ConfigMgr object locked for editing

Often if editing something like a Boot Image or Task Sequence and you experience a console crash, then next time you try to edit that object you may see a message saying it is currently locked for editing, giving only a choice to wait or open as Read-Only.

Some quick (unsupported) database edits can clear the lock, or there is a Powershell command that does the trick as well. The Powershell is a bit trickier, but is the “proper” supported method.

PowerShell: How to unlock objects in SCCM

Powershell Unlock-CMObject: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj821915(v=sc.20).aspx

and more info on how SEDO works: http://blogs.technet.com/b/sudheesn/archive/2012/10/28/sedo-serialized-editing-of-distributed-objects-configmgr-2012.aspx

 

Windows 10 Speech language missing

 

As part of the Insider program I get rather frequent upgrades to Windows 10. Each time the upgrade installs it resets my speech language to “English (United States)” which means Cortana stops working as my Region is set to “Australia”

I also use ConfigMgr to handle updates on my network (this would also apply for people using WSUS) so when I go into the Region & language settings I don’t get the Speech feature appearing under the “English (Australia)” options.

Luckily, it is relatively easy to sort out.

SOLUTION:

Configuration Manager 1511 adventures

I am starting work on now upgrading have upgraded our ConfigMgr2012 R2 hierarchies to the new “Configuration Manager with no more version numbers” build 1511. There are roughly 120+ site servers in the central hierarchy (across 2 CAS hierarchies), so hopefully things go well. For the most part things went quite well, no major issues at all.

I’ll keep this page to note any special gotchas that are outside the various step-by-step guides already out there, and also some easy quick link references.

Microsoft Product Versions and build number reference

This will be a quick reference page for links to build numbers for versions of various products

Configuration Manager 2012

Exchange 2007-2010

Exchange 2013

SQL Server

Windows Server and Workstation – Need better reference with build numbers

Rebuild corrupt Windows 10 App Cache

During the process of numerous upgrades of the OS during the Windows 10 technical preview, I’ve found quite often that my Windows Apps often stop working properly, or display as non functioning icons showing the meaningless name of the app instead of the proper app tile.

Two quick things to try to resolve:

1. From an elevated command prompt run “wsreset”
   1. This will trigger a “Windows Store Reset” and may or may not resolve any initial problem you have opening the Store App
2. From an elevated Powershell prompt, run the following

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

This should re-register all the apps that appear in your app cache.

There are still many other potential issues you might encounter such as proxy servers blocking access or corrupt apps, but it’s a relatively easy starting point.

Exchange 2013 mailbox migration fails with no error

Following on from some recent database corruptions and repairs, I decided it was a good idea to create a new Exchange database and move all my mailboxes across to it.

This worked fine for all but one, which also happened to be my own.

Every time I would do the migration, it would all appear to be fine, but then it would finish as Completed, with no errors, but showing in the EAC as Synced and Finalized mailboxes: 0 of 0

I tried again and watched more closely and noticed it the extended “show details” that it was reporting an issue with the not being able to connect to the System Attendant mailbox. Various searches led me to articles about if the arbitration mailbox is accidentaly deleted how to re-create it etc, but this was not the problem.

Digging a bit further I noticed a mention of the mailbox being Quarantined.

Windows 10 Start menu not opening

This has happened to me a couple of times in the various Technical Preview updates where the start menu stop working.

It turns out a simple powershell command will rebuild the appcache to resolve

Run this in Powershell as admin

Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)}

Configuration Manager Replication queue backlog clearing

I recently experienced an issue with a very large number of ConfigMgr 2007 package updates (400) to a large number of sites (1700). It turns out there was already a distribution job that was “stuck” in the queue and when the large update went out it resulted in a massive backlog. The end result being there were over 1.3 million files in the Replication Manager inbox that just weren’t being processed, and the number was increasing.

The only option in this sort of situation is to stop the services, move the files out of the inbox, let normal inbox processing resume and then copy the files back in a block at a time. In this case doing this manually wasn’t an option due to the number of files, so I resorted to a quick script based on the one found here: https://tricksntreats.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/sccm-backlog-fighting/

Windows Phone update availability in Australia

A quick link reference so I don’t keep having to hunt for it in the future. Finding what the current release status is for Windows Phone updates in Australia

http://www.microsoft.com/en/mobile/support/software-update/wp8-software-update/wp8-availability-in-asia-pacific/

TeamViewer on Windows 10 says screen cant be captured

When trying to connect to a remote Windows 10 machine using TeamViewer, you get a blank screen with the message “The screen cannot be captured at the moment. This is probably due to fast user switching or a disconnected/minimized Remote Desktop session.”

On the computer you are trying to connect to, you may see the screen appear to flicker constantly