cluberti

I use ConfigMgr to push software, so that pushes the clients I need (again, OM plugs into ConfigMgr, so it's easy to do), but it could just as easily be done via GP. ConfigMgr pushes the OS, manages software, etc (it's role is lifecycle management of an OS); OpsMgr monitors servers and clients for events I configure, and performs operations (manual or automatic) based on how they're configured in the console, and VMM is used to deploy and manage virtual machines in Hyper-V and, to a lesser extent, VMWare (which is slowly being replaced with Hyper-V clusters).

I've been using System Center Operations Manager (previously MOM) for things like this, and it works well. Not cheap, but works really well (and I use ConfigMgr and VMM as well, so the fact they play nice together is a plus).

Sounds like perhaps the paging file is shrinking and expanding as the default is for it to be dynamic. It would be better to configure your PC's paging file size min and max to the recommended number in the system properties dialog instead, if disk space is an issue for you.

SFC isn't going to fix a problem if you have a driver leaking. Windows itself isn't likely to cause the issue (although copying lots of large files without rebooting can....). Also, this file is on a site that doesn't allow more than 150MB an hour, and you uploaded a 400MB file. Please *compress* the file as small as possible with 7zip, WinRAR, or any other compression tool of your choice and re-upload in the future. I will have this file downloaded in about 3 - 4 hours, so I won't be reviewing it tonight.

The documented period is 3 re-arms. Even if you whack the registry, the software out of the box allows you 3 re-arms, and working around it would be in violation of the licensing agreement (no matter how easy it may be to do). Note that if you re-arm an image more than 3 times, Microsoft doesn't support that image anymore, either. Also note it's not a "trial period" either; Microsoft does provide real trial versions of it's client software (for example, Windows 7 Enterprise) that are usually 90 day trials that include a product key with the installation of the software (thus no need for using or activating your own). The -rearm is for delaying activation (also known as the grace period) for reasons that would include being unable to access an activation server. It's not really meant to allow you to "try before you buy" a full version of Windows, even though that's what people seem to think it is. If you're going to "try" Windows, you should download a real trial version. If you're going to install and use Windows, you should install and activate it within the 120 day window of -rearm's available to you out of the box.

As usual, I'm ignored... - Nov 22 . /sarcasm

Well, these questions require a bit of scoping for sure. How many applications are we talking about, and will you be deploying them post-image, or are you looking to stage them with an image, etc? Would having a factory staging image be a possibility, or do you have access to System Center ConfigMgr 2007 perhaps? MDT is capable of doing a lot of it, although you may want to move this to active directory or SCCM depending on how "final" your images are. I guess you'll probably need to think more about what types of apps they are, and what kind of automation you can achieve before thinking specifically about how to deploy. Personally I prefer images that sysprep to factory, and I use SCCM or MDT to install applications at that point, but I've worked with clients that use SCCM and/or Group Policy to do deployment post-image. I've also worked with a few that have multi-staging - MDT in their "build lab" building a "clean image", and then that image is copied to SCCM or MDT at each custom site to be put into another MDT or an SCCM task sequence that automates only the things they need there (sort of a "master image with children" setup).

No problem - good to hear it works

IPB has had code/codebox issues since it began. We had issues off and on with the 1.3.x and 2.x versions of the board with code/codebox of a similar nature, so this doesn't surprise me. We're aware of the issue, and so is IPB (and we're up to 3.1.4, but without a fix), but until they fix it (again, until they break it again sometime after they fix it.....) trip's recommendation of codebox is unfortunately the only option right now, as it was with 1.3.x and 2.x board revisions that had similar code/codebox bugs. We apologize for the inconvenience, but given how old the bug is I'm not sure we'll have a good fix forthcoming anytime in the near future.

Yes - otherwise the ACLs on the objects will not allow non-domain-joined Windows machines to add/update/change the entries.

Actually, according to this it looks like you might be out of kernel nonpaged pool memory (this is 99.999% of the time a nonpaged pool exhaustion, not actual RAM). You really need to configure your system for a complete memory dump so we can review that to be sure. Here's what you need to do to configure your box to make a complete memory dump rather than a minidump: 1. Right-Click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Properties", then click the "Advanced tab. On the "Advanced" tab, click "Settings" under the "Performance" header. Click the "Advanced" tab, then click "Change" under "Virtual Memory". Set the pagefile to be located on the partition where the OS is installed, and set it to be equal to Physical RAM + 50 MB. 2. Also in the "System Properties" window on the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings" buttun under the "Startup and Recovery" header. Make sure "Complete Memory Dump" is selected (see 3a if this is not in the list). You can change the location of the memory dump file to a different local partition if you do not have enough room on the partition where the OS is installed. 2a. If the "Complete Memory Dump" option in step 2 is not available, you will need to manually set this registry value: Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl Value: CrashDumpEnabled Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1 3. You will need to reboot for these changes to take effect.

Change the DNS server from secure updates only to a less secure setting for dynamic updates.

I just built a test XML using these settings, and it seems to have worked just fine. It might be useful if you attached (not copy/paste) the rest of your unattend here, because something seems off.

You probably want to access that HD from a boot disc or another system and get the Panther and CBS log files to review what happened during sysprep.

For what it's worth, hard faults happen all of the time, and are nothing to be worried about at such small numbers (trust me, a few hundred at a time are nothing). Laggy behavior on a machine is usually I/O or CPU bound, as those are the resources on a system that are the slowest. Assuming your CPU cores are not maxed out during the time of lag, the next best place to look is I/O, specifically disk I/O (not memory). Also, a good thing to do is run process monitor when the system is working properly to get an idea of what "good" looks like, and then again when the system is lagging and performing otherwise slowly, to see if there is anything repetitive or different that would be obvious (it's the best place to start). After that, you have to start looking at what you are doing when the laptop is slow, and see if there's any specific things that are slow, specific workflows you do, etc. Once you've got that, you can start using perfmon or xperf to see *exactly* what the system is up to.

Yeah, the only places I've ever seen a vendor that did "download' of purchased software is Microsoft, an authorized reseller, and... Microsoft (and both a reseller and Microsoft who would offer downloadable content also offer you a way to acquire product media, even if for a fee - keep that in mind). So, if you're unsure, ask Microsoft - in general, every singe vendor I've found with one of those "software will be download-only after sale" has been a scam. Microsoft requires all the materials for a "full install" - including the boxing materials (even if that's just shrink-wrap), a COA sticker with the product key, and the media itself, for the sale of Windows to be considered "legal" (and it must also not be the OEM copy of Windows that shipped with a new PC except for certain countries in the EU economic zone, who have made this practice legal within their country's borders). If the software is download-only the vendor would have to be able to provide you a way to acquire a *real* COA sticker with purchase, media, and the shrink wrap or box it came in. If, however, there's no COA, technically it's not a legal copy of Windows nor a legal purchase (and the converse is true - a COA sticker sold without installation media is technically illegal as well in most countries). Basically, this smells illegal - I would suggest that Microsoft be contacted to see if this vendor is an authorized reseller for your region (sales will know, as will legal). If they are, then you should be good to go (and they should be mailing you a CD, a COA sticker, and boxing). Given 2.6 says you will receive no printed license information, 2.7 of their site explicitly says they don't ship CDs, and 2.5 says the software cannot be registered online.... I smell a scam, as two of the three of these things are required for the sale of a *full* Windows license to be considered a legal sale and the license transferred from one person or a retailer to another (again, ignoring replacement media - but in that case, you'd still be receiving *media* and not a download). XP EULA PDF that shows what is required to transfer or sell an existing license (point #4) What parts of the software and packaging transfer from retailer to customer constitutes a legal sale of a new Windows license Information on the COA itself, and what it means as part of a Windows license sale or transfer

You can always use the drop-down box under the last post and select "Forum Home", or use the link (between previous topic and next topic) to go back to the root of the section you're in. Both are at the bottom of the page, after the last post.

And the beta stops working in March 2011, so it's not worth continuing to run that either really.

Correct - Windows Live Mesh is a part of Essentials 2011, and will only install on Vista SP2 or higher. The beta would install and run on XP, but the full version will not.

He said the installation interface, not the interface once installed.

Yes, you can install Windows XP from a WinPE image. However, it will still bootstrap and run the old-style XP installer from there if you're installing a flat-file XP install. You could make a WIM image from a sysprep'ed XP install and that would deploy much like a Win7 client, but with all of the caveats and driver/hardware limitations of an XP image.

Good to hear you were able to figure it out!

wusa /? will give you all the switches your OS supports - there are quite a bit more than what are in that KB article, just fyi.

Look, downloading a copy of Windows is fine on your own time, we're not the internet police. However, it *is* illegal in most countries, and I believe the UK would be included in that list, to download a copy of Windows from anyone other than Microsoft or their partners - it's a violation of copyright (as in, you do not have the "right" to "copy" the source, included on the disc image you download, hence violation of copyright). Given the forum rules expressly prohibit discussion about non-legal copies of windows, I'm closing this down with a warning to not do it again, or I'll have to ban you. Sorry, but those are the rules.

To run an .MSU and get a log, you run the following command: wusa.exe <package>.msu /log:<log file path and name>.log