Today I had an interesting PXE boot problem where a computer kept aborting the PXE boot. So I checked the SMSPXE.log and found that there were no advertisements for that machine: Client boot action reply: <ClientIDReply><Identification Unknown="0" ItemKey="16777684" ServerName=""><Machine><ClientID/><NetbiosName/></Machine></Identification><PXEBootAction LastPXEAdvertisementID="" LastPXEAdvertisementTime="" OfferID="" OfferIDTime="" PkgID="" PackageVersion="" PackagePath="" BootImageID="" Mandatory=""/></ClientIDReply> F0:1F:AF:6C:05:53, 4C4C4544-0047-5310-8034-C3C04F595931: no advertisements found F0:1F:AF:6C:05:53, 4C4C4544-0047-5310-8034-C3C04F595931: … Continue reading PXE Boot Fails After Computer Rename
Category: SCCM
Re-running a ConfigMgr Task Sequence on Multiple Computers
Recently I deployed a very simple task sequence to all our laptop computers which installs a new WiFi profile. However, on viewing the deployment reports I noticed a number of machines where the deployment was stuck in either the 'running' state, or 'failed'. Although the deployment is set to 'Re-run if failed previous attempt' it seems … Continue reading Re-running a ConfigMgr Task Sequence on Multiple Computers
Unlocking Locked Objects in the SCCM Console using Powershell
Have you ever come across a lovely message like this from the SCCM 2012 console? In this case I wanted to open the properties of a package but somehow SCCM still has a handle on it that it won't release. This could be because someone else is currently modifying it, but in this case I only … Continue reading Unlocking Locked Objects in the SCCM Console using Powershell
SCCM Package Distribution Email Notification
In my last post, we looked at a way to monitor ConfigMgr Package distributions with PowerShell. In this post, we'll add an email notification to it. Sometimes when you are distributing a large package to multiple distribution points, it's handy to receive a notification that the distribution has been completed so you don't have to … Continue reading SCCM Package Distribution Email Notification
SCCM Package Distribution Monitor
If you've installed the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 Toolkit, you've probably used the handy "Distribution Point Job Queue Manager" to monitor your distributions. But you can also monitor them with Powershell if you wish to. Here's a simple script that will do just that. It will identify the package ID, name and type, the distribution points that are … Continue reading SCCM Package Distribution Monitor
Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 5)
In this post we'll look at troubleshooting WMI errors. Fixing every potential WMI issue is beyond the scope of this blog series, but what we can do it run the WMIDiag utility on the client machine, and this is very helpful to diagnose potential issues with WMI. The report generated by WMIDiag contains advice on … Continue reading Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 5)
Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 4)
In this post, we'll look at another cause of ConfigMgr client upgrade failure - the SMS Task Sequence Agent service is running. It can sometimes happen that a task sequence gets 'stuck' and never completes, but the SMS Task Sequence Agent service (smstsmgr) is started and never stopped. Usually I have found that it 'freezes' … Continue reading Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 4)
Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 3)
In this post, we'll start looking at some of the common reasons why client upgrades fail, and how to resolve them. Firewall Restrictions or Missing Boundaries If the client computer has the Windows firewall turned on and the required exceptions are not made, then it may report in the CCM.log on the site server that … Continue reading Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 3)
Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 2)
In this post, we'll run a Powershell script that will perform the client checks we discussed in the last post, against multiple machines that failed to install the ConfigMgr client. Note, all the scripts in these posts are designed to run in Powershell ISE. Create a Collection for Computers without the SCCM Client The first thing … Continue reading Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 2)
Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 1)
In this series of posts, I want to look at practical ways to troubleshoot ConfigMgr client migrations, and include a number of Powershell scripts to help in the process. These processes were tested on a client migration from ConfigMgr 2007 R3 to 2012 R2. In my experience the majority of client migrations work well using the … Continue reading Troubleshooting ConfigMgr 2012 Client Migration using Powershell (Part 1)