Yet Another IT Professional Blog

I’m a big fan of easy deployment, scripting, automating etc… Therefore I love deployment tools. I am constantly using tools like Microsoft System Center, WDS, MDT, etc… Thanks to these kinds of tools, I can be alone and have the workforce of an IT army :)

I am not sure if this happens under all circumstances but I wasn't able to use the boot.wim file from a Server 2012 R2 setup media. In my WDS server, I added a boot.wim file from the Server 2012 R2 setup ISO as a new Boot Image. I used a vm to boot into the PXE server and try the new boot image but I got the following error; File: \Windows\System32\winload.exe Status : 0xc000000f Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.

I am studying for an upcoming Microsoft exam #70-411 and I was practicing the new WDS (Windows Deployment Services) features in the Windows Server 2012 R2 and I ran into a little problem.

Altough it's been a while that Windows 8 is out on the market, I never had to play around with the Windows 8 images and syspreps as I had to with Windows 7. I decided to prepare me a nice updated image of Windows 8 in a vm and sysprep it and use it as template for my lab environment. The plan is simple...

If you are here, it means you already know that configuring an anti-virus is not as simple as « next, next, next, ok ». Especially, deploying an antivirus to hundreds of clients… You’ve got to make sure that your clients are not suffering from intrusive antivirus processes, setup exclusions properly so that you don’t scan gigabytes of ISO files, make sure that the clients get the most recent and proper updates even if they are not connected to your network… Do you now get what I mean? J I went through this process recently. We’re using Trend-Micro Worry-Free Advanced Business security software for a couple of years now. Recently Trend-Micro had an update and the most recent version of the program is version 8 as of writing this article. The process of upgrading didn’t go very well so I had to reinstall it from scratch! Here are my notes regarding this project; I am not an antivirus expert but I guess every antivirus product has their own installing and “best practices...

Deploying Java 7 Update 5 through your Organization with GPO and Scripts… Java is a critical component for your computer. A lot of software and web sites rely on the existing of Java on your computer. Probably, without even noticing, you are using Java either for playing Online games, or printing a document or using an application on a smartphone… While Java is a great technology and widely used, it can be harmful for your computer if you don’t keep it up to date. Because Java is an environment where it can execute commands, Oracle is working on the software in order to correct all the security issues. If you are responsible for your workstations on your company, than you are directly responsible to deploy and keep up to date Java. I consider Java as it’s a part of the OS. Speaking of the devil, Oracle has just updated Java to version 7 Update 5. Here, I’ll explain how to deploy this version to all of your computers at your company whether an older version is already installed...

After a long time, I finally motivated myself and wrote this article. As I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how to find GUID of Java environment for a little deployment project, I realized that it’s not an easy task if you don’t know where to look. You can probably find a couple of third party applications which can do the job for you. But if you are like me and you don’t want another piece of software sitting on your computer for a one time shot then this article is for you… keep reading… Get your keyboards ready, we are going to use “PowerShell” or “Command Prompt”. We are going to use WMIC for this task. For more information about WMIC, click on the following link. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742610.aspx By using this command here in “CMD” or “PowerShell” you will get a list of all programs on your computer with their “Globally Unique Identifiers”. wmic product list After running this command, it can take a couple of seconds before ...

UltraVNC is a “must have” tool for “Help Desk” IT stuff. Without this tool, I will have to get up from my chair to go and see a non-critical message that appears on user’s system. Just to press “Enter” for the user. With a VNC application well setup, I could connect to the any user’s screen from my desk with the help of 2-3 clicks. I will explain you how you can setup VNC servers/clients in your enterprise so you can be lazier and be more efficient from your desk. There is more than 1 way to accomplish this task. I’ll use a method where an “Active Directory” is a requirement. Please read this entire article before preceding your deployment. Minimum requirements; -           Active Directory Infrastructure -           Newest UltraVNC software (Download from HERE ) -           Text Editor Software (I use Notepad++ but Notepad or any other...

WinPE is a light version of Windows 7 (command line version). To be able to make a WinPE, you need to install Windows AIK (Automated Installation Kit) from Microsoft. With this professional series of tools, we can create our personalized WinPE 3.0 environment. What can WinPE do for me? WinPE contains very useful tools to… -   Deploy desktop and server operating systems -   Patch the existent OS with the newest updates, hot fix and patch -   Backup your computer! -   Add and Remove hardware drivers Steps to create a WINPE environment 1-       Start the “Deployment Tools Command Prompt” with the “Administrator” rights! 2-       Enter the following command. “copype.cmd (architecture) Destination Path” [Copype.cmd X86 C:\WinPE] or [copype.cmd amd64 C:\WinPE64] 3-       You can add additional customizations by copying your favorite tools into the created C:\WinPE\ISO folder. Like “ImageX + Sysint...

Repackage an Application – PDF-XChange Viewer PRO Deployment Methods -This example will use the program PDF-XChange Viewer PRO for demonstration purposes but you can use any other software that is compatible with this method of repackaging! Write a batch file with the following (desired) commands; @echo off "setup.exe" /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /COMPONENTS:"pdfviewer,Help,IEAddin" /KEY:"XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" /PDFV /PDFVINBROWSER regedit.exe /s "settings.reg" exit The file "settings.reg" is the registry entries which contains some of the preferences and settings for this particular program. All software that we install on our computers has this kind of entries in the "Registry Editor". You can export this registry key for your particular program and add in your batch file in order to customize some of the settings silently right after the installation! Once your batch file is ready, let's save i...