Todd's Blog

Problems Deploying Apps with System Center 2012 R2 in an OSD Task Sequence

posted on August 26, 2015

Onsite at one of my customer’s sites we are deploying operating systems with a Config Manager 2012 R2 task sequence (TS). The issue I was having was the applications were not installing. They were set to deploy in a task sequence without deployment so that wasn’t the issue. Looking at the log, (logs are your friend, use them) and I discovered this:

Unknown operating system build number 9600 found, setting OSVersion to 'Other'.

Ouch, what does this mean. It means my CM12 deployment has something not right with it. I don’t what the issue is but I will bring it up with Garth of Enhansoft who is an Enterprise Client Management MVP. He might have an idea on how to fix this.

In the meantime, I just changed the settings so that the software doesn’t have an OS requirement to install it. Basically I can set the package so it only installs on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. In this case we can’t use that as we don’t know the OS.

Just change the package or app and allow it to be installed on all operating systems and it will deploy fine. Not a great solution for those trying to lock down apps to specific operating systems but it works.

Once I figure out why 9600 is not being recognized, I’ll update the post and we can all fix.

Fixing Errors with Windows Updates

posted on June 24, 2015

Updates are important to apply and should be done regularly. I’ve had a couple of customers who have had Windows update issues. Basically the machine was spitting errors at the users. The error code they were seeing on a few machines was 0x87D00668. I did some poking around. Thankfully I have a quick and dirty way to fix this issue which is pretty much my go to when these issues crop up.

Windows updates are important to apply on a regular basis. You really don’t want to miss patching machines. In fact you should have a process in place to ensure you update all your computers regardless of the flavour of Operating System (OS) on a regular basis.

Microsoft FixIt Tool

On the machine you are having the problem, go to the Microsoft page where you can download the Windows Update Troubleshooter. Download it, and then run the application using Admin credentials.

It will go and basically clean up the folder where Windows updates are. That file location is C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download. Then the tool restarts the Windows update service.
I suggest a reboot at this point although it is not indicated it is needed.

With Configuration Manager 2012 R2 the updates, which were pushed as required, automatically started again and installed without troubles.

You can also do this manually.

Stop the Windows Update service.
net stop wuauserv
Rename the Software Distribution folder.
Then start the Windows Update service.
net start wuauserv

This should work for those who use WSUS, manual updates or something like Configuration Manager.

*Update – This works great for those trying the Windows 10 Beta and finding things getting stuck.

Upgrading a Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller

posted on May 29, 2015

Customers seem to be finally getting the message about end of support for Windows Server 2003. Support ends in July. (July 14,2015 actually) So I have been assisting customers in preparing for their upgrade.

In most cases, the Server 2003 box is a 32-bit box so the an in-place upgrade path is non-existent. So I have designed steps for a side by each upgrade. The idea here is to bring up a new box on Server 2012, promote it to a domain controller and then demote the old 2003 Server DC.

*Update – One note before you start, you need to be at the Windows 2003 Domain and Forest level.

After installing the domain services role, click in the upper right, then click on Promote this server to a domain controller.

Next fill in the Deployment Configuration options. As you can see , I have selected Add a domain controller to an existing domain, selected a domain and entered my credentials.