Disabling Task Sequence Notification Balloons in ConfigMgr 2007

Notification balloons seem to be a frequent topic of feedback from customers. There may pop up too often, or only certain users should get them, or the timing isn’t configurable enough.

Lately we’ve had multiple customers asking for a very specific feature. The AdminUI for SCCM provides the ability to disable notification balloons for normal Software Distribution packages, but not for Task Sequences.

While there are currently no plans to modify the AdminUI to add this ability, all of the necessary logic is already present in the client code; you just have to go out of your way to enable it. If the ability to disable notification balloons for Task Sequences is something that would be beneficial in your environment then you can use the script below to automate the process.

The example below needs to be run on a site server by a user who has sufficient permissions in SCCM to modify the Task Sequences in question. Running the example with no command line arguments will provide usage instructions.

There is no guarantee or warranty associated with this example. Make sure you test any utility before using it in a production environment; and, as always, make sure that you are running frequent backups and that you test the restoration procedure on a regular basis to ensure that the backups are valid.

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Option Explicit On

If WScript.Arguments.Count < 1 Then
WScript.Echo “Usage:”
WScript.Echo ”    DisableTSNotification.vbs -all”
WScript.Echo ”    DisableTSNotification.vbs PackageID [PackageID]…”
WScript.Quit
End If

Dim strComputer
Dim siteCode
Dim objWMIService
Dim colItems
Dim objItem
Dim packageID
Dim itemFound
Dim numPackages
Dim numUpdated

strComputer = “.”
siteCode=GetSiteCode()
Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts://” & strComputer & “/root/sms/site_” & siteCode)

If StrComp(UCase(WScript.Arguments.Item(0)), “-ALL”, 1) = 0 Then
numPackages = 0
numUpdated = 0
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery(“SELECT * FROM SMS_TaskSequencePackage”, “WQL”, 32)
For Each objItem in colItems
If (objItem.ProgramFlags AND 1024) = 0 Then
objItem.ProgramFlags = objItem.ProgramFlags OR 1024
objItem.Put_
numUpdated = numUpdated + 1
WScript.Echo “Modified package ” & objItem.PackageID
End If
numPackages = numPackages + 1
Next
WScript.Echo “Updated ” & numUpdated & ” of ” & numPackages & ” packages”
Else
For Each packageID in WScript.Arguments
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery(“SELECT * FROM SMS_TaskSequencePackage WHERE PackageID='” & packageID & “‘”, “WQL”, 32)
itemFound = false
For Each objItem in colItems
If (objItem.ProgramFlags AND 1024) = 0 Then
objItem.ProgramFlags = objItem.ProgramFlags OR 1024
objItem.Put_
WScript.Echo “Modified package ” & objItem.PackageID
Else
WScript.Echo “No need to update package ” & objItem.PackageID
End If
itemFound = true
Next
If itemFound = false Then
WScript.Echo “ERROR: Package ” & packageID & ” was not found on this server”
End If
Next
End If

Function GetSiteCode()
Dim objSWbemLocator
Dim objSWbemServices
Dim ProviderLocation
Dim Location
Dim strSiteCode

objSWbemLocator = CreateObject(“WbemScripting.SWbemLocator”)
objSWbemServices = objSWbemLocator.ConnectServer(“.”, “rootsms”)
ProviderLocation = objSWbemServices.InstancesOf(“SMS_ProviderLocation”)

For Each Location In ProviderLocation
If Location.ProviderForLocalSite = True Then
strSiteCode = Location.SiteCode
End If
Next

GetSiteCode = strSiteCode
End Function

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Changing the name or description on secondary sites

How to change name or description on secondary sites without having to reinstall…..

  1. Stop the SMS executive service.
  2. Open the C:Program FilesSCCMInboxesSiteCtrl.Boxsitectrl.cto file.
  3. At the top of the file , you find the sitecode and below that you’ll find the site desciption.
  4. Change the name and save the file.
  5. Restart the SMS Exec service.
  6. The site name or description has changed.

Keep in mind, this method is NOT supported by Microsoft !

ConfigMgr SP1/SP2 Now Supports SQL 2008 R2

This and other support announcements located here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2010/06/30/configuration-manager-support-announcements-for-june-2010.aspx

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is now supported on Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and SP2 and Configuration Manager 2007 R2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and SP2 now support Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 as a Configuration Manager 2007 site database.  System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 now supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services.

No software updates are required.

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Service Pack 2 is now supported on Configuration Manager 2007 R2 with Configuration Manager 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Service Pack 2.

No software updates are required.

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is now supported with Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports client installation and all site server roles in the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 virtualization environment.

No software updates are required.

Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7 is now supported on Configuration Manager 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 now supports Windows Embedded 2011 as a client platform.  General limitations for managing Windows Embedded devices can be found in this article, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb932123.aspx,

No software updates are required.

.NET Framework 4.0 is now supported with Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and SP2.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and SP2 now support the .NET Framework 4.0 with the following limitations.

 

  • Forcing the system to use only the .NET 4.0 CLR by enabling the following registry key is not supported.

 

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoft.NETFrameworkOnlyUseLatestCLR

 

  • .NET Framework 2.0 is required to be installed on Windows XP and Windows 2003 in order for the Desired Configuration Management (DCM) feature to check compliance.

 

 

No software updates are required.

Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.6 is now supported with the Application Compatibility Toolkit Connector.

The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) Connector now supports ACT 5.6.  Limitations and workarounds for upgrade issues from ACT 5.5 are documented in the following blog post:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2010/06/20/act-connector-and-act-5-6.aspx

No software updates are required.

Software Updates from ConfigMgr 2007 not working on clients

Error from WUHandler.log:

Its a WSUS Update Source type ({B4F31904-A2D1-411C-AF25-9C68F7969A31}), adding it.
Existing WUA Managed server was already set (http://<SOMESERVER>:8530), skipping Group Policy registration.
Added Update Source ({B4F31904-A2D1-411C-AF25-9C68F7969A31}) of content type: 2
Async searching of updates using WUAgent started.
Async searching completed.
OnSearchComplete – Failed to end search job. Error = 0x8024401b.
Scan failed with error = 0x8024401b.

Error from WindowsUpdates.log:

1284 804 PT WARNING: GetConfig failure, error = 0x8024401B, soap client error = 10, soap error code = 0, HTTP status code = 407
1284 804 PT WARNING: PTError: 0x8024401b
1284 804 PT WARNING: GetConfig_WithRecovery failed: 0x8024401b
1284 804 PT WARNING: RefreshConfig failed: 0x8024401b
1284 804 PT WARNING: RefreshPTState failed: 0x8024401b
1284 804 PT WARNING: PTError: 0x8024401b
1284 804 Report WARNING: Reporter failed to upload events with hr = 8024401b.

Solution:

And this is wierd!

Change the site system FQDN to lowercase (Site Database -> Site Management -> Central Site -> Site Settings -> Site Systems -> <siteserver> -> ConfigMgr Site System)

Restart the Windows Update Service on the client computer

Initiate the Software Update Scan Cycle and you are go!

Windows 7 Network Location bug finally fixed!

When deploying Windows 7 the Network Location dialog box is sometimes shown even though the machine is joined to a domain. It’s only on specific hardware but it’s quite common.

Microsoft now has a hotfix (KB 2028749) for this bug.

A “Set Network Location” dialog box appears when you first log on to a domain-joined Windows 7-based client computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028749/

Optional Workaround:

You can set a Group Policy for Network Location – Computer Configuration  / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Network List Manager Policies / All Networks. Change Network Location to User cannot change location

This is the dialog box you  might get without the hotfix…