I was trying to setup New Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 build on Windows server 2012 with SQL Server 2012 SP1 installed .Everything went fine except Windows server update services .It keeps saying error with restart needed.Here is what i get every time when i install WSUS after Restart needed.

“The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed. the operation cannot be completed because the server that you specified requires a restart.”

Why does it fail every time though server is restarted as stated from above screen ?

Go to event viewer ,windows logs-system ,you see below error message:

The MSSQL$MICROSOFT##WID service was unable to log on as NT SERVICE\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##WID with the currently configured password due to the following error:
Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer.
Service: MSSQL$MICROSOFT##WID
Domain and account: NT SERVICE\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##WID
This service account does not have the required user right "Log on as a service."

User Action
Assign "Log on as a service" to the service account on this computer. You can use Local Security Settings (Secpol.msc) to do this. If this computer is a node in a cluster, check that this user right is assigned to the Cluster service account on all nodes in the cluster.
If you have already assigned this user right to the service account, and the user right appears to be removed, check with your domain administrator to find out if a Group Policy object associated with this node might be removing the right.

How do i fix this ?

You need to Assign the Log on as a service user right to NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES.

This can be implemented via GPO.

Go to your group policy management console,edit default domain policy

Computer Configuration—>Policies—>Windows Settings—>Security Settings—>Local Policies—>User Rights Assignment

Note: It is not mandatory to edit the default domain Policy to enable this setting.You can also create new GPO and ensure to have Enforced (running on Server 2012) option is selected which can not be overwritten by Default Domain Controller.

Go to properties of Logon as Service,click on Add user or Group,Enter NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES ,click ok.

Now move onto the server,open command prompt and type gpupdate /Force to apply the GPO settings.

To check if the settings are applied or not,you can run rsop.msc from the run command and see the changes applied or not.

Once you confirmed the settings are applied,Start the installation of WSUS role again,this time It should be okay.

Hope it Helps!

MMS 2013 is getting nearer , (Apr 4-Apr 8) with loads of technical sessions on newly released products with hands on lab. More info here

From Apr 4-8,total of 300+ sessions happening on various technologies .

Many folks who works on Configuration manager like me, look for what content catalog.

Here is the pdf file listing out all SCCM 2012 related stuff which might help you to follow up .

download MMS 2013 SCCM 2012 SP1 Content Catalog

These configuration manager Sessions will generally be available for streaming around 24 hours after the session is complete.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013?sort=sequential&direction=desc&term=Configuration%20Manager

How to participate in MMS 2013 even if you aren’t going http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/2013/04/03/how-to-participate-in-mms-2013-even-if-you-arent-going/

Old post but useful to share from J.C.HornBeck .We all know there are some hidden files(they are kind of secret files) which are available since Since Many years( I would think from SMS 2003 or may be from 2.0) in order to activate or deactivate some features in SMS/SCCM 2007 /SCCM 2012 (now) 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
• SKPSWI.DAT

So what do these files do?

SKPSWI.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

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\

Read the rest of the post http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2012/09/17/controlling-configuration-manager-2012-using-hidden-files.aspx

SCCM Configmgr 2012 SP1 is already out to All Customers (General Available) brining several cool features ,several fixes, improvements. However, due to a recent problem (Installation error 0x800b0101 and binary installation Endpoint Protection for Linux and iOS.) on this component,Microsoft just review the ISO SCCM 2012 SP1 and launched it again, duly corrected. So if you downloaded the ISO before the day 25.01.2013,It would be recommend to download again.

If you already in Production with Configmgr 2012 SP1 media released before the date,you should have already applied the fix to correct the issue and there is no need to Deploy this new media.

But is there any  information to fix issue with Endpoint protection for linux and Ios except downloading the New ISO ?

Download the New SCCM Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 ISO via below links :
·         Microsoft Volume Licensing Services (MVLS)
·          TechNet Subscriptions (Must have subscription)
·          MSDN Subscriptions (Must have subscription)
·          TechNet Evaluation Center (For Evaluation)

Yesterday Microsoft announced the general availability of System Center 2012 SP1! While the RTM bits have been available for a few weeks already to TechNet/MSDN subscribers and volume licensing customers, today marks the broad availability of System Center 2012 SP1 to all customers.

This includes All system center products includes Windows 8 RTM server. All products available to download from here

I have extracted the link to download SCCM Configmgr 2012 SP1 RTM only and available from here

If you are looking for SCCM Configmgr 2012 SP1 VHD to save time in installation,there is VHD available here

The System Center 2012 SP1 release is chock full of new features to light up the new functionality found in Windows Server 2012. The combination of System Center 2012 SP1 with Windows Server 2012 provides the foundation of what we call the ‘Cloud OS’.

You can read more about the Cloud OS and how System Center fits into the solution in these other articles:

What is the Cloud OS?

Transform Your Datacenter with System Center 2012 SP1

Official System Center 2012 SP1 Release Announcement

Cloud OS Vision

The Configmgr 2012  Package Conversion Manager(PCM) allows for converting packages and programs into applications and deployment types in configmgr 2012. There is a migration feature which is released with the Configuration Manager 2012 that allows packages to be migrated from 2007 to 2012. Once you have migrated your package objects and installed PCM it is just a matter of analyzing your packages to determine their readiness state and then converting the packages with the appropriate readiness state to applications.

This release comes in 6 languages(Chinese,German,Japanese,English,French,Russian) and will work with both Configmgr 2012 and Configmgr 2012 SP1.

Feature Summary:

• Analyzes Packages
• Automatic Conversion
• PCM Plug-In
• Fix and Convert Wizard
• Package Conversion Dashboard
• Online Help
• PCMTrace.log
• Bulk Analyzer

Download Package Conversion Manager(PCM) 2.0 from here

To know more how to convert the Legacy packages from CM07 to CM12 using PCM ,read http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrdogs/archive/2012/04/28/package-conversion-manager-pcm-in-configmgr-2012.aspx

Just saw an Email update from Myitforum list about the Release of Configuration Manager 2012 Automation RC is out now.

Few months back,he announced the release of Configmgr 2012 Automation Beta here.

To know more about what does the scripts do, http://wmug.co.uk/wmug/b/dotraphael/archive/2012/09/28/project-cm12-automation-beta-is-coming.aspx

To Download the scripts http://cm12automation.codeplex.com/releases/view/100135

Raphael is working on uploading the videos on YouTube on this also he will update his blog page once everything is there…

Hope you like it !

The easiest possible way to remove the sccm client is to run the command line ccmsetup.exe /uninstall from windows\ccmsetup folder.

But what if ccmsetup.exe do not exists on some of the client machines and you would require to remove the client on them ? and if ccmsetup.exe does not work for you to remove the sccm client successfully ?

Mike Griswold did a post on this how to do manual executions to remove sccm client without using ccmsetup.exe on the way at his customer place.

So You can perform below steps to manually clean-up all the traces of the client.

1. SMS Agent Host Service

 

2. CCMSetup service (if present)

 

3. \windows\ccm directory

 

4. \windows\ccmsetup directory

 

5. \windows\ccmcache directory

 

6. \windows\smscfg.ini

 

7. \windows\sms*.mif (if present)

 

8. HKLM\software\Microsoft\ccm registry keys

 

9. HKLM\software\Microsoft\CCMSETUP registry keys

 

10. HKLM\software\Microsoft\SMS registry keys

Full Post http://blogs.technet.com/b/michaelgriswold/archive/2013/01/02/manual-removal-of-the-sccm-client.aspx

SCCM Configmgr 2012 SP1 is out now and available only for MSDN and TechNet subscribers for now.For General Availability,we may have to wait for couple of days or so.

Johan updated the Hydration Kit to automate the installation of SCCM 2012 SP1 with One Domain Controller and Configmr 2012 SP1 Member server with all the required prerequisites.

It took 3 hours of time to complete the setup on Johan Laptop.Installation time may vary on the resources what you have on your computer.

For more information about Hydration Kit and download details http://www.deploymentresearch.com/Research/tabid/62/EntryId/82/The-Hydration-Kit-for-ConfigMgr-2012-SP1-with-Windows-Server-2012-SQL-Server-2012-is-available-for-download.aspx

Installation of Secondary Site in Configmgr SCCM 2012 is not as simple as compared to SCCM 2007 due to several changes in SCCM  Configmgr 2012 secondary site.

Before you proceed to install the secondary site,you need to ensure all the prerequisites are met including SQL server installation,IIS etc else you may have to come back to finish all the required prereq.

In My previous blog post here, i listed down the prerequisites to install secondary site. Below is little more descriptive:

Install IIS, BITS, RDC,.net framework 3.5

Add Primary site computer Account and secondary site(which you are going to install on) as member of local administrators group on secondary site server.

Add secondary site computer computers as member of sitesystem-to-siteserver connection group in Primary Site.

Install SQL server 2008 R2 SP1 Express with Cumulative Update 6 or above. Please refer to MS for more information about SQL server. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682077.aspx#BKMK_SupConfigSQLSrvReq

I installed SQL server 2008 R2 SP1 Express with CU6 using default instance. Database Collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.

check if the SQL server agent is not disabled and set to automatic and log on as ‘ local system account’.

Installation is straight forward without any special settings.

To know more about how to install SQL server, you can either refer my previous blog post here or Internet search will provide you lot of articles.

Once you are done with installation of SQL Server and CU, you will have to enable/configure couple of things.

1. Check if you SQL server service is not running in network account (should be either domain account or local system account) and set to automatic.

2. Enable TCP/IP Protocol with Port:1433 in IPALL for Dynamic Port as blank and TCPIP as 1433 . How do to this ?

Open SQL Server Configuration Manager

Move onto SQL Server Network Configuration–>Protocols for SQLExpress

Enable TCP/IP and Named Pipes

Also check if you have set the TCP port as Static with port number 1433 for all else you will not succeed with installation of Secondary site.

Now Restart the SQL server Service to make changes into effective.

We are now done with all the prereq needed to install Secondary Site.

Go back to your Primary Site administration node and start the installation of secondary site by selecting the right Primary site.

Sitecode,site name and where do you want to install SCCM.

Since I have already installed SQL server Express 2008 Version with Default instance on the server manually with required Cumulative Updates with Database Location etc.I leave instance as blank.If you have used other than default,Please specify it.

Click next ,Next and close.

Now we will monitor the progress of site Installation.

Once the prerequisites check list is completed, Primary site will start copying the required files for sccm installation on to secondary site installation drive with extension .pkg which will be decompressed to .tmp folder before the installation starts.

Monitor sender.log on the primary site to see the progress of .PKG File

sending the package file is completed.

Go back to your secondary site and see what is it doing ?

You can see couple of files with extension .INI and .log

Look at .ini file with site information like Site name, Primary site, Installation Drive etc.

You may not be able to open the .ini file due to permission issues but try to copy to desktop/different folder to view the content on it.

Watch out for the installation/Errors either from console or log located in Primary site Root folder C:\configmgrsetup.log

You see from above,The installation is Completed successfully.