How to: Directly install from a distribution point during OSD in ConfigMgr 2012 R2

During a OS deployment with ConfigMgr 2012 R2, the WIM file is downloaded locally and than installed on the C: drive of your system. The download proces for the install.wim file takes a while! This post will discribe how to configure the task sequence to directly apply the install.wim from the distribution point.

1.) Open the task sequence and select the step “Apply Operating System”. Navigate to the “Options” tab.
2.) Select “Access content directly from the distribution point” and select “Apply”
3.) Navigate to your Operating System Images and select the properties of the image
4.) Navigate to the “Data Access” tab
5.) Select “Copy the content in this package to a package share on distribution points”
6.) Select “Apply”
7.) The install.wim file will be copied to the SMSPKGE$ folder on your distribution point
8.) Right click on the image and select “Update Distribution Points”
9.) Wait until the content status is “Success”
10.) Start a deployment of a system
11.) The download step is gone now and the image will be installed directly from the distribution point

OSDC_01    OSDC_02    OSDC_03

OSDC_04    OSDC_05    OSDC_06

OSDC_07    OSDC_08    OSDC_09

OSDC_10    OSDC_11    OSDC_12

OSDC_13    OSDC_14    OSDC_15

OSDC_16    OSDC_17    OSDC_18

How to: Install ConfigMgr 2012 R2 hotfix KB2910552 during OSD

A few weeks ago Microsoft has released a update KB2910552 for ConfigMgr 2012 R2. This update fixes a lot of issues, but also speed up the OSD within ConfigMgr 2012 R2. I should highly recommend to install this hotfix in your environment. The hotfix is updating the site system automatically, but the client not. This blogpost will discribe how to install this hotfix during a OS deployment (OSD).

1.) First install the hotfix KKB2910552. The hotfix is vissible in the installation folder of ConfigMgr. In my example E:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\hotfix\KB2910552\Client
2.) Copy the content in this folder to your source directory.
In my example \\CM01\Sources\OSD\Hotfix\KB2910552\Client
3.) Add a new package and configure the source location to the right directory.
In my example \\CM01\Sources\OSD\Hotfix\KB2910552\Client
4.) Select “Do not create a program
5.) Distribute the package to your distribution point(s)
6.) Open the task sequence and add a new step “Run Command Line
7.) Select the right package and configure the command line
cmd.exe /c xcopy x64\*.* “C:\Hotfix” /E /H /C /I /Q /Y
This is for x64 systems only! Change x64 to x86 for deployment to x86 systems
8.) In the “Setup Windows and Configuration Manager” step, add the following installation properties
PATCH=”C:\Hotfix\configmgr2012ac-r2-kb2910552-x64.msp”
This is for x64 systems only! Change x64 to x86 for deployment to x86 systems
9.) Start the deployment of a x64 system
10.) After the deployment has finished, navigat to the control panel and Configuration Manager
11.) On the general tab you’ll see the new version number 5.00.7958.1104

HF_01    HF_02    HF_03

HF_04    HF_05    HF_06

HF_07    HF_08    HF_09

HF_10    HF_11    HF_12

HF_13    HF_14    HF_15

HF_16

How to: Install the Hyper-V Integration Components with ConfigMgr 2012 R2 during OSD

When you’ve to install an operating system in you’re environment, it is easy and usefull to test your OS deployment first in a virtual environment. In my case, it is an Microsoft Hyper-V host server, where I can deploy some virtual machines using ConfigMgr 2012 R2.

One of the important things when deploying a virtual machine within Hyper-V, are the Integration Components (Integration Services). These components installs all the necesarry drivers for that VM. Maybe you want to perform this action during the OS deployment fase (OSD). What steps do you need to make?

1.) First install a new clean Windows 7 VM (in my case it is Windows 7 Service Pack 1)
2.) Insert the Integration Services Setup Disk
Action / Insert Integration Services Setup Disk
3.) Navigate to your Windows Explorer and open the mounted disk
4.) Navigate to the right folder of your architecture, x86 or x64. In my case it is x64.
D:\support\amd64
5.) Copy all the files in this to your Configuration Manager Site Server. In my case E:\Sources\Applications\Level 0\Hyper-V Integration Services x64
6.) The silent installation is not that hard. Just execute setup.exe /? to see all the options.
7.) Create a new package within ConfigMgr 2012 R2 with a normal program
8.) The source location is the location to your folder created in step 5
9.) The command line to perform is setup.exe /quiet /norestart
10.) After succesfully created to new package, don’t forget to distribute it to your distribution point(s)
11.) Now open you task sequence and at the end create a new folder called “Install Applications”
12.) Add a new package to install and select the wright package and program
13.) All you need to do now is deploy a virtual machine
14.) After your virtual machine has succesfully deployed, look at your device manager. All the components are installed.

INTSER_01    INTSER_02    INTSER_03

INTSER_04    INTSER_05    INTSER_06

INTSER_07    INTSER_08

How to: change database collation in SQL 2012 R2

When you default install an SQL 2012 R2 server, the database collation is “Latin1_General_CI_AS“. But if you want to install System Center Configuration Manager, one of the prerequisites is that the database collation is “SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS“. My SQL server has only one instance, so I had to change the database collation. There are no databases configured yet, so no problem for me at all.

See also the following URL:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ms179254(v=sql.105).aspx

1.) Make sure you backup all your data!
2.) Attach the SQL 2012 R2 ISO
3.) Run the command prompt as administrator
4.) Type the following command
Setup /QUIET /ACTION=REBUILDDATABASE /INSTANCENAME=InstanceName
/SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS=accounts /SAPWD= StrongPassword
/SQLCOLLATION=CollationName
4.) After the setup has finished, the database collation has changed. You’re now ready to rock!

2014-01-17_09h28_36    2014-01-17_09h29_07    2014-01-17_09h32_09