How to Reorder an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence

Article
10/04/2022

In Configuration Manager, you can reorder the steps (an action or a group) in a task sequence or group by rearranging the step sequence in the Steps property SMS_TaskSequence_Step array.

To reorder a task sequence

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see SMS Provider fundamentals.
Obtain a valid task sequence (SMS_TaskSequence) or task sequence group (SMS_TaskSequence_Group). For more information, see How to Read a Task Sequence From a Task Sequence Package.
Within the Steps array property, move the SMS_TaskSequence_Step to its new location.
Update the task sequence or group.

Example

The following example shows how to move a step up or down within a task sequence or group.

For information about calling the sample code, see Calling Configuration Manager Code Snippets.

Sub MoveTaskSequenceStepDown(taskSequence, stepName)  
   Dim index  
   Dim osdStep  
   Dim temp  

    index=0  

    ' If found, move the step down.  
    for each osdStep in taskSequence.Steps  
        If osdStep.Name=stepName Then  
            If index < Ubound (TaskSequence.Steps) Then  
                Set temp=osdStep  
                taskSequence.Steps(index)=taskSequence.Steps(index+1)  
                taskSequence.Steps(index+1)=temp  
                Exit For  
           End If      
        End If  

        index=index+1  
    next  
End Sub  

Sub MoveTaskSequenceStepUp(taskSequence, stepName)  
    Dim index  
    Dim osdStep  
    Dim temp       

    index=0  

    ' If found, move the step up.  
    for Each osdStep In taskSequence.Steps  
        If osdStep.Name=stepName Then  
            If index >1 Then  
                Set temp=osdStep  
                taskSequence.Steps(index)=taskSequence.Steps(index-1)  
                taskSequence.Steps(index-1)=temp  
                Exit For  
           End If      
        End If  

        index=index+1  

    next  
End Sub

public void MoveTaskSequenceStepDown(  
    IResultObject taskSequence,   
    string taskSequenceStepName)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        // Get the task sequence steps.  
        List<IResultObject> steps = taskSequence.GetArrayItems("Steps"); // Array of SMS_TaskSequence_Steps.  

        int index = 0;  

        // Scan through the steps to find the step to move down.  
        foreach (IResultObject ro in steps)  
        {  
            if (ro["Name"].StringValue == taskSequenceStepName)  
            {  
                // Move the step.  
                if (index < steps.Count - 1) // Not at end, so we can flip.  
                {  
                    steps.Insert(index + 2, steps[index]);  
                    steps.Remove(steps[index]);  
                    taskSequence.SetArrayItems("Steps", steps);  
                    break;  
                }  
            }  

            index++;  
        }  
    }  
    catch (SmsException e)  
    {  
        Console.WriteLine("Failed To enumerate task sequence items: " + e.Message);  
        throw;  
    }  
}  

public void MoveTaskSequenceStepUp(  
    IResultObject taskSequence,   
    string taskSequenceStepName)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        // Get the task sequence steps.  
        List<IResultObject> steps = taskSequence.GetArrayItems("Steps"); // Array of SMS_TaskSequence_Steps.  

        int index = 0;  

        foreach (IResultObject ro in steps)  
        {  
            if (ro["Name"].StringValue == taskSequenceStepName)  
            {  
                if (index > 0) // Not the first step, so you can move it up.  
                {  
                    steps.Insert(index + 1, steps[index - 1]);  
                    steps.Remove(steps[index - 1]);  
                    taskSequence.SetArrayItems("Steps", steps);  
                    break;  
                }  
            }  
            index++;  
        }  
    }  
    catch (SmsException e)  
    {  
        Console.WriteLine("Failed To enumerate task sequence items: " + e.Message);  
        throw;  
    }  
}

The example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`taskSequence`	- Managed: `IResultObject` - VBScript: SWbemObject	A valid task sequence or task sequence group
`taskSequenceStepName` `stepName`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The name of the task sequence step to move.

Compiling the Code

This C# example requires:

Namespaces

System

System.Collections.Generic

System.Text

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine

Assembly

microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider

adminui.wqlqueryengine

Robust Programming

For more information about error handling, see About Configuration Manager Errors.

.NET Framework Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see Configuration Manager role-based administration.

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