https://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2010/10/21/osd-how-to-add-a-script-to-a-configmgr-2007-boot-image.aspx

Why would you want to capture a Windows 7 image? It is possible to use SCCM to create a task sequence which installs the operating system, software updates, applications, etc, but by including those in the image itself can dramatically reduce the time it takes to deploy a machine. The downside of capturing everything in an image is that if something within the image must be removed or changed, a new image will have to be created. It is important for IT organizations to plan what is to be included in an image, and what is going to be installed after an image is restored to a machine. Many customers use a hybrid approach by creating an image which contains the OS, Office, patches, and other core applications and then installing drivers, other specialized applications and machine specific hardware applications later in a task sequence.

Note: This article will not cover how to setup SCCM as there is quite a bit of documentation which provides guidance on how to do so. Also, this article doesn’t address using SCCM and the PXE Service Point role to PXE boot clients. The reason is because setting up a PXE Service Point is fairly easy when clients are on the same subnet as the server, but when traversing subnets or VLANs, additional configuration is required, which exceeds the scope of this article.

For further reference, see the following links:
Configuration Manager Planning and Deployment Overview
Planning for PXE Initiated Operating System Deployments

Preparing for OSD

Unless you already have a Windows 7 image file, you can follow the below process to use an OSD task sequence to build and capture a Windows 7 reference machine.

Network Access Account

Since many functions in OSD are run in WinPE and require authentication, a Network Access Account (NAA) is required. The NAA should be a domain user account and only really needs read permissions. Leaving it in the Domain Users group should be sufficient.
For more information on the Network Access Account click here.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Site Database / Site Management / <site code> - <site name> / Site Settings / Client Agents.
2. In the results pane, right-click the Computer Client Agent and select Properties.
3. At the Computer Client Agent Properties dialog box, at the General tab, under the Network Access Account section, select the Set… button.
4. At the Windows User Account dialog, enter the domain\username and password of the NAA and then click OK.
   
5. Click OK to save your settings.

Creating the Configuration Manager Client Package

In SCCM task sequences are used to deploy operating systems. Prior to creating any task sequences, you must first create and deploy specific packages which will be referenced by your task sequence.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Software Distribution.
2. Right-click the Packages node, and in the context menu select New – Package from Definition.
   
3. At the “Create Package from Definition Wizard”, Welcome screen, click Next.
4. At the “Package Definition” screen, select the Configuration Manager Client Upgrade definition and click Next.
   
5. At the “Source Files” screen, select “Always obtain files from a source directory” and then click Next.
   
6. At the Source Directory screen, select Local drive on site server and browse to <ConfigMgr Installation Folder>\Client and then click Next.
   
7. Click Finish at the Summary screen.
8. It is important to distribute the package to all distribution points. In the ConfigMgr console, expand the package for the Configuration Manager Client Upgrade, right-click the Distribution Points node, and select New Distribution Points.
   
9. At the New Distribution Points Wizard Welcome screen, click Next.
10. At the Copy Package screen, select your distribution points and click Next.
11. Click Close at the Confirmation screen.

Deploying Boot Images

In order for machines to use WinPE boot images, the boot images must be distributed to distribution points. The following section describes that process as well as configuring the boot images to allow for command prompt support. What is command prompt support? This setting allows you to press F8 at any time during a task sequence to open a command prompt. Command prompt support is usually used for troubleshooting purposes.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment and expand the Boot Images node.
2. Right-click Boot image (x64) and then select Properties.
3. In the Boot image (x64) Properties dialog, select the Windows PE tab.
   
4. Check the box Enable command support (testing only) and then click OK. 
5. You will be prompted with a dialog box stating that a “Distribution Point Update (is) Required” Click Yes.
6. The “Manage Distribution points Wizard” will appear, click Next to continue.
7. When the boot image update is completed, click Close.
8. Repeat the above steps for the Boot image (x86) package.
9. Once both boot images have been modified, expand each boot image, right-click Distribution Points and select New Distribution Point.

   

10. Click Next and at the “Copy Package” screen, select ALL distribution points. If a PXE Service Point has been installed, it is important to select the SMSPXEIMAGES$ share based distribution points as well.
11. Click Next to continue, and Close to complete the process.
12. Repeat the process for Boot image (x86).

Note: When boot images are updated the boot image is mounted and recompiled. During the recompilation, SCCM specific OSD files, drivers, and other settings are injected into the boot image.

Build and Capture a Windows 7 Reference Machine

Unless you already have a Windows 7 image file, you can follow the below process to use an OSD task sequence to build and capture a Windows 7 reference machine.

Preparing a Source File and Image Folder Structure

To complete the build and capture process, you will need to create a shared folder in which the OS and Image files are stored. Typically this share can be created on the SCCM server itself. This example uses the folder D:\OSDeploy.

As an example, create the following folders:

• D:\OSDeploy
• D:\OSDeploy\OSSource
• D:\OSDeploy\OSSource\Windows7x86
• D:\OSDeploy\OSImages
• D:\OSDeploy\OSImages\Windows7x86

Note: A user account will be needed during the reference machine image capture. In this example, the Network Access Account is used.

1. Right-click the folder D:\OSDeploy folder and select Properties.
2. Select the Sharing tab and click Advanced Sharing.
3. Select the “Share this folder” check box and then select the Permissions button. Give the Everyone group Full Control and then click OK and OK again.
   
4. Select the Security tab and add the Network Access Account and give it Modify permissions. Click OK to save the permission settings. Click Close.

Adding the Operating System Install Package

In order to install Windows 7 on a reference machine, you will need to create an OS Installation Package. To do this, copy the entire contents of a Windows 7 DVD to the following folder: D:\OSDeploy\OSSource\Windows7x86.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment / Operating System Install Packages.
2. Right-click Operating System Install Package and select Add Operating System Install Package.
   
3. In Add Operating Install Package Wizard, Data Source screen, enter the UNC path \\servername\OSDeploy\OSSource\Windows7x86 in which the package is located. Click Next.
   
4. At the General screen, enter a descriptive name for the install package such as “Microsoft Windows 7 x86” and then click Next.
   
5. Click Next at the Summary screen and click Close to complete the wizard.

Distribute the Windows 7 OS Install Package

1. Open the ConfigMgr console and navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment.
2. Expand the package for the Operating System Install Packages – Microsoft Windows 7 x86, right-click the Distribution Points node, and select “New Distribution Points”.
   
3. At the New Distribution Points Wizard Welcome screen, click Next.
4. At the Copy Package screen, select your distribution points and then click Next.
   Note: If you happened to create a PXE Service Point, you will not need copy any other package files to the SMSPXEImages$ share, other than the boot image packages.
5. Click Close at the Confirmation screen.

Build and Capture a Windows 7 reference image

Creating a Task Sequence to Build and Capture a Windows 7 Reference Machine

The following task sequence will be used to install Windows 7 x86 on a reference machine, run system preparation, and then capture the drive as a WIM file. The instructions below will describe the process of creating a very basic WIM image which only contains the OS

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment and right-click the Task Sequences node and select New – Task Sequence.
2. At the New Task Sequence Wizard, in the Create a New Task Sequence screen, select Build and capture a reference operating system image and then click Next.
   
3. At Task Sequence Information screen, enter the Task sequence name: Windows 7 x86 Image Build and Capture. At the Boot image section, select Browse and select the Boot image (x86).
   
   Click OK.
   
4. Click Next to proceed.
5. At the Install the Windows Operating System screen, at the Package field, select Browse.
6. Select the Operating System Install Package: Microsoft Windows 7 x86 en-US and then click OK.
7. At the Edition field, use the drop-down to select image 5 – Windows 7 ULTIMATE.
8. You can leave the Product Key field empty as it can be provided later.
9. Select the option Always use the same administrator password and enter and confirm a password.
10. Click Next to continue.
    
11. At the Configure the Network screen, select Join a workgroup and enter the name WORKGROUP and then click Next
    
12. At the Install ConfigMgr Client screen, select Browse, and navigate to the Microsoft Configuration Manager Client Upgrade package which was created earlier and then click Next.
    
13. At the Include Updates in Image screen, select All software updates and click Next.
    Note: Unless the Software Update Point role has been installed, and Software Update deployments and packages have been created, the Install Updates task will not do anything.
14. At the Install Software Packages screen, click Next (unless you have created packages which you want installed as part of the task sequence).
15. At the System Preparation screen, there is no need to configure anything since Windows 7 includes system preparation tools. Click Next.
16. At the Image Properties screen, enter any additional information about the image. Click Next.
17. At the Capture Image Settings screen, enter the Path and filename to the OSDeploy share:
    \\servername\OSDeploy\OSImages\Windows7x86\ Windows7x86.WIM
18. In the Account field, click the Set… button.
    
    Enter the User name and password of the Network Access Account or the account which has permissions to write to the share defined. Enter and confirm the account password, and then click OK.
19. Validate that the settings are accurate in the Capture Image Settings screen, click Next.
    
20. At the “Summary” screen, click Next.
21. Click Close at the success screen.

Editing the Task Sequence

1. In the Configuration Manager console, select Task Sequences and locate the task sequence just created in the Details pane.
2. Right-click the task sequence Windows 7 x86 Image Build and Capture and select Edit.
3. In the task sequence editor, select the task: Partition Disk 0 and in the Volume section, highlight the Default (Primary) volume and select the Edit button.
   
4. At the Partition Properties screen, check the box: Quick format and then click OK.
   
5. Click OK to save the task sequence.

Advertise the Task Sequence to Unknown Computers

1. To advertise the task sequence, right-click the Windows 7 x86 Image Build and Capture task sequence, and select Advertise.
2. At the New Advertisement Wizard screen, in the Collection field, click Browse to select the All Unknown Computers collection.
3. If you are planning to use PXE Boot, check the box Make this task sequence available to boot media and PXE and then click Next.
   
4. At the Schedule screen, leave the default settings as the task sequence will be optional. Click Next.
5. At the Distribution Points screen, select the option: Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence and then click Next.
   
6. Click Next to the end of the wizard, leaving all default selections.
7. At the “Wizard Completed” screen, click Close.

Creating Task Sequence Boot Media

Now that you have a task sequence ready to go and advertised, you will need to acquire a reference machine, which can be virtual. If not using PXE Boot, you will need to generate and create boot media such as a boot CD or USB stick.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment and right-click the Task Sequences node and in the context menu select Create Task Sequence Media.
   
2. At the Task Sequence Media Wizard, at the Select Media Type screen, select Bootable media and click Next.
3. At the Media Type screen select CD/DVD set and in the Media file field, enter the path and name of your bootable media, such as C:\OSDx86Boot.iso. Click Next to continue.
4. At the Security screen, leave Enable unknown computer support checked. If you want to be prompted to enter a password at boot image, leave Protect media with a password selected and enter and confirm a Password. Click Next to continue.
5. At the Boot Image dialog, select Browse to select the Boot image (x86) 6.1.7600.16385 en-US image and click OK. Click Next to continue and Next again to start the process. Click Close.
6. Copy the file C:\OSDx86Boot.iso to a machine with a CD Burner, and burn the ISO image to a CD.

Note: In Windows 7 you can simply right-click the file and select Burn disc image.

Build and Capture a Reference Machine

The boot CD will be used to boot your reference machine and connect to the SCCM server. Put in the CD and boot the machine to the CD. It is assumed that DHCP is implemented on your network.

1. After booting to the Boot media, you may be prompted to enter a password if you selected that option earlier. If so, enter the password and click Next.
   
2. The Task Sequence Wizard will appear displaying a list of task sequences available, select the “Windows 7 x86 Image Build and Capture” task sequence and click Next.
   
3. At this point, the task sequence will start. The system will reboot several times and the process may take up to 30-45 minutes.
   Note: You may be prompted during the process to enter a product key. If you entered it in the task sequence wizard you won’t be prompted. Click
4. Click Next to continue. A product key doesn’t need to be entered.
5. Once the process is complete, the machine should be at the Windows screen.
   On the site server, verify that the WIM file has been created under:
   

Deploying the Windows 7 WIM Image

At this point, you have successfully created a Windows 7 x86 image of a reference machine. You may want to go through the process again to add other application packages, software updates, etc. If you want to continue with just an OS based image, you can import it into SCCM by creating an OS Image Package.

Create an OS Image Package from WIM

Now that you have a captured WIM file of a Windows 7 x86 image, you can create a new task sequence to deploy it to other machines.

1. Open the Configuration Manager console and navigate to Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment.
2. Right-click Operating System Images and select Add Operating System Image.
3. At the “Add Operating System Image Wizard” enter the UNC path for the WIM image just created.
   \\servername\OSDeploy\OSImages\Windows7x86\ Windows7x86.WIM
4. Click Next to continue.
   
5. At the General screen provide a descriptive name such as Microsoft Windows 7 x86 Image, specify a version number and comment if desired and then click Next.
   
6. Click Next and then Close to complete the wizard.
7. You will see the new image under the Operating System Images node. Expand the image package, right-click the Distribution Points node and select New Distribution Points.
   
8. At the New Distribution Points Wizard, click Next.
9. At the Copy Packages screen, select your distribution points. As mentioned before, if a PXE Service Point has been installed, you don’t need to send the package to the SMSPXEImages$ share based distribution point.

Conclusion

Now that you have captured a Microsoft Windows 7 image and imported it as an Operating System Image in Configuration Manager, you can deploy that image by creating other task sequences. By right-clicking Task Sequences – New Task Sequence you can use some of the built in wizards to deploy your new Windows 7 image.

When starting the installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the installer prompts to install .NET Framework 3.5 if not installed, as part of the installation.

On previous versions of Windows Server, the installer would execute the installation and prompt for a reboot if needed.

On Windows Server 2008 R2, if .NET Framework 3.5 is not installed as a feature, you will see the following dialog box and the SQL installation will terminate.

There are a couple ways to resolve this, preferably before the SQL install.

Manual Method:

1. Open Server Manager from Administrative Tools. In Server Manager , right-click Features, and in the context menu select “Add Features”.
2. Expand .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features and check “.NET Framework 3.5.1”
3. Click Next and then Install to install the feature and attempt the installation again.
4. Once complete click Close to complete the wizard.

Automated Method:

1. From a command prompt run the command:

servermanagercmd.exe -install NET-Framework-Core

Once complete, the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 will install as normal.

In order to deploy and capture Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) Service Pack 1 OSD, the following SCCM hotfix has been released.

When you use System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 to capture an image of Windows Vista SP2 or of Windows Server 2008 SP2, the image capture process fails during the "Prepare Windows for Capture" stage

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/970093

To determine that you are running into this problem, you will find the following in your SMSTS.log after the capture fails

To install the hotfix on your SCCM server is pretty straightforward, but the documentation is missing a few steps. The procedure to update your SCCM site and SCCM client package is provided below:

1. Install the hotfix, https://support.microsoft.com/kb/970093, on your Configuration Manager site server.
2. During the installation process you will be prompted to create a package for the hotfix. You don’t need to create the package at every site, especially if your packages are sourced from another site in the hierarchy. Also, it is not required to create the package to resolve the issue addressed in this blog post. The package is really designed to update clients which are already deployed.
3. Once the hotfix installation is complete, it is critical that you update your Configuration Manager 2007 client package on your distribution points. The 970093 hotfix creates a folder under <SCCM Installation Folder>\Client\i386\hotfix. Note: In order for SCCM OSD to work properly, you had to create a package for the Configuration Manager 2007 client. It is recommended that the source of your client package to be <SCCM Installation Folder>\Client. If it is not, then you will have to copy the hotfix folder referenced above to your client source location. See Note 2 at the end of this post for instructions on how to create your Configuration Manager client package.
4. After your Configuration Manager client package is updated on all of your distribution points, it may be required to update your x86 and x64 boot images (unsure if this is required).
5. To complete the process, navigate to Operating System Deployment – Task Sequences, and Edit your Windows Vista SP2 or Server 2008 deployment task sequence. In the section, "Setup Windows and ConfigMgr", in the "Installation Properties" field, enter the following: PATCH="%_SMSTSMDataPath%\OSD\<Package_ID>\i386\hotfix\KB970093\SCCM2007AC-SP1-KB970093-x86.msp" (see example below).

Note: the <Package_ID> referenced in the command above is the package ID of the Configuration Manager 2007 client package NOT the Package ID of the hotfix package!!

Once complete, you should be able to successfully deploy and capture your Vista SP2 or Server 2008 image without issue.

How to Create the Package for the Configuration Manager 2007 client:

1. Connect to the SCCM console of the site which you are sourcing your package from.
2. Navigate to Computer Management – Software Distribution then right-click the Packages node.
3. Within the context menu, select New –> Package from Definition.
4. At the “Create Package from Definition” – Welcome dialog, click Next.
5. At the “Package Definition” screen, within the list of packages, verify that Microsoft is the selected Publisher. From the Package definition list, select Configuration Manager Client Upgrade. Click Next. Note: If Configuration Manager Client Upgrade is not in the list of Package definitions, click the Browse button and select the file: <Configuration Manager installation folder>\Client\i386\client.msi
6. At the Source Files screen,  select “Always obtain files from a source directory” and then click Next.
7. At the Source Directory screen, select “Local drive on site server” then select the Browse button. Navigate to the folder: <Configuration Manager installation folder>\Client and then click OK.
8. Click Finish to complete the package creation wizard. The package “Microsoft Configuration Manager Client Upgrade 4.0 ALL” package should not be listed in your Packages node in the SCCM console. Right-click Distribution Points – New Distribution Points and proceed to distribute the packages to your all of your distribution points.

In Server 2008, one of the Microsoft product teams removed WebDAV as an installable role feature from Windows Server 2008 Server Manager applet. So, to install WebDAV you would have to download the WebDAV installers from from the Microsoft Download Center and install them separately. The script I used to use called the WebDAV installation as separate functions.

In Server 2008 R2, the powers that be added WebDav back as an installable role feature in SCCM, which is a good move if you ask me, but it did cause some complications in my script.

So any way, I edited the script to check the Operating System it is running on. If Server 2008, servermanagercmd.exe will install all the required roles for SCCM (including ASP which is only required for Reporting Points). If Server 2008 non-R2, the script will look for a folder called WDAV and will install the required version of WebDAV based on the server architecture. If running under Windows Server R2, the WDAV folder is not required because it can now install WebDAV using ServerManagerCmd.exe.

Once complete, the AppCMD.exe utility is used to configure WBDAV as per Microsoft documentation for SCCM.

How to Configure Windows Server 2008 for Site Systems

Once the script is complete, you will be informed that the installation was successful. I have tested this script many times. It may not work unless User Access Control is disabled.

Get Script Here:

Here is a ZIP file with the install script and the WDAV folders which includes the separate WebDAV source files as well.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=3F7CCE61BA160C6D!850

https://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2010/10/26/troubleshooting-duplicate-or-missing-spns-for-a-configmgr-2007-sql-database.aspx

If you want to open the database created by WSUS (SUSDB) you can download and install SQL Management Studio Express on the WSUS server.

Note: SQL Management Studio Express will not install SQL Express or any SQL database engine. It is simply an MMC snap-in.

Note: Before installing, you must install MSXML 6.0 or higher. You can download MSXML 6.0 from here.

1. Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express from here. Make sure you select the x86 or x64 version depending on your server architecture.
2. Install SQL Management Studio by selecting all defaults.
3. Open SQL Management Studio by selecting Start – All Programs – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and selecting SQL Server Management Studio Express.
4. At the “Connect to Server” dialog, in the Server name field enter the  following string:

\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query



Select Windows Authentication and click Connect.

5. At this point SQL Management Studio Express will make a connection to the Windows Internal Database using a named pipes connection (one of the limitations of Windows Internal Database).
6. Expand Databases and select SUSDB to explore tables, views, permissions, etc as you would as if you were using full SQL.
7. It is important to remember that editing the SUSDB tables, is not supported by Microsoft.

If you are interested in querying the WSUS database, it is recommended and supported to use the documented WSUS SQL Views which is defined in this MSDN article.

I want to provide some background of how this problem may occur so the root cause can be identified. Just running the RESET process without determining how you got there may put you back where you started.

1) Do you have any WSUS downstream servers configured to download from your WSUS server? You can find out by opening up the WSUS Administrative console, and in the left pane select Downstream Servers. If there are downstream servers listed, the problem could possibly be caused by a setting in their configuration as well.

2) Update Files and Languages – Update Languages tab: You should only download updates in languages which you support. If your WSUS server has been in place for a while and all along you had All Languages defined under the Update Languages tab, and you recently changed it back to English for example, the updates which have been downloaded in other languages do not automatically get deleted or cleaned up.

Important note: If you have a downstream server configured, and All Languages is configured on the downstream server, then it will force your upstream WSUS server to download those languages regardless of the settings defined in the console. 

3) Update Files and Languages – Update Files tab: If you have “Store update files locally on this server” set, there are a couple options to be aware of.

· Download update files to this server only when updates are approved: If this is not checked then ALL updates which are synchronized are downloaded to the WSUS server. To minimize disk space requirements, this option should be checked. Note: Only use this option when you intend to approve all products and classifications that you have configured under Options – Products and Classifications.

· Download express installation files: If this is checked, then the disk space requirements for updates increase 3 to 4x the normal amount. Only use this setting if your clients are poorly connected to the WSUS server such as over a slow LAN connection or the Internet. Using express installation files requires a higher disk space investment on the server, but significantly reduces the traffic between the WSUS server and the clients.

To better explain what the difference is between Express and non-express installation files, check out this article:

https://technet.microsoft.com/cs-cz/library/cc708603.aspx in the section “Using express installation files”.

To configure WSUS to store updates locally and if you want to minimize disk space, use the below configuration.

If you are certain that the above settings have been configured as such on your WSUS server (including any downstream servers) since the product was installed, then it is likely that the storage requirements on your WSUS server is accurate. The only thing you may want to try is running the Server Cleanup Wizard (WSUS console – Options – Server Cleanup Wizard) because there is an option to delete any EXPIRED updates.

If you believe the settings were changed midstream causing All Languages to be downloaded at one time

Or

If you have recently changed the above settings

Or

If you find a downstream server with the incorrect settings

Or

If you decide to set old updates or non-required updates to Not Approved

… the updates in the WSUSContent folder will not automatically be cleaned up for you.

The only way to clean up your WSUSContent folder in the fewest amount of steps is to RESET the WSUS server and re-download the content for all approved updates.

How to Do a Reset:

Note: You may want to execute the procedure below during off hours as your WSUS server will be downloading quite a bit of data.

1) Correct any settings above or disapprove any unneeded updates.

2) Close any open WSUS consoles.

3) Go to Administrative Tools – Services and STOP the Update Services service.

4) In Windows Explorer browse to the WSUSContent folder (typically D:\WSUS\WSUSContent or C:\WSUS\WSUSContent)

5) Delete ALL the files and folders in the WSUSContent folder.

6) Go to Administrative Tools – Services and START the Update Services service.

7) Open a command prompt and navigate to the folder: C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools.

8) Run the command WSUSUtil.exe RESET

-This command tells WSUS to check each update in the database, and verify that the content is present in the WSUSContent folder. As it finds that the content is not present in the folder, it executes a BITS job to download the content from Microsoft. This process takes quite a bit of time and runs in the background.

How do you tell when the process is complete?

Other than noticing that the WSUSContent folder is no longer growing you can also check the SoftwareDistribution.log:

C:\Program Files\Update Services\LogFiles\SoftwareDistribution.log

When you start the reset process, you should see a line towards the bottom of the log which looks like this:

WsusService.13  ExecutionContext.runTryCode     State Machine Reset Agent Starting

After waiting for some time, check the log again and search for the text “State Machine Reset Agent Finished”

WsusService.13  ExecutionContext.runTryCode     State Machine Reset Agent Finished