SCCM tips and info

• Cache location

32-bit - C:\Windows\System32\CCM\Cache

64-bit - C:\Windows\SYSWOW64\CCM\Cache

• Logs

list of logs

32-bit - C:\Windows\System32\CCM\Logs

64-bit - C:\Windows\SYSWOW64\CCM\Logs

• Clear Cache manually

Control Panel > System and Security > Configuration Manager > Advanced Tab

• Update machine policy manually

Control Panel > System and Security > Configuration Manager > Actions Tab

Run "Machine Policy Retrieval and Evaluation Cycle"

• Config file

C:\Windows\SMSCFG.ini

Deleting this file and letting computer re-create it can sometimes resolve issues (must restart after deleting)

Last resort before uninstalling client?

• Remove SCCM client

32-bit - C:\Windows\System32\ccmsetup\ccmsetup.exe /uninstall

64-bit - C:\Windows\ccmsetup\ccmsetup.exe /uninstall

• Troubleshooting

Client content downloading troubleshooting guide (sorta helpful)

Silent Installs

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/installers.php

• Winzip Self-extractors: [filename].exe /auto <directory>
• MikTex: [basic miktex installer].exe --shared --unattended
• Texmaker: texmakerwin32_install.exe /S
• Ghostscript: gs902w32.exe /S
• COMSOL: setup.exe -s [setupfile].ini
  • Version 4.2: Must copy com.comsol.resources_1.0.0.jar (created during install of software) to /plugins directory of install media. Silent install fails without it. (Not necessary for v4.3)
• Cadence: setup.exe !quiet=silentinstall.ini
  • Cadence hotfix: [hotfixfile].exe -s setup.iss
    • Use [hotfixfile].exe -r to create setup.iss response file
• Quartus II: altera_installer_cmd.exe --source=./[downloads files dir] --target=C:\altera\[version] --install=quartus --exclude_quartus_64bit
  • MUST extract files from altera_installer.external.exe in order to get access to altera_installer_cmd.exe (or launch external installer, then cancel it and grab files from your %TEMP% dir)
  • Installation directory CANNOT have spaces
  • Remove "--exclude_quartus_64bit" for 64bit installs
• Synopsys Saber: Saber_<version>_win.exe -f installer.properties
  • updates can be run with -i silent, but you need to rename installer.properties to something else if they're in the same dir
  • Installer appears to use an exit code of 1 for a success, but SCCM thinks this means a failure
• Agilent ADS: ads2011_XX_rXXX_windows.exe -f installer.properties
  • 2011.05 doesn't install licensing tools, so have to install them separately. Told it should be fixed in next release in Dec.
  • Fixed with 2011.10 release
• OptiSystem: should be setup.exe /SILENT, but doesn't work. They've disabled the automated install.
  • Copy in edited hasplm.ini file to %programfiles%\common files\aladdin shared\hasp\ before installing.
• Xilinx 13.x and 14.x: Batch install requires you to agree to two EULAs, the second one being massive. An alternative is to copy the installed files to another machine and run a batch file to add in shortcuts. I've used 7-zip to compress and archive the installed files (from 13GB to ~4)
  • 7z.exe x [Xilinx archive] -o%SYSTEMDRIVE%
  • Then run shortcutsSetup.bat in the bin folder
• CST Suite: msiexec /qb /i "CST Studio Suite 20xx.msi" ADDLOCAL=CST_STUDIO_SERIES_Files,Examples
  • x64 also requires: <CST 20xx DVD Image>\Bin\vcredist_x64.exe /Q
  • To autoupdate: %programfiles%\Auto_Update_Control.exe updatefromdir:"<path to update file>"
• CCS 5: [ccs setup].exe /response-file [path to file]
  • /test (fake install, does not copy any files)
  • /save-response-file [path to file]
• Ansoft apps: setup.exe -s setup.iss
  • setup.exe -r to create response file.
  • Webupdate is currently broken, so have to manually apply updates. Updates require separate setup.iss files, but possible to re-use across multiple updates
• PLECS: [plecs blockset installer].exe /extract ./ to extract MSI file, then msiexec /qb /i [plecs blockset].msi ALLUSERS=1 INSTALLDIR="%programfiles%\Plexim\Plecs Blockset <version> (<arch>)\"
  • Doesn't seem to be possible to silently install exe to program files. Might work when run as SYSTEM?
• PSCAD: can create response file for silent install, but always get prompt to input license server midway through
  • Also get prompts from Sentinel usbdriver install. Can avoid it by running the Sentinel installer beforehand though.
• TracePro: [tracepro installer].exe /s /v"/qn", for a completely silent install. use /qb for progress bar
  • If using a MST file, need to use /v"/qn TRANSFORMS=[filename].mst"
  • License info is per-user. Currently using a cmd script that is copied to Startup folder to copy in INI file to User's Appdata folder to setup licensing.
  • 64bit install currently not working because SCCM agent runs as 32bit process. EXE extracts files to 32bit system temp dir, but msiexec is looking for them in 64bit system temp dir.

AutoIT bits

• Setting SYSTEM env variable

$result = RegWrite("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment", "SYSTEM_TEST_VAR", "REG_SZ", "Test")
If $result = 1 Then

EnvUpdate()

EndIf

Advertisements and Task Sequences

• TS: Install Multiple Applications option
  • Define Task Sequence Variables for each application to install
  • Variable names must be in format XXX001, XXX002, XXX003 etc, where XXX is the base name (no known restriction on base name)
  • Define variables first, then add "Install Software" step, choose option to install multiple applications, and input the base name of the TSVs
  • Unconfirmed: Only works if TS advertisement is set to access content directly from the DP

• TS: Using multiple "Install Software" steps to install multiple applications in one TS
  • Appears to mis-report required disk space if installing multiple programs from the same package