Setup

First we need to install the Dell Client Configuration Toolkit (CCTK) on the target system.

To do this:

1. Log onto the target system via RDP
2. Grab the CCTK MSI file
3. Install the CCTK onto the target system

Making Configuration Changes

On the target system:

1. Log onto the target system via RDP
2. Open up a Command Prompt
3. Navigate to: C:\Program Files\Dell\CCTK\
   1. If you’re running 32-bit OS, go into X86 folder
   2. If you’re running 64-bit OS go into X86_64 folder
   3. From here, run the relevant command…
   4. To enable and activate TPM on the target system:
      1. cctk –tpm=on
      2. cctk –tpmactivation=activate
   5. Reboot, and TPM will be enabled

Bootnote

This process was tested and confirmed working on a Dell Latitude E6410 running Windows 7 32-bit. Let us know in the comments if it works for you too!

More Resources

There’s a page from Dell which covers more background here: http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/Dell+Client+Configuration+Toolkit

To do so, follow these instructions…

1. Download the OSC file from Microsoft
2. Run the following command from a command prompt: outlooksocialconnector-x86-en-us.exe /extract:C:\osc\
3. This will extract the msi files to c:\osc\
4. You can then use the MSI file to deploy OSC!

If you want to integrate the MSP Patch files are well, just do this:

Then you’ll be deploying the MSI fully patched

[SnapDrive Error]:VDS volume object for the LUN s/n ‘<serial>’ has not been found

The error shows up in the Report that SME generates when it runs a snapshot/backup job.

To get around this error, install the latest (apparently not-quite-released-yet) SnapDrive on to your Verification Server. You can get it here: http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/snapdrive_win/6.2P1/

This problem appears to happen on Server 2008 R2 servers, and I can confirm that installing the download above fixed the issues for me.

For the record, this is our configuration:

Exchange 2007 SP2 running on a Server 2008 SP2 box, with a Server 2008 R2 box set up for Remote Verification

The full thread discussing this is here: http://communities.netapp.com/message/24568?tstart=-1

So I just bought an Acer Revo 3610 so that we can watch MKV files without converting them to MP4 and putting them on the Xbox/faffing around with 4GB file limits etc. The Revo is a brilliant box: cheap, tiny, near-silent and plays 1080p video with no dropped frames. I got mine from Amazon, if you’re curious. They had the best price at the time

Anyway, back to Windows Media Center. Out of the box, WMC doesn’t recognise MKV files. To get this to work:

1. Download and install Divx 7.
You only need the Codec bits, not the player/converter. This will setup MKV integration into WMC.

2. Download and install AC3 Filter
This will process AC3 audio if your MKV files has AC3 sound (a lot do, so it’s worth installing, otherwise you won’t get any sound)

3. Reboot your PC
4. Log back in, and open up WMC.
5. Ta-daa, you can now view (and hear!) MKV files

Spotted on the DrayTek website

The normal way of doing it is described on the Microsoft website. However, right clicking on the network connection had the “Remove from bridge” option greyed out, meaning I couldn’t remove it. I was also unable to delete the Bridge miniport itself from within Manage network connections.

To fix this, we can brute force the removal:

1. Open up Device Manager
2. Expand “Network Connections”
3. Right click on the MAC bridge miniport
4. Uninstall it

As your bridge has been uninstalled, your connections should now be removed from the network bridge

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
OSInstall=Y
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES

;Skips Welcome Screen
SkipBDDWelcome=YES

; VISTA LOCALE SETTINGS
KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809
UserLocale=en-GB
InputLocale=0809:00000809
SystemLocale=en-GB
UILanguage=en-US

;BitLocker
OSDBitLockerWaitForEncryption = "FALSE"
BdeRecoveryKey=AD
BDEInstall=TPMPin
BdeInstallSupress=NO
OSDBitLockerMode=TPMKey
OSDBitLockerCreateRecoveryPassword=AD

;SkipTimeZone=YES
TimeZone=85
TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

UserDataLocation=AUTO

SkipComputerBackup=YES

This will pre-fill a number of options throughout the MDT WinPE Deployment Wizard.

Share and enjoy

[Settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
DeployRoot=\\MDTSERVER\Distribution$

SkipBDDWelcome=YES



KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809
UserLocale=en-GB
InputLocale=0809:00000809
SystemLocale=en-GB
UILanguage=en-US
UserDomain=YOURDOMAIN

Instead we deploy them manually when setting up a PC. DisplayLink IT uses the publicly available Corporare Install files, which are distributed as MSIs. This allows you to do silent, automated installs of our software without having to accept a EULA each time. For ease, I  use AutoIT to do the actual installation as it’s nice and flexible, and we tend to buy laptops on an ad-hoc/purpose specific basis, so Drive Imaging would consume more time than it would save!

1. Get the DisplayLink Corporate Install files from here: http://www.displaylink.com/corporateinstall/ (You’ll need to register, but it’s a one-time thing)
2. Extract the both the 32-bit and 64-bit MSIs in the zip file to somewhere useful. If you want to deploy them via GPSI, check out the PDF (I wrote it, and welcome any comments/suggestions, as I have a lot to learn about GPSI!)
3. For silent installations, I put the MSIs all in one directory and just rename the files as appropriate for each architecture (see below for the naming I use)

The main command lines you need are:

32-bit:

msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkCore-32bit.msi /norestart /passive

msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkSetup-32bit.msi /norestart /passive

64-bit:

msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkCore-64bit.msi /norestart /passive

msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkSetup-64bit.msi /norestart /passive

Here’s the AutoIT code, should you need it:

If @OSArch = "X86" Then

$PID = Run('msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkCore-32bit.msi /norestart /passive')
ProcessWaitClose($PID)
$PID = Run('msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkSetup-32bit.msi /norestart /passive')
ProcessWaitClose($PID)

ElseIf @OSArch = "X64" Then

$PID = Run('msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkCore-64bit.msi /norestart /passive')
ProcessWaitClose($PID)
$PID = Run('msiexec /i \\server\share\DisplayLinkSetup-64bit.msi /norestart /passive')
ProcessWaitClose($PID)

EndIf

Instructions are for Server 2008.

Backup the GPO…

1. Open up “Group Policy Management” console
2. Find the GPO with the GPSI source UNC you’d like to change
3. Right click it, choose “Backup”
4. Back up the GPO a directory, eg C:\GPOs\

Now we need to edit the GPO and change the UNC…

1. In the GPMC left-hand pane, click on Domains
2. In the GPMC toolbar, click on Actions, then Open Migration Table Editor
3. In the Migration Table Editor, click on “Tools” then “populate from Backup”
4. Choose the backup you want to change
5. In the Table Editor, change the Destination name to the new UNC path
6. Now we need to save the migration table.
7. Click File, Save.
8. Save the file as something meaningful, preferably in C:\GPOs\

Now we need to apply the new settings…

1. Go back to the Group Policy Management Console
2. Find the GPO you need to change and Right-click on it
3. Choose “Import Settings…”
4. Click Next twice.
5. Browse to your backup folder (C:\GPOs)
6. Confirm the GPO backup whose settings you want to import, then click next.
7. After the scan is complete, click Next
8. Now we need to apply the Migration Table mapping:
   1. Choose “Using this migration table…”
   2. Browse to your migration table settings that you saved earlier.
   3. Now click Next, and then Finish
   4. That’s it!

I have summarised the steps below:

chattr -i /var/log/dell/suu/suu.lck
rm -f /var/log/dell/suu/suu.lck

You can then run SUU

Problem:

You can’t install SharePoint 2007 with SP1 on to a fresh copy of Server 2008 R2. You get a “This program is blocked due to compatibility issues” message, and asked to look at KB Article 962935 (which doesn’t actually exist at the time of writing!)

Solution:

You’ll need to slipstream Sharepoint 2007 SP2 into the Setup file. Brief summary is below:

Download the following…

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version (x64)

Sharepoint 2007 Service pack 2 (x64)

Perform the following…

1. Extract OfficeServerwithSP1.exe by executing “OfficeServerwithSP1.exe /extract:C:\Sharepoint2007\”
2. Delete all the files inside C:\Sharepoint2007\Updates\
3. Extract officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us by executing “officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us /extract:C:\Sharepoint2007\Updates\”
4. Run C:\Sharepoint2007\setup.exe

Now you can install Sharepoint 2007 on Server 2008 R2!

Full instructions/references:

MSDN Blog
Technet Social

The hotfix is available here: http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=975496&kbln=en-us

Symptoms for us were that Windows 7 itself would shut down, but the power would not be switched off from the laptop, leaving it running (often with the fans whizzing away and LEDs on)

1. Create a new Group Policy Object in GPMC, and give it a name. I chose “Samba Compatibility”.
2. Edit the GPO…
3. Navigate to : Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Network Security
4. Now edit the setting “Network security: LAN Manager Authentication level”, and change it to “Send LM & NTLM – use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated”.
5. Apply that GPO to the appropriate OU, and you’re away*

* People will probably need to reboot for the changes to take effect.

Key symptoms we saw were Vista/Win7 rejecting the initial connection, prompting for a username and password, then rejecting the domain credentials you just entered. This fixes those issues!

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.2/enu/

Share and enjoy

Troubleshooting Group Policy Using Event Logs

Of particular use is the section on the Group Policy operational log

Blimey!

How to set up Remote Assistance under Group Policy

Due to our company’s flexibility with end-user’s computers, we have to have rulesets (i.e. do not back up .avi or .mp3 files). Otherwise we’ll fill up our NAS/SAN with useless media files within a few hours

The solution needs to sync between the end-users local computer “My Documents” folder, to their network storage space. And it needs to be able to be deployed in an automated, pre-configured way, complete with scheduling. EDIT: By deployed, I don’t mean exclusively with GPSI. I’m more than happy just running some kind of AutoIT Script or Batch file that installs the software then dumps/edits the config files for the end-user based on env variables or whatever, but it must not require any – or at least minimise – end-user interaction.

I’ve checked out SyncToy and it’s nice, but a complete pain to automate the actual Scheduling “part”.

I’m currently looking at Toucan Backup, but that seems more keen on backing up *everything*, then applying exclusions. I need something that will back up nothing, except what I tell it to.

Any ideas or pointers? I’d greatly appreciate it!