Author Archives: ncbrady

How can you manage Linux based clients in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on October 27, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction   System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager supports a wide variety of operating systems including alternative operating systems such as the following:-   Mac Client:   Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) Mac OS … Continue reading →

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how can I use the new VHD feature in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

Posted on October 24, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Microsoft released System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager on October 18th, 2013  as planned (General Availability) and now we all have the ability to test the new features in the finished product. I’ve installed it in my lab and … Continue reading →

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Where can I find the USMT return codes and error messages for USMT 5 based migrations ?

Posted on October 16, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction If you are using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 to migrate your computers from Windows XP to Windows 7 (or Windows 8) then you’ll be using USMT 5 (from the Windows 8 ADK). The return codes and error … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment and Deployment Kit, Windows 8 | 2 Comments

How can I manually add WinPE 5 boot images to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 CU3 ?

Posted on October 9, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Microsoft recently released CU3 for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, this does add some support for Windows 8.1 for the following features: Software distribution Software update management Compliance Settings but some things are not supported when it comes … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 18 Comments

2013 Microsoft® MVP Award!

Posted on October 1, 2013 by ncbrady

I’m very happy to say that I just got an email from Microsoft notifying me that i’ve been re-awarded the MVP title for Configuration Manager (Enterprise Client Management) for 2013, and here it is ! Dear Niall Brady, Congratulations! We … Continue reading →

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What to do when you get an error when trying to add Windows 8.1 to Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 CU3

Posted on September 24, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Cumulative Update 3 was released by Microsoft to add hot fixes and additional functionality to Configuration Manager 2012 SP1. I installed it quickly as I wanted to begin testing Windows 8.1 Enterprise. However, when adding Windows 8.1 to Configuration … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 2 Comments

What to do if nothing happens when trying to run reports in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on September 11, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Running reports is a great way of getting information from Configuration Manager 2012. Anyone who has the appropriate access to run reports can run them from their own computer via a web browser or via the Configuration Manager adminconsole … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012 | 3 Comments

How can I remotely control WORKGROUP computers in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on September 5, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Remotely accessing computers allows you to control those computers from your own desktop with (or in some cases without) the other users consent. System Center 2012 Configuration Manager offers three methods from within the console to remotely control other … Continue reading →

Posted in ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 7 | Leave a comment

what to check if you receive a message in SMSPXE.log stating PXE provider is not active. Ignoring DHCP discover message on your System Center 2012 Configuration Manager distribution point

Posted on August 16, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction After a PXE boot failure, and after some troubleshooting  I wanted to share the reason why it was failing in case others have the same problem. The actual failure message observed in SMSPXE.log is quite descriptive as long as … Continue reading →

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How can I pause a task sequence in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on August 15, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction Sometimes things don’t go as planned, you are deploying an operating system to a computer and the task sequence fails. You can use normal troubleshooting methods such as     press F8 and review the smsts.log in CMTrace     review … Continue reading →

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How can I set the DPI setting when deploying Windows 8 to the Microsoft Surface Pro with Configuration Manager 2012 SP1?

Posted on July 23, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction If you’ve followed my previous guide here,  you’ll have learned how to Deploy Windows 8 to the Microsoft Surface Pro using Configuration Manager 2012 SP1, however that guide didn’t show you how to set the DPI (dots per inch) … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment and Deployment Kit, ConfigMgr 2012, Windows 8 | 1 Comment

How can I deploy Windows 8.1 using System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

Posted on June 29, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction AT the build conference in San Francisco yesterday Microsoft unveiled a preview version of Windows called Windows 8.1, and in conjunction with the recent release of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager preview, we have the ability to deploy … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment and Deployment Kit, ConfigMgr 2012 | 1 Comment

How to fix when Windows Store tells you “we weren’t able to connect to the store. This might have”

Posted on June 27, 2013 by ncbrady

Have you ever seen this in Windows 8 ? a non functional store with a nice message telling you… “We weren’t able to connect to the store. This might have happened because of a server problem or the network connection … Continue reading →

Posted in Windows 8 | 5 Comments

How can I install System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ?

Posted on June 26, 2013 by ncbrady

Introduction   Today at Tech Ed Europe 2013 in Madrid, Brad Anderson announced the availability of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager preview (amongst other things). In this post I will focus on installing the R2 preview release on Configuration … Continue reading →

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using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager – Part 14. Using Compliance Settings

Posted on June 10, 2013 by ncbrady

In Part 1 of this series we created our new LAB, we got the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager ISO and extracted it, then copied it to our Active Directory server. We then created the System Management container in AD, … Continue reading →

Posted in Compliance Settings, Compliance Settings, ConfigMgr 2012, Custom Client Device Settings, Windows 8 | Leave a comment