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

 

Automagically documenting Config Manager Task Sequences

Being able to document Task Sequences is a handy thing, but doing it manually is incredibly tedious, error prone, and likely to miss details.

There is a process that has been around for a while now, so I figured I’d just post it here for easy reference as I keep forgetting where to find it. This process was developed for ConfigMgr 2007, but there is also a way to do it for 2012 as well.

ConfigMgr OSD fails to start in WinPE

A simple task sequence deployed to a collection, a virtual machine (Hyper-V guest) booting with PxE to run that task sequence.

WinPE starts up, loads the networking (which gives a working IP address, can ping/connect to servers) but then the computer just reboots. No errors or warnings.

With WinPE debug mode enabled, you can press F8 to load the command prompt, but smsts.log doesn’t report an obvious error. Lot’s of “access denied” type messages that led me hunting issues with Network access accounts and such

Windows 7 / 8 OSD pauses on Installing Software Updates

Last update: 6/2/2014 Link to Microsoft TechNet article response

When runnning a Windows 7 or Windows 8 OSD install task sequence on ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 (CU2 and CU3), I’ve noticed that it seems to get stuck and appears to hang for a while when it gets to the “Install Software Updates” step. Typically it will sit there for 5- 10 minutes or so with no apparent activity before it starts applying the updates as required. The updates do eventually apply and the build completes as normal.

How to boost PXE TFTP Boot speed

Here’s a neat tip to speed up the WDS / PxE boot times for your OSD deployments. This should work on pretty much any WDS (and RIS?) servers you have.
http://www.sccm.biz/2013/05/how-to-boost-up-pxe-tftp-boot-speed.html#!/2013/05/how-to-boost-up-pxe-tftp-boot-speed.html

Create this in registry on Your PXE WDS Server:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SMS\DP\RamDiskTFTPBlockSize
Type Reg_Dword
Value: 16384 Dec (Do not use higher value than this!)
((Recommend that you increase this setting in multiples (4096, 8192, 16384, and so on) and that you not set a value higher than 16384.))

Restart WDS Service
Remember the higher value the more risk of packet loss if bad network Connection.
You have to try this out carefully in your network environment.
If experiencing problems, try lower value.