this one, you can now install Server 2008 R2 on a server with more than a terabyte of RAM, w00t! Please note that some of the DS (directory service) enhancements won't be available until we upgrade our domain to 2008 R2.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2011/01/14/sp1-and-directory-services-what-s-new.aspx
Powershell to unlock an account. Also has information on resetting passwords if you have service accounts you manage solely in AD.
http://thelazyadmin.com/blogs/thelazyadmin/archive/2011/01/13/powershell-basics-part-3.aspx
Good explaination about repairing a ConfigMgr client versus reinstalling.
http://systemcentersupport.blogspot.com/2011/01/client-installed-but-showing-as-no-to_13.html
Dell will be discussing what going on in their Enterprise Client and Systems Management spaces.
http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/01-25-11+Dell+Client+and+Systems+Management+Futures
The day-long IPv6 trial is a critical development for content providers such as Google and Facebook, which until now have been supporting IPv6 at separate, dedicated Web addresses rather than on their main traffic-heavy Web sites. Google, for example, says it will enable IPv6 on its main Web sites - including www.google.com and www.youtube.com - for World IPv6 Day
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/011211-world-ipv6-day.html
Warren Byle from Dell created a nice new layout for the CAB files.
http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Dell+Business+Client+Operating+System+Deployment+-+The+.CAB+Files
Looking for computers that aren't running SEP? Borrow Garth's good work!
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2011/01/11/pcs-without-sep.aspx
Note that it is a WQL query, so for use in the ConfigMgr Console.
Looks like some great oppurtunities at Hennepin County for ConfigMgr related jobs. Given the salary range, you may have to fight me for it ;)
SMS/SCCM Administrator
Software Packager
New workaround for IE's CSS vulnerability through Microsoft "Fix It". For the "Fix It" to work all the latest IE updates must be installed.
Link to the "Fix It" workaround.
Need to increase your client side cache. Use the following powershell script!
http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/Articles.aspx?articleid=17607&zoneid=89
$Cache = Get-WmiObject -namespace root\ccm\SoftMgmtAgent -class CacheConfig
$Cache.size = 10240
$Cache.InUse = "True"
$Cache.Put()
Restart-Service ccmexec
A nice overview post of the new things we've gotten in GPP in 2008/R2. Take a look and see if you can leverage any of the new offerings.
Apple released 10.6.6 yesterday which includes the Mac App Store, security updates, and all improvements since 10.6. See the below article for more information.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4459
Only two bulletins this week. Note that Security Advisory 2490606 and Security Advisory 2488013 are not included it the patches for this month.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms11-jan.mspx
About 5 years late, but Windows finally embrasses ARM. (with the next version :).
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2011/jan11/01-05SinofskySOC.mspx
The new Microsoft Surface has been unveiled at CES 2011.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/surface/archive/2011/01/06/the-new-microsoft-surface.aspx
ConfigMgr related job opening at Purdue that I saw on the Windows-hied list.
Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested. We currently have an opening for an SCCM/Software packaging administrator at Purdue University (SCCM 2007, Windows 7, AppV 4.6).
http://purdue.taleo.net/careersection/wl/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=108820
Preliminary report from a user that had participated in the iPad pilot on the Galaxy tab.
http://www.educause.edu/blog/landryst/UnboxingoftheGalaxyTab/221116
Personally I was a littly standoffish on the Galaxy given the small size and not having small hands (the iPad isn't natural to type on), but I forgot abou the "swype" feature in Android.
side note: Make sure to keep an eye on CES (Consumer Electronics Show) going on now in Las Vegas. You can follow it on Twitter (#CES), the website www.cesweb.org, or your favorite way. It should be an exciting one!
UPDATE: Microsoft facebook page for CES:
http://www.facebook.com/Microsoft?v=app_143254022397124
Apple isn't attending, otherwise I'd add their information.
Good post on running a powershell script for your package, since powershell doesn't check currrent directory when running.
http://www.patricktowles.com/2010/10/running-powershell-scripts-as.html
Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2490606.mspx
More information on the exploit.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/archive/2011/01/04/microsoft-releases-security-advisory-2490606.aspx
Note that Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are not affected
Excerpt from the above article:
To target this vulnerability, an attacker must convince a user to visit a specially crafted malicious Web page, or to open a malicious Word or PowerPoint file. Furthermore, users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system would be less affected by an attack then those running with administrative rights. The Advisory includes further mitigations and workarounds to protect our customers.
Updated for power management re-run advertisements.
http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/rzander/archive/2010/12/30/sccm-client-center-update-2-0-3-2.aspx
Very good blog post on looking at what we do and how things are done in a new way to improve them. It reflects back on the .com boom and innovating in the garage and brings it to cloud computing today. A bit colorful at times, but a good message.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johnalioto/archive/2010/12/30/10110553.aspx
