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Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 11/10/2008 6:05:22 PM

jbarthman

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Joined: 6/25/2008
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In my environment we want to only reimage machines when they come into out tech shop and we want to do it using a boot CD created in SCCM. We don't want to push OS installs to remote locations, nor do we want to advertise to any machines in the environment that they can install an OS package on their own. Basically we want to be able to grab any machine, throw the boot disk in it manually, and then select this OS Task sequence and reimage the machine.
My question is this....how do I create a Collection of every single machine in my environment and then allow that Collection to get my OS deployment any time I boot a machine up with our boot media? Do I create a Collection and then not Advertise anything to it? Is it that easy or does the Collection have to have the OS Deployment task sequence advertised to it?
What I can't have is all of a sudden every machine in my environment gets a pop up window stating they can run this new OS deployment task. That would be a nightmare!
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Post #: 1

RE: Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 11/11/2008 11:54:56 AM

rbennett806

Posts: 885
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Joined: 6/14/2006
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Well roughly you can do this...

1. Create your OSD packages and task sequences and everything.
2. Create an empty collection and use that as the target for your advertisement for your OS package.
3. Create an .HTA frontend that will be the start of your imaging process (http://www.myitforum.com/articles/19/view.asp?id=11652). This is where you'll create a resource object and put it in that empty collection that gets your OS advertisemet.
4. Add the .HTA to a custom boot .WIM image and use that when generating an SCCM bootable CD.
5. Kick off the deployment with the CD, the .HTA then runs and you're off and imaging.

As you can see, there are LOTS of details, so if you have questions, try searching for "bare metal" deployments out on the web, post your questions, or poke around the SCCM forum...

(in reply to jbarthman)

Post #: 2

RE: Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 11/19/2008 5:51:26 PM

jbarthman

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Joined: 6/25/2008
Status: offline

I have a couple questions about this .hta front end.
Am I correct to assume that all the front end is doing is taking some hardware information from the machines it's ran on and using that to place that specific machine into the collection that my OS task sequence is advertised to?
If this is correct, won't that OS task sequence be advertised to that machine even after the image is placed on the machine?

This OS install task sequence being advertised to machines that aren't sitting here in my tech shop, ready to be reimaged, is what I'm trying to get away from.

This is what happened to me that initially raised this question....I created a task sequence, an empty collection, and advertised my OS deployment to it. I then went into the collection and placed in one variable....a model # of a lenovo t61. Within 30 seconds I had everyone in my environment with a T61, around 600 people, seeing a pop up on their machine telling them there was an OS upgrade they could perform. Luckily I pulled the OS wim file off the server before many people could reimage their machine. The problem was if they clicked on the balloon that popped up on their machine advertising the OS install it would reimage it immediately. I want my collection to have 5 or 6 variables in it, which would be the model numbers of the different laptops my company has, so I can grab any one of these models and reimage it any time with a boot disk. It was set up exactly how I wanted it except for the fact that it physically popped up a window on all users machine stating they could install this OS, and they could even without having the physical boot disk. Is there a way to create my collection based off these model numbers but have it not pop up on the users machines a message stating they can install this OS? This would leave me being able to grab any machine, any time, throw in my boot disk and reimage the machine, along with the end user not seeing they could initiate this install unless they had the boot disk.

(in reply to jbarthman)

Post #: 3

RE: Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 11/20/2008 4:50:03 PM

rbennett806

Posts: 885
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Joined: 6/14/2006
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Your OSD advertisement is just like a normal software advertisement, so it should only affect those machines in the collection where the advertisement is targeted, and it will obey the rules as you set them. What I do for bare metals is to point it to a collection that will only contain the new machines and set the OS advertisement to never rerun.

So I'd suggest checking your advertisment settings, and don't use variables - your machines should normally get populated into the bare metal collection via direct membership rules (which is what the HTA does for you). So you'd probably need one set of collections and advertisements for true bare metals, and then one for an optional OS install - if that's what you're trying to accomplish.

We simply have the bare metal setup, and if we have to image a machine again, the SCCM resource object gets blown away and a new one gets created by the HTA - so that it's treated just like a blank machine.

I hope that doesn't confuse things...

(in reply to jbarthman)

Post #: 4

RE: Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 12/5/2008 12:05:09 PM

pschwan

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Joined: 9/18/2008
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If you could post a quick summary of how to add that custom HTA to an existing WinPE 2.0 .wim image I would greatly appreciate it.

(in reply to rbennett806)

Post #: 5

RE: Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 12/5/2008 4:24:27 PM

rbennett806

Posts: 885
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Joined: 6/14/2006
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Well, roughly...

1. Ensure that there is not already an existing “C:\WinPE” directory.
2. Open the Windows PE Tools Command Prompt.
   i. Start | All Programs | Microsoft Windows AIK | Windows PE Tools Command Prompt
3. Execute the following command to create the working directory:
   i. CopyPE x86 C:\WinPE
4. Execute the following command to mount your .WIM file (called WinPE.wim here):
   i. imageX.exe /mountRW C:\WinPE\winpe.wim 1 C:\WinPE\mount /check
5. Add the SCCM frontend HTA items to the WinPE.wim file:
   i. Copy the .INI file to “C:\WinPE\mount\TSConfig.ini”.
       a. [CustomHook]
       b. CommandLine="mshta.exe x:\Deploy\Scripts\UnknownSystem.hta"
   ii. Copy the .HTA file to “C:\WinPE\mount\Deploy\ScriptsUnknownSystem.hta”.
       a. Create the folder structure if it does not already exist.
6. Execute the following command in order to dismount the image:
   i. imageX.exe /unmount /commit C:\WinPE\mount
       a. Leave out the “/commit” switch to discard any changes.
7. After successful completion, close the Windows PE Tools Command Prompt window.
8. Copy the .wim image file to the desired location for SCCM to utilize as a source file.

I kind of quick tossed that together from some notes and rough documents I've got lying around, so hopefully it make sense...

< Message edited by rbennett806 -- 12/8/2008 3:24:28 PM >

(in reply to pschwan)

Post #: 6

RE: Collections/Advertisements/OS Deployments - 12/8/2008 1:17:14 PM

pschwan

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Joined: 9/18/2008
Status: offline

Thanks! I'll give it a go and let you know if I run into any problems

(in reply to rbennett806)

Post #: 7