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: [gs installer].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
    • Oddly, I only get the exit code of 1 when it's run through SCCM. Experimenting with running installer through powershell shows that it does exit with 0 on success. But then amusingly, the update installer does exit with 1 when using the -i silent options.
• 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
    • Can't get this to run silently for 14.x. Using powershell script to just copy shortcuts in.
• 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 issue resolved. need /b"<path>" to specify where the installer should extract the MSI. So 64bit is [tracepro installer x64].exe /s /b"%TEMP%" /v"/qn TRANSFORMS=[filename].mst"
• SIMetrix/SIMPLIS: [installer].exe /s for 32bit, [x64 installer].exe /s /b"%TEMP%" for 64bit
  • Use [installer].exe /r to create setup.iss response file. Need separate files for 32 and 64bit.
  • Wanted to use a MST with this installer like with TracePro, but doesn't work for some reason. Brings up an error msg about "logging started", then installer stops after you click OK. Running the msi with the mst works fine, but using the mst with the setup.exe doesn't. No idea why.

Powershell

• Operators

-eq (equals)

-ne (does not equal)

-like (can use wildcards with this)

• $LastExitCode - exit code of last run program
  • Doesn't really work if you run the program using Start-Process. Never gets updated, so is either null or last previous value.

• Sets $var to be the path where your script is being run from

$Invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation -Scope 0).Value

$var = Split-Path $Invocation.MyCommand.Path

• Sets var to the version number of the running OS. Can use to check for XP or Vista/7 (hm, what about server...?)
  • XP is 5.1.xxxx, Vista is 6.0.xxxx, 7 is 6.1.xxxx, 8 is 6.2.xxxx

$var = (Get-WmiObject -Class win32_OperatingSystem).Version

if ($var -like "6.*")

if ($var -like "5.1.*")

• creates “myY” of category “User”, and set the value to “"la la"”

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("myY", "la la", "User")

• example of adding a path to PATH

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $Env:Path + ";C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP", "Machine")

VBScript

• Notification Prompt - Waits for input

Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments
messageText = objArgs(0)
MsgBox messageText,64,"WolfTech Self-Service"

• Timed notification prompt, quits after input or after 60 seconds

Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments

messageText = objArgs(0)
intReturn = objShell.Popup(messageText, 60, "WolfTech Self-Service", 0 + 64)

Wscript.Quit 0

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

Other

• Disabling file redirection in 64bit windows?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365743(v=vs.85).aspx

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