ConfigMgr: SMS SRS web service is not running on SRS Reporting point server when using SQL 2008 R2

Hi,

Since about a year SQL 2008 R2 is a supported platform for System Center Configuration Manager. However, when you use the Reporting Services Server as apposed to the ConfigMgr Reporting you get an error every hour, stating your Reporting Services Point cannot be reached. When you connect to the point, it works without a problem though.


The exact message from the ConfigMgr console is:

SMS SRS web service is not running on SRS Reporting point server

The error has error message 7403.

Some time ago the SQL Server product team released a new Cumulative Update (CU) for SQL Server 2008 R2, which fixes the issue.

If you are encountering above mentioned issue, please download CU4 from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2345451 and install it on the SQL server used for hosting the Site Database and Reporting Services.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek

ConfigMgr: Deploy Internet Explorer 9 as part of a Task Sequence

Hi,


When installing Internet Explorer 9 during OS Deployment the installation gives a weird issue after the machine is fully deployed. When a non-administrative user logs in to the machine, the Internet Explorer shortcutshows up as a "blank" icon and the target points to a non-existent path like T:\.  When an Administrative user logs on to the computer before a non-administrative user does, everything will be okay.


This error seems to be caused by an issue in the Active Setup part of Internet Explorer 9. Please see this post by Steven Bone explaining what Active Setup is and means.


Workaround
As long as there is no bugfix available for this issue, you can deploy Internet Explorer 9 correctly via a task sequence following these steps.


- Install Internet Explorer 9 in the task sequence by using the .msu file.
- After a reboot, create the following two task sequence actions:
Task Sequence Step 1:

reg.exe DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components" /v "NoIE4StubProcessing" /f 

The task sequence step (Run Command Line) should look like this:

Task Sequence Step 2:

reg.exe DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce" /v "NoIE4StubProcessing" /f

The task sequence step (Run Command Line) should look like this:

In my case I have to tick the box "Disable 64-bit file system redirection" because I am deploying Windows 7 x64 workstations.

I hope this helps in deploying Internet Explorer 9 successfully.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek

ConfigMgr: OSD Domain Join fails when Computers CN/OU is chosen

Hi all,

When I build up an environment, I always try to keep everything tidy and as close to reallife as possible. This made me find out the fact that ConfigMgr's OSD domain join will fail when you choose for the Computers CN as a container instead of a "real" OU.

So, when you have a task sequence to install Windows (whatever version) within SMS 2003, SCCM 2007 or even SCCM 2012, if the domain join fails without an error in the Advertisement status, this is most likely the problem.

Open up the Apply Network Settings step in the Task Sequence and change the OU to a real OU, or to blank when the computers should be put in the Computers CN.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek

BitLocker: Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring beta available for download

Microsoft has just released the Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) beta to the public. This beta can be downloaded by subscribing to the Connect site of Malta.

For more information about MBAM, check out the following link: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2011/02/09/microsoft-announces-microsoft-bitlocker-administration-and-monitoring-mbam.aspx

In the following posts I'll cover the installation and configuration of MBAM.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek

W7/2K8 R2 SP1: Remove unneeded Service Pack files

As you might know SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has been released recently. This SP contains all prior updates released through Windows update and some important updates aside from that.

In this short blogpost I will explain how you can remove the installation files of the SP so you can keep your installation tidy. This is particularly handy when you want to create an image of the installation so you can have your pc's deployed with SP1 included from now on.

Now, off we go.

1. First, open My Computer.
2. Right click on your C-Drive (or the drive on which Windows is installed on, for the sake of argument I'll assume this is C).
3. Choose Properties.

4. Clik Disk Cleanup.

5. Click Clean up System Files.

6. Tick Service Pack Backup Files so the checkbox is selected. As you can see this will cleanup about 540M on my pc.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek