Monthly Archives: September 2015

MDT, SCCM

SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 Offline Servicing – Failed to install update: WIM::GetWIMImageCount returned code 0x80004005

Got this error when attempting running a scheduled update against my Windows Server 2012 R2 U1 image:

WIM::GetWIMImageCount returned code 0x80004005

Environment

  • SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 running on Windows Server 2008 R2.
  • Server 2012 R2 U1 image created using MDT 2013 U1 running on a Server 2012 R2 U1 server.

Problem

  • SCCM server had WADK 8.1 installed.
  • MDT server running WADK 10.

Fix

  • Installed Windows Management Framework 3.0 (includes Powershell v3 – prerequisite for WADK 10) on the SCCM server.
    Updated WADK on the SCCM server to WADK 10.

Scheduled updates then worked OK.

Link to Windows Management Framework 3.0 download:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34595.

Link to WADK 10:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/dn913721.aspx.

SCOM

SCOM 2012 – Display the Active Directory Description Attribute in the SCOM 2012 R2 Admin Console

Overview

The objective of this procedure is to display the Active Directory (AD) description attribute in a State View in the SCOM 2012 R2 Admin Console.  The basic steps are:

  • Create a VB script to write the AD description attribute to a system environment variable called ADDescription.
  • Assign the script as a Group Policy Startup script.
  • Configure a new Custom Attribute in the SCOM console to read the ADDescription value from the registry.
  • Create a State View in the SCOM console and expose the column containing the value of ADDescription for relevant devices.

Prerequisites

The Windows Computer class has already been extended so that the Windows Computer_Extended class already exists and there is an unsealed management pack available to save custom settings to.

Procedure

Step 1 – The script

Option Explicit

On Error Resume Next

Dim WSHShell, strComputer, strDescription, objSysInfo, objComp

Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

Set objSysInfo = CreateObject(“ADSystemInfo”)

Set objComp = GetObject(“LDAP://” & objSysInfo.ComputerName)

strDescription = objComp.Description

WSHShell.RegWrite “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\ADDescription”, strDescription, “REG_SZ”

Step 2 – Group Policy

  • In the Group Policy Management console select the relevant OU against which the new policy object is to be applied, e.g.  the Default Domain Policy, and select Edit from the context menu.
  • In the Group Policy Editor navigate to Computer Configuration # Policies # Windows Settings # Scripts # Startup and assign the script created in Step 1.

Step 3 – Create a Custom Attribute in SCOM

  • Go to the Authoring workspace in the SCOM console.
  • Select Management Pack Objects # Attributes.
  • Create a new attribute using these settings:
    • Discovery Type – Registry
    • Target – Windows Computer_Extended.

Probe configuration

  • Key or Value Type – Value,
  • Path = SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\ADDescription.
  • Attribute type = String.
  • Query Interval – to suit the target environment.

Step 4 – Create the State View

  • Access the SCOM monitoring workspace.
  • Ensure the custom management pack used to save the ADDescription attribute to is viewable.
  • Create a new State View, setting the Object to Windows Computer_Extended and use the Display tab to select the relevant columns which will included the ADDescription.

 

AppSense

Assigning AppSense Personalisation Server Access Rights

 

Assigning AppSense Personalisation Server access rights includes the ability to let users access the AppSense Environment Manager web interface and manage some of their own settings, such as rolling back specific settings from archived copies of their profile.

To configure access rights follow the steps below.

  • Open the Environment Manager
  • Select the User Personalisation workspace.
  • Connect to the required Personalisation Server.
  • Select Manage from the menu bar.
  • Click the Access Rights
  • Click the Add button – this will present the familiar Active Directory Select Users or Groups dialogue box.
  • Once a user is found the relevant access rights can be assigned using the dropdown box under the Roles column heading.

If assigning web roles, the user should be able to access relevant functionality via the EM browser interface typically:  http://PSServerName/EMBrowserInterface.

VMware

Remove Redundant Devices After a VMware Hardware Version Update

After a P2V or a VMware hardware version update you often get redundant virtual hardware devices left over. They can be removed by doing the following.

Open a command window as Admin and then run the two commands below.

  • set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
  • start devmgmt.msc

When the Device Manager MMC opens ensure you select Show Hidden Devices using the View menu option.

Delete the devices that are not required.