I was reading a post about driver management recently by Johan Arwidmark and he takes it a step further. To ensure the Dell doesn’t get an HP driver, or vice versa, he uses driver groups. I took it one step further and added the make and model.

So my folder goes, Windows 7 –> Make –> Model.  To get the make and model, run the command cscript ZTIGather.vbs and look for the make and model.

Here is the screen shot of my drivers folder.

Next edit the task sequence and setup which folders to look at when deploying the operating system.

Finally, we need to tell MDT not to use all the drivers. So at the inject drivers task, we tell it to use Nothing. It will inject the drivers specified in the DriverGroup

Check out the Springboard Series Blog for information on the new features. Highlights for me are:

• support for Microsoft Office 2010
• improved driver importing
• cosmetic changes to the UI

Support for Office 2010 is pretty simple; there is no need to explain. The improved driver importing is something I found helpful in my environment. What MDT does now is check the drivers and see what platforms they support rather rely on what the drivers say they support. The benefit of this is that you will have less deployment problems. I have imported drivers that stated they were 64 bit. MDT checked them and said (rough translation):

“Even though ACME Corp says they are 64 bit, these are 32 bit.”

It’s nice to have the deployment environment checking that for you.

The other change is the update to the environment. Gone is the guy helping the lady with the computer.Now we just have a basic blue screen, throughout the prompts. Of course, you can change the picture and make it whatever you want.

Looking for the download, go to the MDT Download Center page.

The information about dates and locations and registration can be found on the Tech Days website.

Let me walk you through checking your DNS configuration.

Open your DNS Manager and connect to a DNS Server in your domain. Under forward lookup zones,  click on your domain. From under your domain, expand at _tcp. Look for the _VLMS Service Location. Click on it a window will open like the one below.



Ensure that all the settings are correct. If they are, then your KMS Server should be working. If it is not correct or the entry doesn’t exist, then we need to correct the problem.

If the entry is incorrect, enter in the fully qualified domain name of the host which is offering the service. If the entry doesn’t exist, then you need to create an entry. Right click on the _tcp folder and choose Other New Records. See the image below.

Click create record and the fill in the options as per the first picture in this post, substituting my server information for your server information. Once you complete this, replication will need to occur before your workstations start seeing the correct information. The workstations will look for this entry to find the KMS Server in your network.

Speaker: David E. Myers

Ever since business applications were introduced, there was a need for great data reporting tools.  With the release of SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 R2, Microsoft has made a stronger case than ever for investing in their reporting solution.  In this session David will provide an overview of SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services with a focus on the key value proposition, core architecture, development tools, and integration with SharePoint 2010.

David is an IT professional and developer at the Upper Canada District School Board (Brockville, ON).  He primarily works with SQL Server, SharePoint and Windows Client / Server infrastructure, but like many Canadian IT professionals he wears many hats.  As a SQL Server MVP and a member of Microsoft’s Springboard Technical Experts Panel (STEP) he is constantly looking to connect with people that share his passion for technology.  In his spare time David works as a Microsoft Certified Trainer in the Kingston and Ottawa areas.

Session 2: Excel Has Never Been the Same with Self-Service Analytics on SQL Server 2008 R2

Speaker:  Edwin Sarmiento

We have to admit that Excel is the most popular data visualization tool there is. In this session, we’ll look at using Excel to gather data, cleanse and model that data, and then use it as a source for pivot-table and pivot-chart analysis – all in the context of self-service analytics in SQL Server 2008 R2. We’ll also look at some of the new analysis features available in Excel 2010, including slicers, improved charting, and improved pivot-table functionality.

Edwin Sarmiento works as a SQL Server DBA/Systems Engineer for The Pythian Group in Ottawa, ON in Canada. Prior to joining Pythian, he was a senior systems engineer/DBA for Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd in Singapore.   He is very passionate about technology but has interests in music, professional and organizational development, leadership and management matters when not working with databases. He lives up to his primary mission statement – “To help people grow and develop their full potential as God has planned for them.”

Location:

Kingston Frontenac Public Library
Calvin Park Branch – Community Room
88 Wright Cres
Kingston, Ontario K7L 4T9

Agenda:

6:00 – Registration

6:15 – Session 1: Introduction to SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services and SharePoint 2010 Integration

7:15 – Intermission / Q & A

7:30 – Session 2: Excel Has Never Been the Same with Self-Service Analytics on SQL Server 2008 R2

8:30 – Wrap Up & Door Prizes

Registration:

http://kitpro-062810.eventbrite.com

Notes:
Pizza and Pop will be served, Please RSVP to help us order enough of both.

I’ll cover off how you do the add and the options in another post but in order to activate Office 2010, you have two options now; KMS or MAK. Microsoft has moved the licensing of Office to be like that of Windows 7. Makes plenty of sense, but how do you set up your infrastructure so you can activate Office 2010?

I already have a Windows 2008 R2 Server acting as my KMS Host for Windows activations so I used that server. Don’t have a KMS Host for activating Windows 7 or Vista yet, check my post on setting up a KMS Host Server. If you just want to use KMS for Office 2010, then that is fine too. You need to head to Microsoft Download Center and download Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host software. I chose to run it on my existing KMS Server, but if you don’t yet have a KMS Server, the machine you run this on will become your KMS Host for Office 2010.

Accept the EULA and click continue and it will install.

Once the file runs, it will ask you for you KMS Key for Office 2010.

Click Yes and enter the key.

It will then return whether it was successful or not.

That is all there is to it.

Once you start installing Office 2010, the KMS activation key is already defaulted in the installation. The installation will search out your KMS host server. If everything is working properly on the DNS side, then it should activate and you will be off to the races.

If you get stuck, here are some other resources:

Microsoft Office Blog – Volume Activation Tips and Tricks

Volume Activation for Office 2010

The event started for us at 8:00am, which for me meant a 3:30am start from Kingston. I drove to Brockville and picked up David Myers and the two of us headed to Montreal. Thank goodness David picked up coffee for the ride. We arrived at the venue around 8:15 and were put to work guiding people. David and I had emailed the organizers and offered our assistance. As a leader of a user group in Kingston, I know it never hurts to have extra hands helping out.

I finished up guiding people and arrived into the theatre at around 9:20 and the Keynote was in full swing. One of the many technologies I perked up for was the Intune beta that is running right now.  For a small to medium sized business, it has great promise to help you manage your environment.

After the keynote, Office 2010 was covered off and we were presented some of the features of using Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010 in the cloud. It definitely got me thinking on how I could use this in my environment at work; it will make life easier.

After this session Daniel Nerenberg came up and talked about App-V and Med-V. Both are virtualization technologies but very different. I will try to explain at a very high level. App-V virtualizes apps, Med-V virtualizes a Windows XP operating system which can be managed centrally.

After Daniel, Stephen Rose came up and talked about Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1. Stephen is a high energy speaker and you could really feel the energy in room  climb as he spoke. It was a great overview of the capabilities of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. It also showed that there are FREE tools available to help make your life easier.

After Stephen’s session, there was an Ask the Experts session. This is a photo from the session (the room was dark, so this was about the best shot I could get.)

It was well worth the time to drive up to Montreal and check out the tour. The sessions are great and if you haven’t seen Office 2010 or MDT 2010, be prepared to be awed. If the tour is coming to your neck of the woods, be sure to get out and check out the event.

Tools and information can be found, starting at the Microsoft Springboard Site,  www.microsoft.com/springboard

Why? Even though it was probably one of the least technical session I have done to date ; I find it very interesting and something I have been tinkering with since Christmas.

I’ll post more details in future posts but in a nutshell here is what I have.

• USB TV tuner that records ATSC digital
• Windows 7 PC with Media Center and a 1.5TB hard drive
• Xbox360 connected to the TV
• Xbox360 remote control

The computer records TV from the antenna using the ATSC tuner. ATSC is completely digital, making the picture look great, no snow or ghosting. Files are big, 5gb per hour when recorded in HD. From there they sit on my computer. When I want to watch my show, I turn on the Xbox, hit the green button on the remote and then head to recorded TV. I then select what I want to watch and presto, I can watch my show. I can pause, fast forward and rewind, no problem.

The best part about it is that it is easy for Tracey to operate. She can setup shows to record and watch her shows with relative ease.

She said last night to me as she was watching a recorded show from the weekend, “I love the Xbox”.

For me, I love how easy it was to get everything setup. There is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, that once setup, that she doesn’t have to know or care about for her to watch her favourite shows.

• How to use the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool to identify your current hardware and application inventory.
• How to use the Windows Automated Install Kit (WAIK) to build a customized image for your organization.
• How to use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to build, deploy and maintain Windows installation images.
• How to migrate the end users profile from their current installation to the Windows 7 installation using the User State Migration Toolkit (USMT).
• How to integrate MDT and Windows Deployment Services (WDS) to perform Lite Touch installations of Windows 7.

Finally we will look at how we can leverage the various tools to solve any application compatibility issues you might encounter.  We will look at how you can overcome common obstacles using the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), or larger obstacles using Windows XP Mode and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) and even how you can leverage Application Virtualization (App-V) to streamline application deployment and ensure all your applications work!

Please note: there is no cost to attend this event.

Speakers:

Todd Lamothe

Todd is a Systems Administrator for the County of Lennox & Addington, Information Services Department. Supporting the Information Technology needs of the Libraries and Museum throughout their 12 points of service, he is responsible for managing and maintaining the entire IT infrastructure from server to desktops.

With over 10 years’ experience, Todd has a vast depth of knowledge with Microsoft technologies. Todd is a Windows Desktop Experience MVP, a Microsoft Certified Trainer and is involved in the IT community in both Kingston and Ottawa.

David E. Myers

David is an IT professional and developer at the Upper Canada District School Board (Brockville, ON).  He primarily works with SQL Server, SharePoint and Windows Client / Server infrastructure, but like many Canadian IT professionals he wears many hats.  As a SQL Server MVP and a member of Microsoft’s Springboard Technical Experts Panel (STEP) he is constantly looking to connect with people that share his passion for technology.  In his spare time David works as a contract Microsoft Certified Trainer in the Kingston and Ottawa areas.

Location:
Kingston Frontenac Public Library
Calvin Park Branch – Community Room
88 Wright Cres
Kingston, Ontario K7L 4T9

Agenda:
6:00 p.m.  Event registration
8:20 p.m.  Q & A

8:30 p.m.  Door Prizes

Registration:
http://kitpro.eventbrite.com

Notes:
Pizza and Pop will be served, Please RSVP to help us order enough of both.

This is a good change. It allows those who would like to go upgrade to Windows 7 but have applications that need Windows XP the ability to upgrade and continue to keep the apps running in an XP environment. For me, its more about being able to demo the Windows XP mode than actually utilizing it, all my applications work under Windows 7.

The full press release can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/mar10/03-18DesktopVirtPR.mspx

What I want to talk about is KMS, Key Management Service. Setting one of these servers up is as easy as making Kraft Dinner. Yes, simple. In reading in the forums I see people having troubles getting one up and going. I’ll walk you through the easiest setup. This walkthrough isn’t meant for someone already using a KMS server for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.

If you want to activate Windows 7 clients, the simplest choice is install Windows Server 2008 R2. You can use Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 but you need to install an update. If you have Server 2008 R2, I recommend using it, its just the easiest thing to do. There is a hierarchy of how the setup works, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979804.aspx will give you the low down.

For me, Windows Server 2008 R2 based KMS server made the most sense. The next step is to locate your KMS key for your volume activation. The key you are looking for, is the Windows Server 2008 Std/Ent KMS B (note the KMS B).

Instead of using the MAK key when you enter the key for activation, you will enter in your KMS.

You will get an warning message that you are using a KMS key, like this.

Click OK and you will have then made a KMS host machine. That is all there is to it. Some people get worried and think they have to add a Windows 7 key for the KMS host to accept Windows 7 clients. You don’t need to do that, at least I didn’t have to.

The other thing to remember is that in order for your server to activate computers, you must have at least 5 Servers checked in for server activation to occur or 25 Windows 7 or Vista machines checked in for client activation to occur. To check the status of the computers, I find the VAMT tool which comes with the WAIK works well.

This file basically has tells the Deployment wizard where to find the information it needs on the network. The file looks like this.

[Settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
DeployRoot=\\SERVER01\DeploymentShare$

You can modify this file to point to a different location, so a different server and enter in credentials.

[Settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
DeployRoot=\\%WDSServer%\DeploymentShare$

UserID=MDTAccount
UserDomain=yourdomain
UserPassword=Password123

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

Looking at the above file, I have done a few things. The first was to change the deployment root to point to the WDS Server that the boot.wim booted from. %WDSSERVER% is a variable that will populate with the WDS server name at launch time. If I have a specific server I want to run MDT from, then I would enter it in on DeployRoot instead. So if I wanted to use Server1, the line would be DeployRoot=\\Server1\DeploymentShare$

Another thing you can do is set the deployment share based on the default gateway. I seen the information on how to do that at the TechNet forums. Here is the URL -> http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/mdt/thread/62809d7e-553d-41b7-a92e-93ba3b1972c7

The next three lines show the user credentials used to connect to the deployment share.
The last line, self-explanatory, skips the BDD Welcome information.

Lets have a look at my customsettings.ini file, the file is found in the Control folder. This file is on my memory stick and installs my Patron computer builds. What I do is block all pages except the computer name field. I manually enter the computer name and I am off to the races. It also will give me the final summary letting me know if everything worked or not.

[Settings]

Priority=Default

Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]

OSInstall=YES

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipApplications=YES

SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipCapture=YES

SkipComputerName=No

SkipComputerBackup=YES

SkipDeploymentType=YES

DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER

SkipDomainMembership=YES

JoinDomain=yourdomain.local

DomainAdmin=Deployment_Account

DomainAdminDomain=yourdomain

DomainAdminPassword=Pa$$w0rd

SkipFinalSummary=No

SkipLocaleSelection=YES

KeyboardLocale=en-US

UserLocale=en-US

UILanguage=en-US

SkipPackageDisplay=YES

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipSummary=YES

SkipTaskSequence=YES

TaskSequenceID=VISTAPATRON

SkipTimeZone=Yes

TimeZone=035

TimeZoneName=Eastern Standard Time

SkipUserData=Yes

In order for this to work properly, we need ensure we modified our task sequences to install software we want installed. We also need to ensure when setting up the task sequence we entered in a license key (if needed) and the admin password.

I’ll be covering these customizations of a few blog posts. I am also going to be creating some instructional podcasts around MDT as well, so this could be included in that.

For more information on this as well, check out fellow MVP Mitch Tulloch’s posts on the subject at http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Deploying-Windows-7-Part7.html. He has a whole series dedicated to Windows 7 Deployment.

At a high level, in order to upgrade, I will need to install new temporary server running Windows Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2010. I will then have to migrate the user mailboxes to the new temporary server. Once the migration is complete and Exchange 2007 is no longer being used or needed, I can then reinstall the operating system and install Exchange 2010 on the old machine. From there, I would move the mailboxes one more time from the temporary Exchange 2010 server to the permanent Exchange server.

I am lucky in that my migration is pretty straight forward and there isn’t more than a couple of dozen mailboxes to move. Hopefully it goes well.

The people I met spend the majority of their day building images. For me, I do this a couple of times of year. They had some great experiences which they shared and one of those things was a pause task sequence routine they are using. What it is a call to pause the machine sequence build. Some of them are using a VBscript which essential calls notepad and leaves it open while you do all the extra work you need to do. When you close notepad, MDT continues on with its task sequence. Also new to MDT 2010 is a script called LTISuspend.wsf.

The method I chose was to create a batch file called pausetask.bat with one line:

START /WAIT Notepad.exe .\SomeTextFile.txt

Then, I saved it in a folder and created a new application called Pause Task Sequence – Notepad. Here is a snapshot of the properties of the application.

Next thing you want to do is ensure that the pause task runs on your fresh builds. On my Windows 7 install task (and I should note, this works with all versions of Windows you can deploy with MDT, even Windows XP), I added an install application task to my task sequence. To do this, click Add and general and Install Application. I add the new task sequence right after I install my applications.

As long as I keep notepad open, the task sequence pauses to let me do other things. I was able to install some custom line of business applications to my builds yesterday and install Windows Updates prior to capturing the image. You can even reboot the computer and as long as you don’t manually close notepad, the computer reboots and notepad pops back up, continuing to pause the MDT task sequence.

If you want to use the new method of calling LTISuspend.wsf in MDT 2010 then add a command line task instead of an install application task.

In the command line enter

cscript.exe %SCRIPTROOT%\LTISuspend.wsf

Then when this one executes, the LTI process suspends, you do what ever you need to do and then when you are ready to continue on, you click a desktop shortcut to resume the process.

While there is a capture image task sequence now part of MDT 2010 as well, capturing the image while building the computer is the preferred option.

A couple of articles to check out on this subject:

http://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys/archive/2008/07/07/useful-script-number-6-pausing-the-task-sequence.aspx

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/33524765/how-to-pause-the-capture.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus/archive/2009/06/27/mdt-2010-new-feature-3-suspend-and-resume-a-lite-touch-task-sequence.aspx