Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 Beta 2 Webcast

Fresh news from the MDT 2010!

Michael Niehaus recorded a new webcast for the MDT 2010 Beta 2.

The link for the webcast is this one:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=3A-78-05-A7-61-B7-4B-2B-08-41-98-B1-8C-3B-92-B4&Culture=en-US

You’ll need to register first before download it.

I’ve not seen it yet, so please feel free to give some feedback about it.

Using the task sequecence default environment variables

This week, continuing the work I’ve been developing with the Windows VIsta deployment, I got myself into a problem that I didn’t have an idea of how to resolve it.

I needed to copy some files specific of the task sequence I was running, and I wanted that to be exact same command for all task sequences.

For a instance, imagine you need to copy the files and folders located on Z:\Control01\TS_Specifc\*.*
001 corresponds to the task sequence ID and that is a variable used by the MDT process.

To get that ID you’ll use the environment variable %TASKSEQUENCEID%

So, my command-line (that I had to my task sequece) and can be used for all task sequences will be:
xcopy Z:\Control\%TASKSEQUENCEID%\TS_Specific\*.* /E C:\folder

With this, you have a command-line to use with all task sequences and also you can change the build id with problems.

Other usefull environment variable you can use is %TASKSEQUENCENAME% that, like it’s said, makes it possible to get the Name of the task sequence you’ve created on the MDT Workbench.

Just be carefull if the Name as more then word (ex.: Branch Desktops), because in this cases you’ll need to use the variable like this:
"%TASKSEQUENCENAME%"

For a complete list of the default variables created by MDT you can go, during the installation process to:
C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS and take a look at the file variables.dat. You can use notepad to look at it or rename it to .xml and see it on Internet Explorer

BlogCastRepository – A lot of info in 1 place

Today this post its just to give you all, a website that I’ve found that, really is a good source for knowledge.

 It’s called BlogCast Repository and it offers, mainly for free a lot of webcasts about a large number of categories like Windows Server, MOM, Office, BDD/MDT, SoftGrid, Scripting, and a lot more.

I believe this really is a valuable website.

Please check it at:
http://blogcastrepository.com/

MDT 2008 Update 1: Why isn’t the version showing up

After updating your MDT 2008 to Update 1, you may notice that when you click on the Help -> About, the version number it’s still the some previous to Update 1.

This may happen because of cached dll’s.

For solving this issue:
.: Open Registry Editor
.: Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache\@C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Bin\Microsoft.BDD.WorkbenchResources.dll,-105
.: Delete this key
.: Restart the machine

After this, you’ll notice that now you have the correct version showing up.

Task Sequences – Explained

From who cames from Windows XP unattended installations, the new Vista deployment features mais seem a little strange, confusing and scary! That happened to me…
But, that was before having some readiness of the BDD 2007/Microsoft Deployment documents. Now I’m a little less confused.

 One of the first things that made my head go around was the Task Sequencer. I’ve never worked with SMS but who did, told me it was something similar to what we call today Microsoft Deployment tools.

Now, here it’s some info that I’ve extrated from Deployment_Customization_Guide.doc about the task sequences that are set by default when you install MS Deployment:

The Microsoft Deployment process occurs in phases that are defined in the TS.xml file. Task Sequencer parses the TS.xml file to identify the appropriate sequence for performing the deployment process. The phases defined in the TS.xml file include:

Validate Phase
Performs validation checks to make sure that the operating system installation can proceed; specifically blocks installation on server operating systems.

State Capture Phase
Gathers information from the configuration file, databases, and the local machine to determine how the image installation process should proceed, including whether there is enough space to do a local USMT state backup. The scripts also invoke the USMT Scanstate.exe command as appropriate.

Preinstall Phase
Confirms that the necessary information has been gathered in the State Capture Phase for the Refresh Computer and Upgrade Computer scenarios. In the New Computer and Replace Computer scenarios, the script gathers the necessary information in this phase because these scenarios do not perform the State Capture Phase. Also, a backup of the computer can be optionally performed for the Refresh Computer and Upgrade Computer scenarios.

Install Phase
Installs the target operating system on the target computers.

Post Install Phase
Updates the Sysprep.inf file, Sysprep.xml file, or Unattend.txt file with information gathered in the previous custom actions based on the operating system being deployed.

State Restore Phase
Invokes the USMT Loadstate.exe command to restore the user state that was previously backed up.