Author: Ronni Pedersen

Some of the questions that often comes up on the Microsoft TechNet forum, are from people that don’t understand why the Automatic Client Upgrade feature don’t behave as they expect. In this blog post I’ll try to explain how this feature was designed, and in what scenarios you can use this feature. Cumulative Updates One of the most common misconceptions is the checkbox that says “Upgrade client automatically when new client updates are available”, and I don’t blame them. It is confusing. The reason for this confusion are the two words “Upgrade” and “Update”, so let’s have a closer look…

When you first install the Reporting Services Point in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager (SCCM), it comes with 468 built in reports, and all these great reports uses the default System Center banner. The default banner is a really nice banner, but I often get the question from some of my customers “How to we replace the default SCCM report banner with our company branded banner?”. So I decided to make this blog post that explains how this can be done. Actually, it’s a really simple task, but it can’t be done directly from the UI. First we need…

Allmost every time I get a call from a customer, or want to answer a question in the TechNet Forums about OS Deployment, I always start by asking for logfiles. There are MANY log files when it comes to ConfigMgr 2012 R2, and most of them are normally located in the same folder every time you need them. But when you are troubleshooting OS Deployment using, one of the most common log files you almost always want to check, is the SMSTS.log. And this log file is moving around depending on the phase of the deployment process. There are plenty of blogs…

This morning, one of my customers called me and told me that they bought some new Lenovo laptops (Lenovo ThinkPad S540), but they was unable start OS Deployment using SCCM/PXE. Normally when I see this behaivor, it’s caused by a missing driver in the boot image, so I told them to verify that the driver was loaded correct. Here is a guide to verify the network driver in a SCCM Boot Image: https://www.ronnipedersen.com/2009/04/importing-network-drivers-into-the-windows-pe-boot-image/ But the driver was loaded correct, so I requested the SMSTS.log and found another common issue. The SMSTS.log file can be found here: https://www.ronnipedersen.com/2014/08/sccm-2012-r2-smsts-log-located/ In the SMSTS.log…

A few weeks ago I was working with a customer on a global SCCM Project where the use of Pull Distribution Points would be a huge benefit to reduce WAN traffic between some of the major sites. So we ordered a few new (virtual) servers and installed the Distribution Point Role. Everything looked ok, so we moved on and enabled the Pull Distribution Point option, but we couldn’t specify any source for the Pull Distribution Point. I went back to my lab, where I tried to reproduce this behaivor, but in my lab everything worked just fine. But my lab…

From time to time, I get questions about what version of System Center Configuration Manager is equal what release of Configuration Manager. Here is a complete list of all available builds, versions and Cumulative Updates (CU) for System Center Configuration Manager (Updated March 2017). I’ll try to keep this page updated when new updates are avaliable for download. Release Version Build Download ConfigMgr 2012 RTM 5.00.7711.0000 7711 ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 5.00.7804.1000 7804 ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 CU1 5.00.7804.1202 7804 KB2817245 ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 CU2 5.00.7804.1300 7804 KB2854009 ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 CU3 5.00.7804.1400 7804 KB2882125 ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 CU4 5.00.7804.1500 7804 KB2922875 ConfigMgr 2012…

Cumulative Update 5 for System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager has been released and are now avaliable for download. Note: If you’re running ConfigMgr 2012 R2 you don’t need this update. This update is for ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 only! The update can be downloaded here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2978017 ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 CU5 fixes the following issues: Task sequences The Continue on error check box is not selected under Task Sequences when an Install Software step and a Virtual Application package are defined as the source. This affects only task sequences that are migrated from Configuration Manager 2007 to System Center 2012 Configuration…

Today I received an e-mail from Microsoft and I am delighted to share that I have been awarded Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) 2014 for the seventh consecutive year. I am honored to receive this award again and I appreciate everyone that reads my blog, watch me speaking, attend my training and keeps up with me on twitter (@ronnipedersen). I will strive to keep contributing to the community and hope that my contributions helps you out in some way. I would like to thank everyone of you who have supported me in any form especially my family, friends, colleagues, all…

Today I was presenting at Microsoft IT Camp, and an question about why BitLocker should always be implemented came up. So I showed this simple demo on how Windows (and other operating systems) can be hacked, if the disk is left unencrypted. The demo was showed on the latest version of Windows 8.1 Update with all updates installed. Some of the students asked for en guide, so they could show the demo where they work, so here it is… Login using a standard user account Show that the Local Administrator Account is disabled Restart the computer, and boot from a…

Thursday morning I’m leaving for the Microsoft TechEd event in Houston. On my way to Houston I’ll spend a few days in one of the cities on this planet I truly love… New York. It’ll be lots of shopping, sightseeing, great food and relaxing… Nothing else TechEd is one of the biggest events in world for IT Pro’s. This year my main focus will be on System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, Windows Intune, Windows 8.1 Update and hopefully more information about the next release of Windows (that was announced during the build keynote a few weeks ago). In the…