System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 VHD Now Available

We have posted the ConfigMgr 2012 Beta 2 VHD. You can download the files here. With this release you can also test out the Forefront Endpoint Protection 2012 Beta which integrates with ConfigMgr 2012. Take a look at the link at the bottom of this post for more information on how to get the FEP…
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How to Install Secondary Sites in System Center Configuration Manager 2012

In prior versions of ConfigMgr, you had the ability to install a secondary site in multiple ways. The method that I always chose to install a secondary was to copy the installation bits down to the server and install via setup.exe. The other method was using the ConfigMgr admin console which would copy the content…
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How to Install a System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Primary Site (Beta 2)

System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2012 primary site installation isn't that much different than in ConfigMgr 2007, however there are some differences. The aim for this post is to show you the basics of primary site installation and what to look for post installation. Prerequisites ConfigMgr 2012 has nearly the same prerequisites as ConfigMgr 2007,…
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Using SCCM Distribution Points for Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Definition Updates

THIS METHOD HAS BEEN DEPRECIATED AS OF FOREFRONT ENDPOINT PROTECTION UPDATE ROLLUP 1. PLEASE SEE FOREFRONT ENDPOINT PROTECTION 2010 UPDATE ROLLUP 1 USING YOUR DISTRIBUTION POINTS FOR FEP DEFINITIONS WITH THE SOFTWARE UPDATE AUTOMATION TOOL FOR THE NEW METHOD.         As you are probably aware by now, Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 (FEP 2010)…
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Ports Required to Join a Windows Domain – Managing Windows Machines in a DMZ with SCCM

For those looking for the ports you need open, this is what I use for a Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 DC. LDAP TCP-in - 389 LDAP UDP in - 389 LDAP for Global Catalog TCP in - 3268 NetBIOS name Resolution UDP in - 138 SAM/LSA TCP in - 445 SAM/LSA UDP in…
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System Center Configuration Manager R3 Released!

Today Microsoft released SCCM 2007 R3! Instead of going into a long blog post about all the exciting new features R3 has, I'd like to refer to an EXCELLENT run down of all the features by a co-worker of mine, Steve Rachui. If you run SCCM, R3 is definitely a worthwhile update that's painless to…
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SCCM: Collection Query to Find Machines Discovered via AD System Discovery in the last day without latest SCCM Client

In the final days I have with my current employer, I've been doing some client cleanup. As you may know, Active Directory System Discovery can make a mess out of your SCCM environment if AD isn't kept clean. We have a lot of records in our DB that just don't have the SCCM Client for…
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SCCM SCUP: How to Install Adobe Flash Player 10.1.53.64

With the new release of Flash Player 10.1 I've noticed in our environment that we were unable to install the Active X component for IE systems using the provided MSI file with SCUP. I've read in a few places that it's best to utilize the .exe instead of the .msi that is provided by Adobe.…
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MS10-041 KB979909 .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and for the .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2 for Windows 2000, for Windows Server 2003, and for Windows XP Fails to Install

Sorry for the long title. This past Tuesday Microsoft released a slew of new security patches. I won't go into detail about all of them, but suffice it to say we're seeing KB979909 become a pretty hairy thorn in our side. We deploy all of our updates via SCCM. In my pilot testing I've noticed…
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SCCM Fix: Error 0x80070643 or 0x8024200b when installing Office 2003 Updates by using WSUS or SCCM

In our SCCM test environment we were installing this months Microsoft Security Updates and noticed on one test machine that all the Office 2003 Updates were failing. I hadn't seen this before, so I started to do a little digging. Knowing that SCCM really doesn't do much but call the Windows Update Agent components, I…
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