Hello everyone,
As an administrator, you might of come across this complaint many times. ‘my computer takes more time to login’ or ’slow logon process’. The reason may vary from anything like DNS, netbios over TCP, Domain mixed mode, complex GPOs which may deploy softwares, or any start-up program which may communicate network resource to proceed., the list may grow.
Here is a simple registry tweak which can make the login in async mode (meaning the logon process will not wait for anything, but proceed and give you the windows screen to work). Basically it will bring the login prompt show up before the network is fully initialized.
Enable Fast Logon : In a large networked computers it is recommended to have the Fast Logon enabled so that the logon/startup of the computer will be faster without waiting for the other network to come to live. Here is the procedure :
Registry settings to Enable Fast Logon
SyncForegroundPolicy (DWORD) = 1
in the hive
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
make it to 0 so that it would be in Asynchronous.
You can apply this through the Desktop Central -> Registry configuration for your client computers.
cheers
Romanus
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Hi Folks,
I’ve already posted a blog on MS Office 2007 installation. why now for 2003? The reason was we get lot of requests still on MS Office 2003, so i’m making a brief post to address this. Lets get into the details of Microsoft Office 2003 installation using Desktop Central.
How it works?
The Custom Installation Wizard enables you to record changes to the master installation in a Windows Installer transform (MST file) without altering the original package (MSI file). When setup is run with both the package and the transform, Windows Installer applies the transform to the original package, and Setup uses your altered configuration to perform the installation unattended.
How to do it?
1. You need the Office Resource Kit (ORK) to customize the Office package also the actual office installation. You can download the ORK from the below given microsoft site.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/e/d/0eda9ae6-f5c9-44be-98c7-ccc3016a296a/ork.exe
2. You can trigger the tool from the shown UI path.
Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Office Tools -> Microsoft Office Resource Kit -> Custom Installation Wizard.
3. Customize your MS Office 2003 as need. The given URL speaks about the extensive customizations of MS Office on users’ computers. (if you run the tool, its going to be pretty easy in most of the cases, if you are not sure just move ahead with next it will not cause any issues.)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011401941033.aspx
4. When done you will be shown with the command line to run. Something like this
Setup.exe TRANSFORMS=UNATTENDED.MST /qp-
5. Copy and paste this command in the Desktop Central -> Software installation -> add package -> command line. Now try with couple of computers to ensure whether your customization goes fine before you roll out to the network.
Check here for more details.
http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/50/
Cheers
romanus
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Hi Folks
Here are the instructions to apply any hotfix and service pack installation.
Instructions to apply the Hotfix
1. Shut down Desktop Central. (either through Start -> Programs -> Desktop Central -> Stop Desktop Central (or) Right click Desktop Central logo on the Notification area of Task bar and click Shut down Server)
2. Take backup of the <DesktopCentral_Server> product installation directory.
3. Execute the UpdateManager.bat file present in the <DesktopCentral_Server>\bin directory.
4. Click “Browse” and select the hotfix (.ppm) file that you have downloaded.
5. Click “Install” to install the hotfix. This may take few minutes depending on the amount of data that needs to be migrated.
6. Wait until the hotfix is fully installed.
7. Click “Close” and then click “Exit” to exit the Update Manager tool.
8. Execute the stopdb.bat present in the <DesktopCentral_Server>\bin directory.
9. Start the Desktop Central now to work.
cheers
romanus
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Simple Hand book for WMI Troubleshooting.
Here is a quick troubleshooting guide or tips, whatever you call it, on WMI issues. Thanks to Kings for putting all the relevant details together as a single document. These are the errors you get in Desktop Central due to the WMI issues. This may mostly occur when you do,
- On-demand Agent installation
- On-demand Patch Scan and
- On-demand Inventory scan etc.,
This document can be of handy assistance to do the troubleshooting on your own, when you get such errors in Desktop Central. Also, we are open for improvement, when you find any additional issues related to WMI, feel free to report so that the scenario can be captured and updated in this document.
Download your copy : Handbook for WMI issues in Desktop Central
Cheers
Romanus
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Hi Folks
In continuation to our scriptomaniac series, here is a script which is used for making the agent to report to the new DC server. Again, widely used by evaluator/customers.
The user would be testing Desktop Central with minimum number of computers. When he decides to roll out to the entire production network after evaluation, the usual practice is to install the server in a better hardware configuration for scalability purpose. We have Migration Process for Desktop Central documented for this purpose.
However, in most of the cases, administrators will completely miss the Migration process and change the DC server to the new hardware.
So, this script provides a solution for that. The script given here will do a part of migration meaning, make the agents to report to the new/correct DC server in production. Please note that this script will not help you to maintain any server data. It will change the server name and IP address at the agent registry so that it starts reporting to your new DC server.
Download the Desktop Central Agent reporting script.
You can use this with PSEXEC tool which we discussed earlier can be used to along with this script to do a bulk agent migration to the new DC server installation.
Note : You need to download and rename the extension as .VBS
cheers
romanus
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Interacting with customers, witnessing their petty practical needs and addressing them with simple scripts is a routine in any Technical Support guys day to day life. The scripts may sometime fall out of the scope of your support, however you still need to do this for the sake of customers and personal rapport. Here i’m going to start sharing few of such scripts which i believe could be useful to any administrator.
Now the Scenario
When you have bulk number of machines to be used for a network wide operations, it is always better to check the reachability/availability of the machine before trying the actual operation. Lets take an example of trying PSEXEC solution for the SoM (Scope of Management) agent install failed machines as described in my previous blog. You can get the agent failed computer list exported as a csv file from Desktop Central and use as described in the blog. However, imagine a case you have lot of computers which are down (Not alive on the network) in that list, so naturally the install process using the psexec tool is going to take more time. Instead if you can check the currently available computers in the network by doing a ping and then using it with psexec process will yield very good results in a better clocking.
The Actual Script
Here is the script which can ping the given list of computers and segregate the reachable and unreachable computers in separate files. In our sample scenario you can use the Reachable computers list along with the PSEXEC agent install process. Similarly in the case of patch and inventory scan you can go through the ping failed (unreachable computer list) and avoid scanning them. Copy and past the contents and save the file as .vbs script.
Download the Desktop Central GetReachablecomputer Script
Note : You need to download and rename the extension as .VBS
Try the script and let me know your experience and any further improvisation you may need. Also please feel free to modify or edit or add additional functionalities in the script and add it here for others to benefit.
Cheers
Romanus
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One more interesting read on Microsoft XP SP3 installation by Mark Dormer, MVP.
Windows XP SP3 breaks Windows Update
If you install XP SP3 on a clean SP2 box Windows Update will no longer work. Unless you have the newer Windows Update Agent 3.0 your stuck in a hole. There is no way to get it via AU or WU or MU only a manual installation can resolve the issue
1. Download the new Agent (but do not Run it yet) to your Desktop (so you can find it below) :
X86 Version Download.
2. Start, Run, CMD
In the black box:
net stop wuauserv
“%userprofile%\Desktop\WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe” /wuforce (don’t forget the quotation marks)
net start wuauserv exit
The original post.
cheers
Romanus
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Hi Folks
Here is the News (..actually a year old 
) for the admins who don’t want the Service Packs to be rolled out to their network without their permission (especially SP3 for XP) . Since most of us are concerned about the XP SP3 roll out, this may be of interest of many to ensure that SP3 doesn’t get through their network without their knowledge. Microsoft has this tool (SPBlockerTools.EXE) in site for more than a year as i mentioned, which can block Service Pack installation which happens through Windows Updates. This tool can be used to block (temporarily) the installation of SP updates. It can block
- Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (valid through March, 2008 - time elapsed)
- Windows XP Service Pack 3 (valid for 12 months following general availability)
- Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (valid for 12 months following general availability)
Here is the extract which talks about ‘How it works?‘
This toolkit contains three components. All of them function primarily to set or clear a specific registry key that is used to detect and block download of Service Packs from Windows Update. You only need to use the component which best serves your organization’s computer management infrastructure.
- A Microsoft-signed executable
- A script
- An ADM template
- The executable creates a registry key on the computer on which it is run that blocks or unblocks (depending on the command-line option used) the delivery of a Service Pack to that computer through Windows Update. The key used is HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate.
- When the ‘/B’ command line option is used, the key value name ‘DoNotAllowSP’ is created and its value set to 1. This value blocks delivery of a Service Pack to the computer through Automatic Update or Windows Update.
- When the ‘/U’ command line option is used, the previously created registry value that temporarily blocked the delivery of a Service Pack to the computer through Automatic Update or Windows Update is removed. If the value does not exist on the computer on which it is run, no action is taken.
- The script does the same thing as the executable, but allows you to specify the remote machine name on which to block or unblock delivery of Service Packs. Note that the executable and script have been tested only as a command-line tool and not in conjunction with other systems management tools or remote execution mechanisms.
- The ADM template allows administrators to import group policy settings to block or unblock delivery of Service Packs into their Group Policy environment. Administrators can then use Group Policy to centrally execute the action across systems in their environment.
The SPBlockerToolKit can be downloaded from Microsoft.
Folks, importantly you’ll have to keep in mind that it will not prevent SP installs from DC/DVD, or from stand-alone downloads. It can only block SP installs through Windows Updates.
Cheers
Romanus
Desktop Central Technical Support Team
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Hi Folks,
Here is an interesting and useful tip on the Desktop Central Agent installation. Using this MS free tools (previously known as sysinternals run by Mark Russinovich) you can deploy the agent to the client computers instead of doing this through Active Directory login script. Also you have the option to use this in the workgroup environment. I’m proud that this was a tip send to us by Niall Gowanlock, desktop central user. Now, lets move on to the real stuff. Here is how you push the DC agent to a remote client computer using the psexec tool
PSEXEC.exe \\<computer_name> -u mydomain\administrator -p mydomain_password CSCRIPT \\<network_share>\InstallAgent.vbs DesktopCentralAgent.msi
You need to provide the remote client computer name and the credentials. If you don’t want to give the credential (the password on the command line) you can leave the -p option and it will be prompted when you run the command line. Similarly make sure you have the DC Agent Install script, the DesktopCentralAgent.msi file located in the network share with proper permission for everyone to use it. In case you want to use it for bulk number of machines here is the procedure.
For /f %f in <pcname_list .txt> do PSEXEC.exe \\%f -u mydomain\administrator -p mydomain_password CSCRIPT \\<network_share>\InstallAgent.vbs DesktopCentralAgent.msi
Here the PCNAME_LIST.txt is the plain text file which has the list of all the client computers you want to install the desktopcentral agent. You can download the PSEXEC and other tools from the below given Microsoft site.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
More information can be seen on the forum.The same tip has been added in the Desktop Central knowledge base articles.
regards
romanus
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Currently: Listening to Hi Folks
We have got lot of install and uninstall requests from customer and evaluators about the MS Office 2007. Let me provide you with some installation tips and URLs for further assistance. First lets have look at the basic installation differences between the earlier Office installations and O2K7 extracted from ‘Whats New in Setup for the 2007 Office system‘.
Setup changes
* Earlier versions used Msiexec.exe the later has Setup.exe program.
* O2K7 has local installation source earlier had Admin install point
* Setup.ini was replaced with config.xml also it handles command line arguments
* Wizards for Installation and Maintenance have been substituted by office customization tool (OCT)
* Group Policy system policies were introduced inplace of office profile wizard
How to setup for silent install?
The earlier version of Office installation supported /a option for administrative installation for network/silent installation, O2K7 has this feature as /admin. Here are the steps
* From command prompt type; setup.exe /admin
o This will present a customization UI select your options
o which will convert this to a customization patch in the MSP format (not MST)
* Now you can run the command setup.exe /adminfile <yourmspfilename> to make it install silent
o Please note you have to keep the MSP file in the same directory where you have the setup.exe
o If you can place the customized MSP file in the ‘Upgrade’ directory you can directly run setup.exe which will take the file inturn
* Make sure you are enabling suppress Modals only when you are tested and ensured everything is working
o Now when you do the above procedure from a shared folder you are ready to kick start the O2K7 silent install with Desktop Central
You also have yet another method to directly configure configure.xml The relevant informations are available and discussed in the given URLs.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490141.aspx
http://www.msfn.org/board/Office_2007_Unattended_Setup_and_Fine_tun_t72392.html
Please share if you have any other alternative method to achieve this.
Cheers
Romanus
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