Sam's IT Knowledgebase

Recently I was working on a project to migrate the organisation from Office 2010 to Office 2016 (365). After the upgrade we had some finance staff complaining that since the update Excel would take a long time to close. It was hard to narrow down the exact cause of this as there was also an update of Jet Reports at the same time. After a bit of investigating I recreated a users local profile which seemed to fix the issue. After doing this I compared the App Data\Roaming\Jet Reports\settings.xml file and compared the differences and noticed an interesting line of code as below <setting name="SendUsageStatistics" type="Boolean" encrypted="false">     <value> True </value> I then tested changing the send usage statistics value to false, closed Excel, reopened and now it works fine.

To be compliant and allow Windows 10 Branching Updates to 1803, the SCCM console needs to be updated to the latest version, which is 1806. This is available as an in console update, providing that you are currently on one of the Current Branch Console Versions. To see the support tree see the following link from Microsoft - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/plan-design/configs/support-for-windows-10 The current support timeline is as below Windows 10 version Configuration Manager 1706 Configuration Manager 1710 Configuration Manager 1802 Configuration Manager 1806 Enterprise 2015 LTSB Enterprise 2016 LTSB 1607 ( see editions )   1   1   1   1 1703 ( see editions ) 1709 ( see editions ) 1803 ( see editions ) The first step in doing this is to update to ADK. If you do not do this prior then you will need to do this after the console update, which is a lot longer process. For details on how to do this then follow this guide from System...

So in my current project I am working on deploying Office 365 in our Organisation. I had an issue in the early stages of testing where some users would get a pop up box (as below) asking for their credentials to activate the product. While this was not a showstopper, we did not want this coming up for every user once we go live with the rollout to over 1300 staff members. There were a few factors which caused this to happen and the fixes below. I was under the impression we were running Active Directory Federation Services. After speaking to one of the System Admins I found out we were actually running Seamless Single Sign On instead. To prevent this from coming up there were a couple of steps which I had to do. For Windows 10 systems it automatically supports AD SSO. For Windows 7 and 8.1 devices I had to install an extra piece of Software called Microsoft Workplace join for non Windows 10 computers here - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53554 On...

I recently had an issue where I am working on an Office 365 rollout and in the early stages of the pilot group I came across a user which was not showing in Azure, and thus missing from the Office Online Portal. I ran the IDfix utility which brought up no issues with the specific user. After engaging with Microsoft it was determined that an attribute in the AD object of this user was different to most other users and the query which Azure runs conflicted with this attribute. In our situation it was the msExchRecipientTypeDetails which was set to 2 for this particular user, and the Azure query we had filtered on only allowing if this was set to 1.

I am currently working on a project to implement Office 365. In the organisation I work for there is a mix of 2010 and 2013 installs. I came across a bit of an issue when Visio would not install. The first step is in your install directory - \\server\share\vispro.ww create an install XML file. The contents of the file I used were as follows: <Configuration Product="ProPlus">  <Display Level="none" CompletionNotice="no" SuppressModal="yes" AcceptEula="yes" />     <Logging Type="standard" Path="C:\Install\Logs" Template="Microsoft Office Visio Standard Setup(*).log" />    <Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="NEVER" /> </Configuration> I then created a batch file to uninstall with the following syntax: \\server\source\setup.exe /uninstall Visio /config "\\server\source\vispro.ww\uninstall.xml" I was getting some errors on the log file as ...

I recently came across an issue where a user was suddenly unable to browse through the network places / network discovery in Windows 10. Long story short but they were using an application which you could only browse to folders, so using a shortcut was not an option so they used this feature to browse to the file server shared folders. The fix was kind of simple, on the file server just enable the "Function Discovery Resource Publication" service.

I recently had a request from a user where they wanted everyone in their department to have a particular folder location mapped in their Quick Access location. I came across a Powershell script which is able to do this $o = new-object -com shell.application $o.Namespace('Folder location here').Self.InvokeVerb("pintohome") I did then have further problems with SCCM not being able to deploy this script as it kept coming up with 0x01 error. To get around this I then had to create a package which was a batch file calling the powershell script with the following command: powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File "File Location and name.ps1" exit /b %errorlevel% Note when doing this I had to run with the user's rights rather than the local administrators, and also set it to run only when a user is logged on.

I recently just upgraded our SCCM to 1710 and was eager to try out the new feature of setting up child task sequences. However for a while I was confused when I was going to test this out the option I had read about "Run Task Sequence" was missing. I stumbled upon this blog post on WindowsNoob and this explained the issue - https://www.windows-noob.com/forums/topic/15965-how-can-i-enable-the-run-task-sequence-step-in-sccm-current-branch-version-1710/ So in summary you need to go to Administration - Hierachy Settings and enable "Consent to use pre release functions" You then need to enable the Run Task Sequence Restart your console and the changes will apply

When recently undergoing a project in our organisation to update Windows 10 from 1607 to 1703 I came across an annoying issue where after the upgrade process Windows would add the Windows Mail UWP icon to the taskbar. Obviously in a corporate environment this is not a setup which is wanted. I read a bunch of stuff online but things would work fine when running manually, but then when trying to deploy through SCCM it would not work. In the end the only way I got it to work was with information thanks to the following link -  https://www.windows-noob.com/forums/topic/15538-problems-running-a-powershell-script-on-a-task-sequence/ So in summary the steps to fix it were: 1.) Create a powershell script on a network share with the following:            'Uninstall Microsoft Mail and Calendar'             Get-AppxPackage *communi* | Remove-AppxPackage 2.) Setup an SCCM package and choose to create a program with source ...

I was recently required to do an audit of Office software for Microsoft licensing and noticed the SCCM WQL queries did not pick up 64 bit installs of Microsoft Office. After a bit of investigation I read that the normal queries which work (as below) only detect 32 bit software installs. Credit to skissinger from my IT forum for this info: http://www.myitforum.com/forums/Queries-for-32bit-amp-64bit-in-addremove-programs-m232862.aspx 32 bit software query: select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName = "Microsoft Office professional plus 2013" 64 bit software query: It's probably the inner joins; because a x86 box won't have any 64 stuff; so nothing to join ...

SCCM - Required Application Not Installing to a collection based on an Active Directory Security Group I recently had an issue where I was trying to install Office 2013 as a required application to a collection based on an AD Security group. This would work fine if I was advertising the install as  'available', however when I set as 'required' it would not install and not even show up in Software Centre. After looking through the Monitoring section in SCCM and had a look at the deployment status I noticed it said success however the Message ID was 10040 and the description was "program will not rerun" I managed to fix this by going to the deployment settings for this collection and then going to scheduling and altering the "Rerun behaviour" to always rerun program.

Office 2013 Silent Install Setup To setup a silent install of Office 2013 follow the below steps. If you have an ISO mount the file and then copy all the files out to a folder.  Run the command \\locationoffolder\setup.exe /admin. This will bring up the Office 2013 customisation tool.  You can apply which settings you require. The main ones you probably need to apply are  Licensing and user interface - choose here if you want to use a KMS key or a MAK key. In the options for the licencing agreements it is best to Tick "I accept the terms of the license agreement" Display level - none Suppress modal - ticked Set feature installation states. Tick the appropriate install options and features which you want. Configure shortcuts. I came across an issue in here which appears to be a known bug. If you try to create desktop shortcuts for any of the applications it would try to force you to enter something in the "start in" field saying this is required. ...

There is an easy way to deploy Google Chrome Extensions using a registry key. This example is for a 64 bit Operating System. First of all find the Extension you want to deploy and you need to find the extension ID. In this example I am wanting to install the 'Local Links' extension so the extension ID is jllpkdkcdjndhggodimiphkghogcpida. Create a registry key which points to the following location: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Google\Chrome\Extensions\jllpkdkcdjndhggodimiphkghogcpida] "update_url"="https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx" Run this or push it out via script / SCCM or group policy.

Recently I was required to reinstall the current version of Symantec Endpoint our organisation is running (12.1.6) but with extra features from when the initial install was configured. We were wanting to add 'Proactive Threat Protection' and also 'Network Threat Protection'. The issue with this is that 1.) Symantec did not like an update pushing from a remote source (SCCM server) and 2.) SCCM thought the software was already installed as it had the same product ID. To get around this I had to create a task sequence with a couple of steps. Step 1:  - Setup a command line in the task sequence to run the following commands and make sure you tick "continue on error" on these steps.       * CMD /C "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\smc.exe" -stop       * CMD /C "C:\Program Files\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\smc.exe" -stop Step 2:  - Create an application in SCCM with the same sep64.msi install bu...

I recently had an issue in SCCM which had me stumped where an application would not deploy to a remote site, it would show in Software Centre and on the "Installation Status" screen would get stuck at downloading 0% and not progress from here. What was strange was that there were task sequence which would install fine on the same site. The fix to this issue was that I had realised a new DHCP scope had been added but the new boundary group had not been setup correctly. I followed the steps of setting up a boundary with the IP range, adding this to the existing boundary group. After about 30 minutes the application started pushing down to all the clients.

SCCM - Removal of Project and Visio 2010 To remove Project and Visio and 2010 through SCCM you need to create a separate application package pointing to the original installation executable and then add the following install switches. Project: setup.exe /uninstall PrjStd /config "PrjStd.ww\uninstall.xml" Visio: setup.exe /uninstall Visio /config "visio.ww\uninstall.xml" The uninstall file contains the following: <Configuration Product="Visio"> <Display Level="none" CompletionNotice="no" SuppressModal="yes" AcceptEula="yes" />    <Logging Type="standard" Path="C:\Install\Logs" Template="Microsoft Office Visio Standard Setup(*).log" />   <Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="NEVER" /> </Configuration>

If you get the error code  87D00267 in a task sequence when deploying an Operating System it  basically means the machine is unable to talk to the DHCP server. From a bit of investigation it  seems that some machines with SSD's actually boot up into the task sequence quicker than it  gets an IP Address! The get around this problem you need to put some pauses in the task  sequence.  The best way is to put the pause in the task sequence just before the point where it  fails. There is  some further reading into this issue below, the sites credited with links.  Part 1 Source: http://ericsccm2012.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/applications-fail-to-install-on-ssd.html Applications Fail to Install on SSD Drives. We received several of the new Dell Latitude 6430U models with SSD drives.  Very nice laptops in a small case.  Easily found drivers for them and loaded into SCCM.  Started the task sequence on one and all look...

Ref:https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799289(v=WS.10).aspx Add Device Drivers on an Offline Windows PE Image 2 out of 2 rated this helpful  -  Rate this topic Published: October 22, 2009 Updated: October 22, 2009 Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 Note This content applies to Windows 7. For Windows 8 content, see  Windows Deployment with the Windows ADK . The following procedure demonstrates how to use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to add a device driver (.inf) to an offline Windows® PE image. Before you can run a DISM command, you must first mount the Windows PE image. To add a device driver to an offline Windows PE image Mount the base image by using the DISM tool to a local Windows PE directory. For example: Dism /Mount-WIM /WimFile:c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:c:\winpe_x86\mount Add the .inf file to the base image by using the  dism...

SCCM - Installing Citrix Web Client 1.) Import Citrix Receiver Web into SCCM.  2.) Add install switches  /silent /ALLOWADDSTORE=N SELFSERVICEMODE=false 3.) Create task sequence and link in this program 4.) Create a registry file which will disable the add account pop up when first installed 5.) Command to add into Task Sequence is - CMD /C regedit.exe /s "\\FILELOCATION.reg" 6.) Contents of registry key  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Citrix] "EnableFTU"=dword:00000000