Configuration Manager 2012 “Delete Special”

Right up to version 2007, there was a really dangerous button labeled “Delete Special”. It seems harmless enough, but in the wrong hands it could be lethal.

If you don’t already know, when you select a collection and click “Delete Special” it would actually delete all the computer objects that were a member of that collection from the database, but not delete the collection itself. Seems like a handy thing, but not when people click it by accident when they meant to delete the collection object.

ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 doesn’t have a delete special button anymore. The feature is still there, but it works a little bit differently.

Configuration Manager 2012 Client command line options

Just a quick reference as I always seem to have trouble locating the technet article with the full command line install options for the Configuration Manager ccmsetup.exe

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg699356.aspx

Moving the ConfigMgr SCCMContentLib folders

After forgetting to create the no_sms_on_drive.sms check files on my new ConfigMgr 2012 install (admit it, we’ve all done it) I just realised I had several GB of files sitting on a volume I didn’t want them on.

Luckily I found out about this tool to help save the day, included in the CM12 SP1 toolkit.

ContentLibraryTransfer.exe to the rescue

http://blogs.technet.com/b/neilp/archive/2013/01/08/configuration-manager-2012-sp1-content-library-transfer.aspx

Users and Groups automatically added to SMS Admins

Here’s a neat thing I’ve just discovered. When you add a new “Administrative User” in Configuration Manager 2012 and assign them to a security role, that user or group is automatically added into the local “SMS Admins” group on all servers.

Removing the user/group will also remove them from the local SMS Admins group. So now that’s one less headache to worry about when it comes to giving permissions to the SMS Provider for console access and scripting.

This is a hierarchy wide thing as well, so it doesn’t matter where you set it, it will apply for all servers, and will set it on all servers automatically.

MS SQL2012 install fails with SQL.CAB is corrupt installing Reporting Services

This only seems to happen when installing Reporting Services, and it’s incredibly annoying. An install of a new database (default or instance) works fine.

Install_sql_rs_Cpu64_Action : InstallFiles. Copying new files

The following error has occured:

The cabinet file ‘Sql.cab’ required for this installation is corrupted and cannot be used. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package.

Click ‘Retry’ to retry the failed action, or click ‘Cancel’ to cancel this action and continue setup.

 

A search of install media etc does not find a SQL.CAB file anywhere, so I’m guessing this is either some kind of generic file that is stated in the error, or it’s a file embeded inside another cab somewhere. I’ve tried re-downloading the install DVD media in case it was corrupt but that doesn’t seem to have made any difference.

I have found various technet posts and similar that mention sql.cab corruption, and they talk about it failing when using an ISO file for a virtual DVD in a virtual machine (which I am doing), but this *has* worked at different times using a virtual disc.