CMTrace is an awesome tool and I have been copying it onto an end users machine using a batch file during the OSD process for years. But finally, Microsoft have added it into the Configuration Manager Client installation. So, once you have an up to date client installed on a users machine, you can browse…
Do you need to upgrade your Certificate Authority from SHA1 to SHA2 (SHA256)? Well we recently had to carry this out as a test in a lab environment. None of us knew how to carry this out from the top of our heads, so like all good IT guys, we used the power of Google….
Microsoft are really outdoing themselves at the moment as it seems that they have released another pair of updates for Windows 7 machines that reboots the computer when connecting to a wireless or VPN connection. We have had around 40 machines with these two updates that have seen this problem. We have had to remove…
We came across a problem with our SCCM OSD recently where it was getting through approximately half the build process and then seemingly getting stuck on “Just a moment…” before timing out and not completing the build. This was a bit of a head scratcher as there did not seem to be any crash or…
If you are an IT administrator then the chances are that you have come across issues with trying to download files directly from a website to your server. You would have received this security alert when trying to download: Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded. Although this is a…
We recently had a problem with our Service Manager database server using massively high RAM usage. It was using up all the RAM we gave it no matter how much extra we allocated to it. So we needed to try and figure out why it was doing this, like all good IT people, we started…
If you need to export all Active Directory user information to CSV, then you can use a simple Powershell script to carry this out. First Import the Active Directory module: Then get the user information from Active Directory. For the example below we are just going to grab all information, hence the * wildcard, but…
You may have come across a problem when trying to connect remotely to a server using remote desktop connection. If you are receiving a CredSSP error like the one below: Then the chances are you have this update: CVE-2018-0886 – which seems to be from March 2018 but we have only just started to see…
After our recent posts about Microsoft releasing faulty updates and breaking user computers, we have now found yet another Microsoft Update which has been causing a problem with machines rebooting themselves quite randomly and completely losing network connections. Again we have done a load of testing and Googling and found the update to be KB4103712. Problem…
So it looks like Microsoft have done it yet again! Yes more updates have been causing us problems and we have had to go through a number of user machines uninstalling two more updates to fix broken computers. It is quite unbelievable that Microsoft continue to release updates that break our user machines! This seems…
I don’t know about you, but Server Manager loading up every time I login to a Windows Server 2016 machine drives me nuts! This is especially annoying when using my lab as most of the hardware is just old bits of kit that is not being used in production any longer. In older versions of…
Yet again it looks as though Microsoft have pushed out their updates without testing them fully first! More problems have been reported after this round of Tuesdays updates which is now becoming a very regular occurrence. Again, after much Googling and removing updates one by one, we finally came to the conclusion that two more…
If you want to export all your Active Directory users last logged on information, you can carry this out using Powershell and then exporting to CSV format. Guide First of all, you will need to import the ActiveDirectory module if you have not already done so. To do this, just open up a Powershell command…
As a SCCM administrator you are probably fully aware that you have a lot of power available to you when carrying out deployments using task sequences. But you can add even more options to SCCM task sequences by adding Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) integration. This gives you a load more options during a task sequence…
When using Configuration Manager, you may find that some things may not work fully if you are also behind a web security proxy service. We came across this problem recently where the Asset Intelligence Point was being blocked from contacting the internet due to web security. This caused this error in our Configuration Manager Console:…
A few days ago we posted here about two Microsoft updates that had been causing us a number of problems with our older Windows 7 machines. We thought that we had resolved all of our issues in relation to these updates, but we have this week seen machines dropping off the network and ramdomly rebooting themselves…
Powershell is an awesome tool and can help IT professionals in gathering information in a split second whereas otherwise it could take hours manually. We were recently asked to carry out a number of tasks for information gathering for annual housekeeping. The tasks were varied but were made up of information from Active Directory and…
We recently received a request to provide a project manager with a full list of all shared mailboxes with their primary SMTP addresses that were in Microsoft Exchange. To do this is a pretty straight forward task using Exchange Management Shell (EMS). Just go ahead and open your EMS and run the following command: This…
Microsoft have yet again released another Windows Update which has caused corruption and crashing on Windows computers. We have particularly hit with issues on Windows 7 machines. Although there are reported issues with Server 2008 R2 as well. So, having spent a few hours searching for todays culprit, we found that the update causing the…
If you want to use Active Directory modules for Powershell then you can will need to run the commands to import the required module and then install the RSAT tools. To do this, open up an elevated Powershell command box and run the following command to import the Server Manager module: Import-Module ServerManager Once that…
Microsoft have now released Edge for iOS and Android. Personally, I don’t like Edge and use Chrome 99% of the time, but if you are a Microsoft fan and you want their latest browser on your mobile devices then you can grab Edge using the links below: Downloads Download Edge for Android Download Edge for…
If you want your end user experience to show them the progress of an installation from your Software Center, then you will need to ensure that you have your command lines and user experience tab setup correctly. We have seen many people follow the “install in the background and don’t tell anyone the progress” method…
So Microsoft have today released version 1802 of Current Branch for Configuration Manager. This is great and there are some features in this upgrade that we are looking forward to trying out. But, on the slow ring, it could be a few days or weeks until it drops into your Configuration Manager Console. That’s bad….
If you are looking at setting up a SCCM user collection based on membership of an Active Directory Security Group, then you can use this WQL query for the collection. WQL Script To set this up, create a new collection and copy and paste this as its query: Variables You can add or remove any…
If you have a stubborn file that you cannot delete or move, then you will need to take ownership of the file to allow you to carry out any action on it. To do this is a pretty simple process, just follow our step by step guide below to carry this out and enable you…
We have recently been working on a Microsoft Office 365 email migration from on-premise to cloud based Exchange. One of the challenges that we faced was making the migration process as painless as possible for the end user. However, with thousands of end users having Microsoft Outlook 2010 installed and already configured to work with…
Simple guide stepping you through the process of silent distribution using a MSI Installer.
Instructions Full instructions on how to use the offline and MSI installers for mass distribution are also available here. Download To download, simply scroll down towards the bottom of this page and you will see the options for this download. Ensure you select the correct one and click the blue Download button as detailed below:
Windows 10 is Microsoft’s latest operating system and many people use it on their computers, whether they are laptops or desktops. Even though it has been praised by lots of users, this OS has its own problems and the biggest one seems to be related to updates. Lots of people complain on forums that the…
Download To download, simply scroll down towards the bottom of this page and you will see the options for this download. Ensure you select the correct one and click the blue Download button as detailed below:
This registry fix download will make sure that your MDT or SCCM task sequences will update correctly when using a local WSUS server. Download To download, simply scroll down towards the bottom of this page and you will see the options for this download. Ensure you select the correct one and click the blue Download…
Microsoft Xbox One Controller Driver for use with Windows. Download To download, simply click on the cloud icon to the right side of the Download Link text are shown below: Instructions Full instructions on how to use the MSI installers for mass distribution are also available here.
