We recently assisted a customer that was having problems accessing the WEDM nodes in a remote ConfigMgr 2007 admin console if the user was not an admin on the remote site server. We checked WMI and DCOM permissions and everything appears to be configured correctly. However after further investigation we discovered that WEDM has its own WMI namespace separate from the ConfigMgr namespace. Once we set the permissions correctly on that namespace, the issue was resolved. The below article describes the errors generated when you experience this problem and the actions to take to fix it.

Note: We are planning to publish the below article as a KB article. If not already available, it should be available soon as KB2723355.

Symptoms

When using WEDM 2011 and trying to access the Deployments, Configuration Items, and Configuration Packages nodes under the Embedded Device Management node in a remote ConfigMgr 2007 console, the nodes will display the error

[*The ConfigMgr Provider reported an error.*]

The issue only happens if the logged in user does not have Administrator privileges on the remote site server. The user can access all other nodes in the remote ConfigMgr 2007 console that they have access to without issue. Additionally if the user logs directly into the server and uses the ConfigMgr 2007 console directly on the site server, they do have access to the WEDM nodes.

Examining the SMSAdminUI.log on the PC running the remote console reveals the following errors:

[3][<Date> <Time>] :Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryException\r\nThe ConfigMgr Provider reported an error.\r\n
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryResultsObject.<GetEnumerator>d__0.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryProcessor.ProcessQueryWorker(AsyncOperationDatabase asyncData)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink._PrivateProcessMessage(IntPtr md, Object[] args, Object server, Int32 methodPtr, Boolean fExecuteInContext, Object[]& outArgs)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink.AsyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg, IMessageSink replySink)\r\nConfigMgr Error Object:
instance of __ExtendedStatus
{
 Operation = "ExecQuery";
 ParameterInfo = "SELECT DeploymentID,JobCreationTime,CollectionID,CollectionName,DeploymentName,DeploymentComment,IncludeSubCollection,OEMPluginID,ImageFileLocation,
                           StartTimeEnabled,StartTimeIsGMT,ExpirationTimeEnabled,ExpirationTimeIsGMT,StartTime,ExpirationTime,DeploymentStatusName,DeploymentStatus,RemoteServerName
                          FROM EDM_ImageDeployment";
 ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
};
Error Code:
ProviderLoadFailure
\r\nSystem.Management.ManagementException\r\nProvider load failure \r\n   at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryResultsObject.<GetEnumerator>d__0.MoveNext()\r\nManagementException details:
instance of __ExtendedStatus
{
 Operation = "ExecQuery";
 ParameterInfo = "SELECT DeploymentID,JobCreationTime,CollectionID,CollectionName,DeploymentName,DeploymentComment,IncludeSubCollection,OEMPluginID,ImageFileLocation,
                         StartTimeEnabled,StartTimeIsGMT,ExpirationTimeEnabled,ExpirationTimeIsGMT,StartTime,ExpirationTime,DeploymentStatusName,DeploymentStatus,RemoteServerName
                          FROM EDM_ImageDeployment";
 ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
};
\r\n

[3][<Date> <Time>] :Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryException\r\nThe ConfigMgr Provider reported an error.\r\n
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryResultsObject.<GetEnumerator>d__0.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryProcessor.ProcessQueryWorker(AsyncOperationDatabase asyncData)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink._PrivateProcessMessage(IntPtr md, Object[] args, Object server, Int32 methodPtr, Boolean fExecuteInContext, Object[]& outArgs)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink.AsyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg, IMessageSink replySink)\r\nConfigMgr Error Object:
instance of __ExtendedStatus
{
 Operation = "ExecQuery";
 ParameterInfo = "SELECT ProvisioningItemUniqueId, Type, Description, SupportedDeviceTypes, SourceSite FROM EDM_ProvisioningItem";
 ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
};
Error Code:
ProviderLoadFailure
\r\nSystem.Management.ManagementException\r\nProvider load failure \r\n   at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryResultsObject.<GetEnumerator>d__0.MoveNext()\r\nManagementException details:
instance of __ExtendedStatus
{
 Operation = "ExecQuery";
 ParameterInfo = "SELECT ProvisioningItemUniqueId, Type, Description, SupportedDeviceTypes, SourceSite FROM EDM_ProvisioningItem";
 ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
};
\r\n 

[3][<Date> <Time>] :Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryException\r\nThe ConfigMgr Provider reported an error.\r\n
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryResultsObject.<GetEnumerator>d__0.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryProcessor.ProcessQueryWorker(AsyncOperationDatabase asyncData)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink._PrivateProcessMessage(IntPtr md, Object[] args, Object server, Int32 methodPtr, Boolean fExecuteInContext, Object[]& outArgs)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink.AsyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg, IMessageSink replySink)\r\nConfigMgr Error Object:
instance of __ExtendedStatus
{
 Operation = "ExecQuery";
 ParameterInfo = "Select ProvisioningPackageUniqueId, Description,ProvisioningItemUniqueIds,SourceSite,PlatFormType,PackageID FROM EDM_ProvisioningPackage";
 ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
};
Error Code:
ProviderLoadFailure
\r\nSystem.Management.ManagementException\r\nProvider load failure \r\n   at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine.WqlQueryResultsObject.<GetEnumerator>d__0.MoveNext()\r\nManagementException details:
instance of __ExtendedStatus
{
 Operation = "ExecQuery";
 ParameterInfo = "Select ProvisioningPackageUniqueId, Description,ProvisioningItemUniqueIds,SourceSite,PlatFormType,PackageID FROM EDM_ProvisioningPackage";
 ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
};
\r\n

The SMSProv.log on the site server does not reveal any errors.

Using WBEMTest on the PC running the remote console to perform either one of the following two actions on the \\<site_server>\root\SMS\site_<site_code> namespace:

1. Trying to run the WMI queries shown in the SMSAdminUI.log 
2. Trying to access the instances of the EDM_ImageDeployment, EDM_ProvisioningItem, or EDM_ProvisioningPackage classes

will generate the following error message:

Error

Number: 0x80041013
Facility: WMI
Description: Provider load failure

Error 0x80041013 is:

hex 0x80041013 / decimal -2147217389
WBEM_E_PROVIDER_LOAD_FAILURE

Cause

In addition to the standard ConfigMgr WMI namespace of \\<site_server>\root\SMS\site_<site_code>, WEDM 2011 also has a second WMI namespace it utilizes under \\<site_server>\root\EDM. The EDM namespace is used by the ConfigMgr 2007 console when accessing the WEDM 2011 nodes. Although the classes and instances for WEDM can be seen under the ConfigMgr namespace, they actually map back to the WEDM namespace via a proxy provider. By default administrators on the site server have remote privileges on the EDM namespace. However non-administrators on the site server do not have remote privileges to the EDM namespace.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, on the site server give the appropriate permissions on the EDM WMI namespace to the local group SMS Admins:

1. On the site server, open Server Manager.
2. In the Server Manager console expand the Configuration node.
   
   
3. Right click on WMI Control and choose Properties.
   
   
4. In the WMI Control Properties window, click on the Security tab.
   
   
5. Expand the Root tree and select Edm.
   
   
6. With the Edm node selected, click on the Security button.
   
   
7. In the Security for ROOT\Edm window, click on the Add... button.
   
   
8. In the Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups window, click on the Locations... button.
   
   
9. In the Locations window, select the local site server instead of a domain under Entire Directory. The local site server will usually be the first item in the list.
   
   
10. After selecting the local site server in the Locations window, click on the OK button.
    
    
11. In the Select Users or Groups window, in the text box under Enter the object names to select, type in
    
    SMS Admins
    
    In the Select Users or Groups window, click on the OK button.
    
    
12. Under Group or user names:, make sure that SMS Admins is highlighted.
    
    
13. Under Permissions for SMS Admins, check the Allow box for the following items:
    
    Execute Methods
    Provider Write
    Enable Account
    Remote Enable
    
    
14. In the Security for ROOT\Edm window, click on the OK button.
    
    
15. In the WMI Control Properties window, click on the OK button.

Frank Rojas
Senior Support Escalation Engineer

The good folks from the Configuration Manager product team just released a great article describing all of the documentation available for System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection and where to get it. So why is this coming from the Configuration Manager product group? Because starting with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) has now been integrated into Configuration Manager and is called System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection:

=====

Starting with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) has now been integrated into Configuration Manager and is called System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection. From your feedback, we have heard that some FEP customers who are now using System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection are having problems finding the information they need to install and configure Endpoint Protection. This blog post answers the questions we’ve been hearing about the documentation. A thank you to Diana Smith (a Microsoft Senior Support Escalation Engineer), for her help in working with us to get the right information to you.

Where is the documentation for Endpoint Protection?

The main documentation for Endpoint Protection is located….

=====

You can continue reading straight from the source here.

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Current AD site of machine is XYZ 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)
Adapter {D4CB67B7-FC80-439A-BC06-C41489B73259} has 1 IPv4 address(es). 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)
Adapter {23C23F44-8A8E-46A1-A863-8BC925CBBA05} has 0 IPv4 address(es). 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)
Discarding DP with SiteLocality 'FALLBACK'. Accepting only 'LOCAL' DPs. 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)
The number of discovered DPs(including Branch DP and Multicast) is 0 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)
LSGetSiteCodeFromWMI 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)
LSGetSiteCodeFromWMI : Site code returned from WMI is <XYZ> 1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM 0 (0x0000)

Troubleshooting:

We checked and found that this issue occurred only with the VPN clients, as only those clients were not getting the content location. We then checked and found that the VPN clients have two NIC’s with two different IP’s, but there was no boundary for the clients VPN boundary.

Cause:

The VPN subnet needs to be added as a boundary to the site server according to the DHCP scope set for VPN clients.

Solution:

We need to understand that the client machine connects to the domain after logging on to the workstations and after dialing in to the VPN tunnel, and until that time it already has an IP assigned to its physical NIC. After connecting to the VPN it also gets another dynamic IP through the DHCP server of the domain, and this IP is assigned to the virtual NIC configured for connecting to VPN tunnel. At this point, the machine in the domain will be identified by this VPN NIC IP address and not the physical NIC IP address of the workstation, meaning that the client machine will do the content location lookup using the VPN NIC IP address. If the ConfigMgr server does not have a boundary configured with that IP subnet or address range, the VPN client will fail the content location, and also it will not fail over to the physical NIC IP address to find a suitable boundary.

More Information:

This problem can occur when the VPN clients get dynamic IP address assignments that are not a part of any boundary. If you’d like to verify this scenario, you can take a NetMon trace here to find the client machines network connection, and also enable verbose logging.

The TechNet articles below have more information on this:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc984479.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682077.aspx

Arvind Kumar Rana | Subject Matter Expert

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Consider the following scenario:

• You set System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) Client Agent\Computer Agent\Show notifications for new deployments to "False".
• You create a Software Updates Deployment in ConfigMgr.
• The Software Updates Deployment contains software updates that require a machine restart in order to complete installation.
• You configure the User Experience\User Notifications configuration setting for the deployment to "Hide in Software Center and all notifications".
• You configure the User Experience\Device Restart behavior configuration setting to “Suppress the system restart for both Servers and Workstations”.

Expected behavior:

No user notifications are displayed before, during, or after the software updates installation processes run..

Actual behavior:

Machine restart notifications are displayed on the ConfigMgr client machine after the post-install software updates scan completes. The notifications are displayed on all supported client operating system versions.

First visible indication:

A yellow "Restart Required" balloon notification is displayed.

If you click within the boundary of this yellow balloon notification, a Software Center "Restart your computer" notification is displayed. If you do not click within the boundary of the yellow notification box, the Software Center notification is not created and the yellow balloon notification fades away after approximately 5 seconds.

If you make no selections in the Software Center notification, it remains onscreen indefinitely. If you click Cancel or if you click Snooze and then click “OK”, the Software Center notification closes and a green icon is displayed to the far left of the visible notification area. If you mouse over the icon, a small “restart required” dialogue opens up.

To date, only one method has been identified that will disable all visible machine restart notifications. This method uses a combination of domain GPO Adm template settings and Local Policy Adm template settings with Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2.  The specific Local Policy configuration settings are new with Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2.  Thus these are the only client operating systems with which it is possible to achieve complete and total suppression of the restart notifications.  These policies are:

NOTE Best practice discourages unnecessary editing of the Default Domain Policy.

Domain  Policy
User Configuration
Policies
Admin templates
Start Menu and Taskbar
Set "Turn off all Balloon Notifications" to "Enabled"

Local policy on Win 7 (New setting for Windows 7):

Local Policy
User Configuration
Policies
Admin templates
Start Menu and Taskbar
Set  "Turn off automatic promotion of notifications to the taskbar" to Enabled.

References:

Agent Configuration

Deployment User Experience configuration

Yellow Balloon Notification

Software Center notification

Green notification area icon

Terry McKinney | Premier Field Engineer

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Here’s a new Knowledge Base article we published. This one talks about an issue you might run into where trying to migrate a driver package to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager fails with "SCCM Provider is missing read, write, or delete privilege".

=====

Symptoms

While attempting to migrate a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 driver package to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, the action fails and the following error is shown in the migmctrl.log file:
SCCM Provider is missing read, write, or delete privilege for the driver package source path

Cause

This can occur if the Configuration Manager Provider system has insufficient permissions on the driver package source path (NTFS and/or Share permissions).

Resolution

Grant the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Provider system full control permissions on the driver package source path.

More Information

During migration, the error above is only shown for Driver packages because Migration Manager needs to process some content in the source path, so it will fail during the migration itself. If you migrate a regular software package, it will succeed no matter whether the destination site has access to the source path or not, but later, SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER (distmgr.log) which starts up to process this package, will fail due to insufficient permissions on the package source path.

For more information see the following:

How to Import Windows Device Drivers into the Driver Catalog: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh301101.aspx

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2741405 - Migrating a driver package to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager fails with "SCCM Provider is missing read, write, or delete privilege"

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

You may find that you are unable to import Microsoft Volume Licensing Software (MVLS) information into a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (ConfigMgr 2007) Asset Intelligence catalog. During the import of software license information you get the following error:

Failed to Import Licensing Data into the Site Database

This can occur due to formatting issues with the MVLS .XML file. To verify whether this is your issue, open the .XML file in Notepad and for each cell in Column C (excluding the header) check to see whether some data is treated as a Number instead of Text (String). If so then this is the cause of the issue. For example:

Incorrect Format (Column C)

  <Row>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Applications</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Office Premium</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">2000</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">50</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell>

   </Row>

Correct Format (Column C)

<Row>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Applications</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Office Premium</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">2000</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">50</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell>

    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell>

   </Row>

This issue can occur if the product version code has only a numeric value (e.g. 2010, 2007, 2005, etc.). On the contrary, if we have a product named Windows 7 Enterprise, where the version code is 7 Enterprise and contains non-numeric characters, when we download the MVLS file it tags the version code of 7 Enterprise as a String which is correct.

To resolve this, when the version code contains numeric values only we need to change the Column C format from Number to String.

Method 1

For each cell in column C (excluding the header) add the character ' before the data so Excel treats it as a string and not a number. Here is a way to automate this:

1. Open .Xml file in Excel

2. Add Developer Tab on the Ribbon

a. Start the Office application (Word 2010, Excel 2010, Outlook 2010, or PowerPoint 2010).

b. Choose the File tab, and then choose Options.

c. In the categories pane, choose Customize Ribbon.

d. In the list of main tabs, choose Developer.

e. Choose the OK button to close the Options dialog box.

See How to: Show the Developer Tab on the Ribbon for more information: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb608625.aspx

3. Now we need to run a VBA procedure to modify the Excel file. To do this, on the Developer tab, in the Code group, click Macro Security.

4. In the Macro Settings category, under Macro Settings, click Enable all macros (not recommended, potentially dangerous code can run), and then click OK.

Note: To help prevent potentially dangerous code from running, we recommend that you return to any one of the settings that disable all macros after you finish working with macros.

5. Save and close all open workbooks.

6. Open the workbook where you want to add the macro, or create a new workbook, and on the Developer tab, in the Code group, click Visual Basic(Alternatively you can press Alt+F11).

7. In the Project Explorer window, right-click the ThisWorkbook object, and then click View Code

For more details on this, see Run a macro at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/run-a-macro-HP010014113.aspx. Refer to section titled Create a VBA procedure for the Open event of a workbook

8. Copy in the code below (Note: You can change Collimit to number of rows you have in .XML file):

Sub test()
Dim s As String
Dim colname As String
colname = "C"
Dim collimit As Integer
collimit = 75
For i = 2 To collimit
s = colname & i
If Range(s).Value2 = "" Then
Else
Range(s).Value2 = "'" & Range(s).Value2
End If
Next
End Sub

It should look something like this:

9. Press F5 to Run Macro

10. Choose the File tab, Save .XML File(Ctrl+S)

11. Click Yes on the warning:

12. Verify each cell in column C (excluding the header) has the character ' before the data:

13. Import Software License Information in Configuration Manager. For more information on how to do this, see How to Import Software License Information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc161913.aspx

Method 2

1. Manually edit the .XML file in Notepad and change the Type value for each affected line from Number to String for the third cell:

2. Import Software License Information in Configuration Manager.

Shobhit Garg | Senior Support Engineer
Vinayak Sharma | Support Engineer

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Cumulative Update 1 for ConfigMgr 2012 is now available. Below are the issues that are fixed:

Administrator Console

• When a new distribution point is added to a package that contains more than 100 existing distribution points, the new distribution point cannot be added, and you receive the following error message in the Administrator Console:

  The SMS Provider reported an error.

  When you click Details in the error message, a "Quota Violation" message is displayed that is followed by the details of the stack trace.

• The link to the online privacy statement for the Customer Experience Improvement Program in the Administrator Console is fixed.

Application Management

• If a Deployment Type is added or changed before Distribution Manager processes an earlier change, the content may not be sent to a child site.
• The prestaged content file for a Deployment Type (DT) is not created for remote Distribution Points when there are multiple DTs for the same application. For more information about prestaged content, go to the following Microsoft TechNet website:

  Operations and Maintenance for Content Management in Configuration Manager

  (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/988b456a-efa8-45d1-89a6-894585dfca38#BKMK_PrestageContent)

Asset Intelligence

• Volume license editions of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 may be duplicated in the Asset Intelligence Installed_Software_data hardware inventory class.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack (SP1) is not listed in the Asset Intelligence License 01D - Microsoft License Ledger Products on a Specific Computer report.
• The pre-provisioned Asset Intelligence Synchronization Point certificate is updated with a new expiration date.

Client

• When a dynamic list is used for the Install Application task sequence, not all deployment types will be installed. This issue occurs when one of the deployment types restarts the computer. In this case, any deployment type after the restart is not installed. The state messages that are associated with each application indicate Success. This issue can be seen most clearly in the smsts.log file on the client when the log file is filtered in the CMTrace for entries that contain the text "Installing application."
  The following is an example sequence:

  Installing application 'App 1'
  Installing application 'ContentID for App 1' has started. Please refer to DCMAgent.log for the details on this job. JobID='{JobID1}'
  Installing application 'App 2'
  Installing application 'ContentID for App 2' has started. Please refer to DCMAgent.log for the details on this job. JobID='{JobID2}'
  Installing application 'App 3 - Exit Code 3010'
  Installing application 'ContentID for App 3' has started. Please refer to DCMAgent.log for the details on this job. JobID='{JobID3}'
  Installing application 'App 4'
  Installing application 'ContentID for App 2' has started. Please refer to DCMAgent.log for the details on this job. JobID='{JobID4}'

  Note Both 'App 2' and 'App 4' share the same content ID. In this example sequence, 'App 4' was not installed following the restart that 'App 3' triggered.

Out of Band Management

• Power Control and Clear Audit Log collection-based actions fail for externally provisioned AMT clients. The amptopmgr.log file contains entries that resemble the following entry:

  Error: CSMSAMTDiscoveryTask::Execute, discovery to client_computer failed. General Worker Thread Pool: Error, Can not execute the task successfully. Remove it from task list.

Site Database

• Replication Link Analyzer incorrectly detects a syscommittab system table issue and suggests reinitialization if the SQL Errorlog contains the following string:

  3999

• A primary device cannot be selected for user-based pre-deployment if the device does not have the Configuration Manager client installed.

Site Systems

• A Reporting Services Point may not be installed or start if the SQL Reporting Service does not start within one minute. The srssp.log file may contain entries that resemble the following entry:

  Starting service 'ReportServer'
  Time out has expired and the operation has not been completed.

• The SMS Executive service may stop unexpectedly if the Exchange Connector PowerShell cmdlet fails. The EasDisc.log file may contain entries that resemble the following entry:

  ERROR: [MANAGED] Cmdlet failed: Starting a command on remote server failed with the following error message: The WinRM client cannot complete the operation within the time specified. Check if the machine name is valid and is reachable over the network and firewall exception for Windows Remote Management service is enabled. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.

• The Site System Status Summarizer component may cause the SMS Executive service to stop unexpectedly if the site server fully qualified domain name (FQDN) is more than 50 characters, and the default installation path is used. The relevant entries from the Exception Information section of the crash.log files contain the following entry:

  Thread name = SMS_SITE_SYSTEM_STATUS_SUMMARIZER
  Executable = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\bin\x64\smsexec.exe
  Exception = eeeeffff (EXCEPTION_SMS_FATAL_ERROR)

For all the details and a download link please see the following:

2717295 - Description of Cumulative Update 1 for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2717295)

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

In Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, the issuing certificate that System Center Online uses to validate the bootstrap certificate expires in September 2012. After this date, System Center Online does not recognize the bootstrap certificate.

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. For all the details including instructions on how to obtain this hotfix please see the following:

2733615 - An update for the bootstrap certificate in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Asset Intelligence is available (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2733615)

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Here’s a problem we came across recently and the resolution we came up with that I wanted to share. The issue is that when creating a task sequence for  bootable media using a Boot Image, the wizard does not return any of the available Management point names.

Cause: You will run into this issue if the Management Point is configured to use HTTPS and you are using the self-signed certificate and not importing the PKI certificate while creating the TS bootable media.

Resolution:

To fix this you will need to import the certificate on the Security page.

Certificate requirements:

• Certificate Purpose: Client authentication
• Template to use: Workstation Authentication

NOTE This certificate must be exported in a Public Key Certificate Standard (PKCS #12) format, and the password must be known so that it can be imported.

For more information see PKI requirements for Configuration Manager 2012 : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg699362.aspx

Vinayak Sharma | Support Engineer | Management and Security Division
Senthilkumar Pandurangan | Support Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Are you looking for a good way to get started learning everything that’s new in ConfigMgr 2012? If so then here’s the guide for you:

=====

With part-3 of this series, I finally turn to one of the most important products of the System Center suite. This is System Center Configuration Manger, or SCCM. SCCM has been around since the 90s in one form or another (remember Systems Management Server?). Since the early days of SMS, System Center Configuration Manager has evolved to be a very popular tool used by global enterprises to manage their IT infrastructures. With System Center 2012, SCCM continues to improve, as the study material below shows. Because SCCM is such a big product and so much material is available for it, this post will focus exclusively on it and the study materials related to it….

=====

For the complete System Center 2012 Operations Manager self study guide please see the following:

System Center 2012 Self-Study Guide (Part 3 - System Center Configuration Manager)

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Here’s a new Knowledge Base article we published. This one talks about an issue where a backup task in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 may not work correctly if the backup destination folder contains a special character or the folder name ends with “\”.

=====

Symptoms

A backup task of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 may not work correctly if the backup destination folder contains a special character or the folder name ends with “\”. For example, these folder names will cause an issue:

D:\
D:\Back*up
D:\Backup\

Cause

This is a known issue in System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

Resolution

To work around this issue, remove the invalid characters from backup destination folder name. It is recommended to create a destination folder for use only by Configuration Manager because files in the destination folder will be deleted before the backup task runs.

More Information

Backup ConfigMgr Site Server Task Overview

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2748703 - Backup destination folder of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 should not contain special characters

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

The Beta of System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (“SP1”) enables System Center customers to jointly evaluate System Center 2012 with Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. The Beta is for evaluation purposes only and not to be used in production as described in the EULAs associated with the product. No license keys are required to do this evaluation. The Beta includes updates and enhancements to the following System Center 2012 components:

• Virtual Machine Manager
  • Improved Support for Network Virtualization
  • Extend the VMM console with Add-ins
  • Support for Windows Standards-Based Storage Management Service, thin provisioning of logical units and discovery of SAS storage
  • Ability to convert VHD to VHDX, use VHDX as base Operating System image
• Configuration Manager
  • Deployment and management of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
  • Distribution point for Windows Azure to help reduce infrastructure costs
  • Automation of administrative tasks through PowerShell support
  • Management of Mac OS X clients and Linux and UNIX servers
  • Real-time administrative actions for Endpoint Protection related tasks
• Data Protection Manager
  • Improved backup performance of Hyper-V over CSV 2.0
  • Protection for Hyper-V over remote SMB share
  • Protection for Windows Server 2012 de-duplicated volumes
  • Uninterrupted protection for VM live migration
• App Controller
  • Service Provider Foundation API to create and operate Virtual Machines
  • Support for Azure VM; migrate VHDs from VMM to Windows Azure, manage from on-premise System Center
• Operations Manager
  • Support for IIS 8
  • Monitoring of WCF, MVC and .NET NT services
  • Azure SDK support
• Orchestrator
  • Support for Integration Packs, including 3rd party
  • Manage VMM self-service User Roles
  • Manage multiple VMM ‘stamps’ (scale units), aggregate results from multiple stamps
  • Integration with App Controller to consume Hosted clouds
• Service Manager
  • Apply price sheets to VMM clouds
  • Create chargeback reports
  • Pivot by cost center, VMM clouds, Pricesheets
• Server App-V
  • Support for applications that create scheduled tasks during packaging
  • Create virtual application packages from applications installed remotely on native server

For all the details and a download link please see the following: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34607

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Here’s a new Knowledge Base article we published. This one talks about some issues you may see with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Application Evaluation if a third party deployment type is not registered properly on a client prior to a deployment.

=====

Symptoms

Using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, an application is targeted with a third party deployment type but application evaluation ceases to process for all application deployments on the client. You may see a generic error similar to the following in the CIAgent.log file:

DCM::LanternUtils::ScopeAndBindPolicies - Failed to start enactment (0x80041010).

There may be other causes for this error that are not related to this issue, but the error code will help to identify the issue described here.

Cause

This can occur if an application is targeted with a third party deployment type and the corresponding handler has not been pre-installed on the machine. In a case such as this, the application evaluation ceases to process all future application deployments on that client.

In this scenario :

• Deployments of any applications to this machine will not be processed until the third party deployment type handler is deployed, or until all applications with third party deployment types are un-deployed to those machines.
• Application management can't be used to deploy a third party deployment type until the third party deployment type handler is deployed or the application with the third party deployment types are un-deployed to those machines.

The only way to discover if the client is in this condition is through the Application Management Infrastructure report.

Resolution

To prevent this scenario, all third party deployment type handlers must be pre-deployed to all machines where the corresponding application will be deployed.

To fix this scenario, either of the following methods can be used:

• Un-install the offending third-party deployment. Once the deployment has been removed, pre-deploy the needed deployment type handler prior to the application deployment.
• Install or register the third-party deployment type handler. Application Evaluation will begin to work correctly again after the next global deployment re-evaluation cycle.

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2756110 - Issues with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Application Evaluation if a third party deployment type is not registered properly on a client

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity- support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

There are some files that you can use in order to activate or deactivate some features in Configuration Manager 2012 on client side or server side, such as preventing Software Inventory for a particular folder or preventing the installation of ConfigMgr files on a machine. Here’s some information on some of those files and how you might use them to control your Configuration Manager environment.  The files are as follows:

• NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS
• ARCHIVE_REPORTS.SMS
• SKPWI.DAT

So what do these files do?

SKPWI.DAT

This file can be used for skipping the Software inventory Process for a partition or for a folder. If you want to prevent software inventory on a drive/partition or folder you can create a hidden file named SKPWI.DAT and place it on the root of the drive/partition/folder.

When do you, or can you use it?

In order to avoid the overhead of running software inventory on large disks with a large number of files that you do not need collected, you can create a hidden file named Skpswi.dat and place it in the root folder of each disk drive that you want excluded from software inventory. From that point forward, no software inventory will occur for those drives or folders unless the Skpswi.dat file is removed.

The Skpswi.dat file can also be used to avoid a software inventory collection rule. For example, if you have a rule to inventory "\WINDOWS", that entire folder tree will be skipped on any Configuration Manager client that has a Skpswi.dat file in the \ WINDOWS folder. Disks with a Skpswi.dat file are not scanned to find files that are to be collected.

You can also place this file in the root of any folder structure you want to exclude from software inventory. This procedure can be used to disable software inventory on a single workstation or server client, such as a large file server. Software inventory will not inventory the client drive again unless this file is deleted from the drive on the client computer.

For more information see the following:

How to Exclude Folders From Software Inventory: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632671.aspx

ConfigMgr (SCCM) - Skip Software Inventory : http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6568.configmgr-sccm-skip-software-inventory.aspx

NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS

This file is used to prevent Configuration Manager from installing binaries to a volume. By default, when you install System Center 2012 Configuration Manager on a remote Site System, the SMS Site Component Manager Service installs the binaries (files and folders) for the Site System on the NTFS-formatted volume that contains the most free space. You may want to use an NTFS volume other than the default volume for your remote Site Systems by preventing ConfigMgr from enumerating certain NTFS volumes.

In order to prevent CM from enumerating an NTFS volume, on the remote server you can create a text file that is named NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS and put the this file on the root folder of all NTFS volumes where you do not want to install the binaries (SMS folder) for the ConfigMgr components.

By default, the Configuration Manager Site server role component installation files are installed on the first available NTFS formatted disk drive with the most available free disk space. However, some files are not installed in the default installation folder. Configuration Manager will not install site role component files on a drive that contains a file named NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS. Instead, site role components will be installed on a different NTFS formatted disk drive that does not contain the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file.

The NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file prevents site system role component installation, on a drive with this file present, for all site systems that are installed by site component manager. If site role installation files are already present on the drive before placing the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file on the drive, the installation files are not moved.

Our recommendation is to create the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS on a volume where you do not want Configuration Manager to put files, before installing Configuration Manager or a Configuration Manager Site server role component.

For more information see the following:

How to specify the NTFS volume that a Systems Management Server 2003 remote site system is installed on: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/871234

How to Prevent Configuration Manager From Installing Files on a Specific Drive: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632890.aspx

ARCHIVE_REPORTS.SMS

This is a client side file and is used when hardware/software inventory troubleshooting needs to be done.

When troubleshooting ConfigMgr client software or hardware inventory, you might want to retain the XML files that contain details on what the latest scan discovered (regardless whether the scan was a full scan or just a delta). In order to do this, we have to create a file named “archive_reports.sms” within %systemroot%\system32\ccm\inventory\temp\ or within %systemroot%\SysWOW64\ccm\inventory\temp\ depending if the machine is x64 or x86. Normally, on a regular client this would be as follows: C:\WINDOWS\system32\CCM\Inventory\temp\

There are two situations where you can use this depending on the type of client:

1. To keep inventory reports on a client (that is not an MP), create the following file:

%systemroot%\system32\ccm\inventory\temp\archive_reports.sms

2. To keep inventory reports on a MP (that is also a client), create the following file:

<x>:\sms_ccm\inventory\temp\archive_reports.sms

The XML file will be saved in the inventory\temp folder.

Important

Delete the archive_reports.sms file when you are done troubleshooting or you will collect all other files from this point forward.

Here is an example of Discovery generated XML

Here is an example of Full Hardware Inventory XML

Here is an example of Delta Software Inventory XML

For more information on logging please see the following: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rslaten/archive/2006/03/14/sms-2003-logging.aspx

Radu Tomoiaga | Support Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Beta supports the management of Linux and UNIX servers. The clients for Linux and UNIX extends the scope of your Configuration Manager environment to collect inventory, deploy software, and run reports about Linux and UNIX servers in your enterprise. The client operates as a workgroup client that is managed by Configuration Manager.

The following UNIX and Linux versions are supported in the Beta release.

• AIX Version 7.1 (Power)
• AIX Version 6.1 (Power)
• AIX Version 5.3 (Power)
• HP-UX Version 11iv3 (IA64 & PA-RISC)
• HP-UX Version 11iv2 (IA64 & PA-RISC)
• RHEL Version 6 (x86 & x64)
• RHEL Version 5 (x86 & x64)
• RHEL Version 4 (x86 & x64)
• Solaris Version 10 (x86 & SPARC)
• Solaris Version 9 (SPARC)
• SLES Version 11 (x86 & x64)
• SLES Version 10 SP1 (x86 & x64)
• SLES Version 9 (x86)

• Hardware Inventory - Hardware inventory can be viewed through Resource Explorer and can be used to create collections of UNIX and Linux computers.
• Software Inventory - Through hardware inventory the list of natively installed software can be gathered from the UNIX and Linux computers - similar to add/remove programs for Windows systems.
• Software Distribution - Deploy new software, update existing software and apply OS patches to collections of UNIX/Linux computers (using a package and program). Run arbitrary maintenance scripts on a collection of UNIX/Linux servers.
• Secure and Authenticated Communications
• Consolidated Reports

For all the details and a download link please see the following: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34609

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Endpoint Security blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/