Introduction to the Active Directory tier model

Goto Microsoft for the detail for the complete tier model

Think about it …

Microsoft Office 365 Languages

A method to create and install the basic Office containing only the English language and the add more languages later through separate deployments.

</Product>

</Add>

</Configuration>

Below is an example of a language.xml file, here are some Scandinavian languages added.

</Product>

</Add>

</Configuration>

It’s also possible to use the MatchOS parameter. This will install the same language for Office as running on the OS. Use the fallback or AllowCdnFallback if running in an multi-language environment to minimize the number of languages.

<Fallback="en-us" />

</Product>

</Add>

</Configuration>

Dir /s (PS)

Ways to traverse directories in PowerShell, just like the old-skool “dir /s” command, with a little PowerShell spice on top.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Select-Object Name

Get-ChildItem -Filter *.png -Recurse

Get-ChildItem -Include *.txt, *.png -Recurse | Select-Object FullName

SysNative (CMD)

Today I’ve encountered something new in my work on the Windows x64 platform.

First:
On a 64 bit Windows 10 platform you have:

Program Files, for your x64 programs
Program Files (x86), for your x86 programs
System32, for your x64 system files
SysWOW64, for your x86 system files

Now:
In working with Quest Kace, I’ve discovered a new “folder”. Well it not a folder as such.

I’ve created a script where I need to reset the Windows Update Agent and force it to register with WSUS.
As soon as the script executed from Kace, if failed at the ‘wuauclt.exe’ command: ‘File not found’. I then added the full path to the file ‘C:\Windows\System32\wuauclt.exe’ – Still: ‘File not found’. I used PSexec and looked inside the ‘C:\Windows\System32’ folder, and to my surprise there were no ‘wuauclt.exe’ file, but I could see it in a regular CMD running as admin or as a regular user.

Then an old colleague told me about the ‘SysNative’ folder, as if the whole world knew what that was!

On a 64 bit platform, there is a new “folder” called ‘SysNative’, that points around the ‘File System Redirector’ and will give you access to the correct system folder, in my case ‘System32’.

So, I changed my script to use the new “folder” ‘%WinDir%\SysNative\wuauclt.exe’, and it worked like a charm.

Well, you learn something new everyday!

Set default file associations

In Windows 10, the way to set the a default program or a file association is done with a .xml file and a Group Policy setting, when the computer is joined a domain – otherwise you do it manually.

Export

On a reference computer, setup the program and file association as needed and then export the result:

1	DISM /Online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:<path>\appAssoc.xml

Edit

Edit the .xml file to contain the settings you wish to apply to your computer clients. It is not recommended that you use it “as-is”.

Below is my default appAssoc.xml file containing Outlook and Internet Explorer as default apps on a computer.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

</DefaultAssociations>

If you wish to add an Adobe product as default PDF reader, Adobe has created a ‘how to’ guide … Read it here

Copy

Now copy the .xml file to a network location where all your computers can get a hold on the file, eg. %NETLOGON%\ClientApps\appAssoc.xml

Group Policy

In an relevant Group Policy, go to [Computer Configuration], [Administrative Templates], [Windows Components], [File Explore] and select the [Set a default associations configuration file] setting. Enable it and hereafter enter the path and file name, of the location of the .xml file.

At next reboot the new program and file association should be effective.

Query Computer for Pending Reboot State (PS)

Ever needed to know if a reboot is pending on your computer? Try this Microsoft/Scripting Guy PowerShell script, and you’ll know!

Copy the code below and save as .ps1 file, and execute at your convenience.

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Function Get-PendingReboot

{

.SYNOPSIS

Gets the pending reboot status on a local or remote computer.

.DESCRIPTION

This function will query the registry on a local or remote computer and determine if the

system is pending a reboot, from either Microsoft Patching or a Software Installation.

For Windows 2008+ the function will query the CBS registry key as another factor in determining

pending reboot state. "PendingFileRenameOperations" and "Auto Update\RebootRequired" are observed

as being consistant across Windows Server 2003 & 2008.

CBServicing = Component Based Servicing (Windows 2008)

WindowsUpdate = Windows Update / Auto Update (Windows 2003 / 2008)

CCMClientSDK = SCCM 2012 Clients only (DetermineIfRebootPending method) otherwise $null value

PendFileRename = PendingFileRenameOperations (Windows 2003 / 2008)

.PARAMETER ComputerName

A single Computer or an array of computer names. The default is localhost ($env:COMPUTERNAME).

.PARAMETER ErrorLog

A single path to send error data to a log file.

.EXAMPLE

PS C:\> Get-PendingReboot -ComputerName (Get-Content C:\ServerList.txt) | Format-Table -AutoSize

Computer CBServicing WindowsUpdate CCMClientSDK PendFileRename PendFileRenVal RebootPending

-------- ----------- ------------- ------------ -------------- -------------- -------------

DC01 False False False False

DC02 False False False False

FS01 False False False False

This example will capture the contents of C:\ServerList.txt and query the pending reboot

information from the systems contained in the file and display the output in a table. The

null values are by design, since these systems do not have the SCCM 2012 client installed,

nor was the PendingFileRenameOperations value populated.

.EXAMPLE

PS C:\> Get-PendingReboot

Computer : WKS01

CBServicing : False

WindowsUpdate : True

CCMClient : False

PendComputerRename : False

PendFileRename : False

PendFileRenVal :

RebootPending : True

This example will query the local machine for pending reboot information.

.EXAMPLE

PS C:\> $Servers = Get-Content C:\Servers.txt

PS C:\> Get-PendingReboot -Computer $Servers | Export-Csv C:\PendingRebootReport.csv -NoTypeInformation

This example will create a report that contains pending reboot information.

.LINK

Component-Based Servicing:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc756291(v=WS.10).aspx

PendingFileRename/Auto Update:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2723674

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc960241.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/hansr/archive/2006/02/17/patchreboot.aspx

SCCM 2012/CCM_ClientSDK:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj902723.aspx

.NOTES

Author: Brian Wilhite

Email: bcwilhite (at) live.com

Date: 29AUG2012

PSVer: 2.0/3.0/4.0/5.0

Updated: 01DEC2014

UpdNote: Added CCMClient property - Used with SCCM 2012 Clients only

Added ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true to the ComputerName Parameter

Removed $Data variable from the PSObject - it is not needed

Bug with the way CCMClientSDK returned null value if it was false

Removed unneeded variables

Added PendFileRenVal - Contents of the PendingFileRenameOperations Reg Entry

Removed .Net Registry connection, replaced with WMI StdRegProv

Added ComputerPendingRename

[CmdletBinding()]

param(

[Parameter(Position=0,ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]

[Alias("CN","Computer")]

[String[]]$ComputerName="$env:COMPUTERNAME",

[String]$ErrorLog

)

Begin { }## End Begin Script Block

Process {

Foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName) {

Try {

## Setting pending values to false to cut down on the number of else statements

$CompPendRen,$PendFileRename,$Pending,$SCCM = $false,$false,$false,$false

## Setting CBSRebootPend to null since not all versions of Windows has this value

$CBSRebootPend = $null

## Querying WMI for build version

$WMI_OS = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem -Property BuildNumber, CSName -ComputerName $Computer -ErrorAction Stop

## Making registry connection to the local/remote computer

$HKLM = [UInt32] "0x80000002"

$WMI_Reg = [WMIClass] "\\$Computer\root\default:StdRegProv"

## If Vista/2008 & Above query the CBS Reg Key

If ([Int32]$WMI_OS.BuildNumber -ge 6001) {

$RegSubKeysCBS = $WMI_Reg.EnumKey($HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\")

$CBSRebootPend = $RegSubKeysCBS.sNames -contains "RebootPending"

}

## Query WUAU from the registry

$RegWUAURebootReq = $WMI_Reg.EnumKey($HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\")

$WUAURebootReq = $RegWUAURebootReq.sNames -contains "RebootRequired"

## Query PendingFileRenameOperations from the registry

$RegSubKeySM = $WMI_Reg.GetMultiStringValue($HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\","PendingFileRenameOperations")

$RegValuePFRO = $RegSubKeySM.sValue

## Query ComputerName and ActiveComputerName from the registry

$ActCompNm = $WMI_Reg.GetStringValue($HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ComputerName\ActiveComputerName\","ComputerName")

$CompNm = $WMI_Reg.GetStringValue($HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ComputerName\ComputerName\","ComputerName")

If ($ActCompNm -ne $CompNm) {

$CompPendRen = $true

}

## If PendingFileRenameOperations has a value set $RegValuePFRO variable to $true

If ($RegValuePFRO) {

$PendFileRename = $true

}

## Determine SCCM 2012 Client Reboot Pending Status

## To avoid nested 'if' statements and unneeded WMI calls to determine if the CCM_ClientUtilities class exist, setting EA = 0

$CCMClientSDK = $null

$CCMSplat = @{

NameSpace='ROOT\ccm\ClientSDK'

Class='CCM_ClientUtilities'

Name='DetermineIfRebootPending'

ComputerName=$Computer

ErrorAction='Stop'

}

## Try CCMClientSDK

Try {

$CCMClientSDK = Invoke-WmiMethod @CCMSplat

} Catch [System.UnauthorizedAccessException] {

$CcmStatus = Get-Service -Name CcmExec -ComputerName $Computer -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

If ($CcmStatus.Status -ne 'Running') {

Write-Warning "$Computer`: Error - CcmExec service is not running."

$CCMClientSDK = $null

}

} Catch {

$CCMClientSDK = $null

}

If ($CCMClientSDK) {

If ($CCMClientSDK.ReturnValue -ne 0) {

Write-Warning "Error: DetermineIfRebootPending returned error code $($CCMClientSDK.ReturnValue)"

}

If ($CCMClientSDK.IsHardRebootPending -or $CCMClientSDK.RebootPending) {

$SCCM = $true

}

Else {

$SCCM = $null

}

## Creating Custom PSObject and Select-Object Splat

$SelectSplat = @{

Property=(

'Computer',

'CBServicing',

'WindowsUpdate',

'CCMClientSDK',

'PendComputerRename',

'PendFileRename',

'PendFileRenVal',

'RebootPending'

)}

New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{

Computer=$WMI_OS.CSName

CBServicing=$CBSRebootPend

WindowsUpdate=$WUAURebootReq

CCMClientSDK=$SCCM

PendComputerRename=$CompPendRen

PendFileRename=$PendFileRename

PendFileRenVal=$RegValuePFRO

RebootPending=($CompPendRen -or $CBSRebootPend -or $WUAURebootReq -or $SCCM -or $PendFileRename)

} | Select-Object @SelectSplat

} Catch {

Write-Warning "$Computer`: $_"

## If $ErrorLog, log the file to a user specified location/path

If ($ErrorLog) {

Out-File -InputObject "$Computer`,$_" -FilePath $ErrorLog -Append

}

}## End Foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName)

}## End Process

End { }## End End

}## End Function Get-PendingReboot

Source: Microsoft Script Center

WUAUCLT is dead (CMD)

Windows 10 has toombed yet another function within Windows, and now the ‘wuauclt’ command line tools is dead. To replace the old tool, Microsoft has created a brand new Windows Update tool called: ‘usoClient’.

The ‘usoClient’ is a part of the new Windows 10 Update Orchestrator family and is located in the System32 folder, and like ‘wuauclt’ the ‘usoClient’ can do a lot of cool Windows Update stuff.

Switch	Description
StartScan	Use this to Start Scan
StartDownload	Use this to Start Download of Updates
StartInstall	Use this to Install Downloaded Updates
RefreshSettings	Use this to Refresh Settings if any changes were made
RestartDevice	Use this to Restart the device to finish the installation of Updates
ScanInstallWait	Use this to Combine Scan-Download-Install
ResumeUpdate	Use this to Resume Update Installation On Boot

The ‘day-to-day’ Update Orchestrator actions are controlled from Task Scheduler -> Microsoft -> Windows -> UpdateOrchestrator

Happy updating.

Source: omgdebugging.com

Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-run – language.xml

Custom xml file for a Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-run additional language installation. This will add selected languages to an already existing Office 365 installation.

</Product>

</Add>

</Configuration>

Note: The first language in the list will be the language that the existing Office Start Menu items will be transformed into. In this example, the Start Menu shortcuts for Skype for Business, OneDrive for Business and the Tools folder will be translated into Swedish.

Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-run – add.xml

Custom download and install xml file for a Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-run installation. This is configured to use the new Microsoft Office update channel and is SCCM integrated and without OneDrive.

</Product>

</Add>

</Configuration>

Note: And as usual, the ability to pin the Office icons to the taskbar, is only available for the users that is running the installation.

Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-run – remove.xml

Custom remove.xml for uninstalling the Microsoft Office ProPlus 365 Click-to-run product.

</Product>

</Remove>

</Configuration>

To remove all Click-to-run installations.

</Configuration>

Office Installer settings

This is a two-part job. First configure the setup installation package for the client computer and afterwards create a Group Policy with additional settings.

Setup

Run “setup.exe /admin” and change the following sections.

Setup:

I accept the terms in the License Agreement = Selected

Display Level = None

Completion notice = Not selected

Suppress modal = Selected

No Cancel = Selected

HIDEUPDATEUI = True

AUTO_ACTIVATE = 1

SETUP_REBOOT = Never

Features:

Office, First run

Disable First Run Movie = Enabled

Disable Office First Run on application boot = Enabled

Office, Privacy

Disable Opt-In Wizard on first run = Enabled

Office, Miscellaneous

Disable the Office Start screen for all Office applications = Enabled

Suppress recommended settings dialog = Enabled

Additional content:

1 2	HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Common\General ShownFileFmtPrompt = DWORD 1 HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Registration AcceptAllEulas = DWORD 1

HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Lync SavePassword = DWORD 1

HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Lync TutorialFeatureEnabled = DWORD 1

HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Lync IsBasicTutorialSeenByUser = DWORD 1

HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Lync AutoRunWhenLogonToWindows = DWORD 1

HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Lync MinimizeWindowToNotificationArea = DWORD 1

HKCU Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Lync AutoOpenMainWindowWhenStartup = DWORD 1

Group Policy

Launch ‘Group Policy Management’ or other Group Policy Management tool.

User, Microsoft Office\First Run

Disable First Run Movie = Enabled

Disable Office First Run on application boot = Enabled

User, Microsoft Office \Microsoft Save As PDF and XPS add-ins

Disable Microsoft Save As PDF and XPS add-ins = Enabled, Disable XPS

User, Microsoft Office\Miscellaneous

Block signing into Office = OrgID Only

Disable the Office Start screen for all Office applications = Enabled

Suppress recommended settings dialog = Enabled

Show OneDrive Sign In = Disabled

User, Microsoft Office\Privacy\Trust Center

Automatically receive small updates to improve reliability = Disabled

Disable Opt-in Wizard on first run = Enabled

Enable Customer Experience Improvement Program = Disabled

Send Office Feedback = Disabled

User, Microsoft Office\Subscription Activationshow

Automatically activate Office with federated organization credentials = Enabled

Do not show "Manage Account" link for subscription licenses = Enabled

Microsoft Office 2016 – add language in config.xml

Custom config.xml with multiple languages commands for a Microsoft Office 2016 installation.

Note: Adding French, English, Danish, German and Spanish languages and set French language to default

<Display

AcceptEula="yes"

SuppressModal="yes"

CompletionNotice="no"

Level="none"

<Setting

Id="SETUP_REBOOT"

Value="Never"

<Setting

Id="AUTO_ACTIVATE"

Value="1"

<AddLanguage

Id="fr-fr"

ShellTransform="yes"

< AddLanguage

Id="en-us"

<AddLanguage

Id="da-dk"

<AddLanguage

Id="de-de"

<AddLanguage

Id="es-es"

</Configuration>

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft Office 2016 Proofing Tools Kit – config.xml

Custom config.xml for a Microsoft Office 2016 Proofing Tools kit installation.

Note: Install English and Danish languages only

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<Display

AcceptEula="yes"

SuppressModal="yes"

CompletionNotice="no"

Level="none"

<Setting

Id="SETUP_REBOOT"

Value="Never"

<OptionState

Id="IMEMain_1028"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="IMEMain_1041"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="IMEMain_1042"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="IMEMain_2052"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1025"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1026"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1027"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1028"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1029"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1030"

State="local"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1031"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1032"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1033"

State="local"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1035"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1036"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1037"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1038"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1040"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1041"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1042"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1043"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1044"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1045"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1046"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1048"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1049"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1050"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1051"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1053"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1054"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1055"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1056"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1058"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1060"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1061"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1062"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1063"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1069"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1081"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1087"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1094"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1095"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1097"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1099"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1102"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_1110"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_2052"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_2068"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_2070"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_2074"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_2076"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

<OptionState

Id="ProofingTools_3082"

State="Absent"

Children="force"

</Configuration>

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft Office 2016 – config.xml

Custom config.xml for a Microsoft Office 2016 installation.

Note: Remember to install KB2999226 before installing Microsoft Office 2016

<Display

AcceptEula="yes"

SuppressModal="yes"

CompletionNotice="no"

Level="none"

<Setting

Id="SETUP_REBOOT"

Value="Never"

<Setting

Id="AUTO_ACTIVATE"

Value="1"

</Configuration>

Source: Microsoft

PrintUI (CMD)

Add and remove local printer and driver through the command line. Can be used in scripts or packages. Before adding the printer, setup port and restart the Print Spooler service.

1 2	rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /if /b "ETIAM Print-in" /f "%ProgramFiles%\Etiam\Print-In\Driver\Print-in.inf" /r "PrintIn Port" /m "ETIAM Print-in" /q rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /Xs /n "ETIAM Print-in" comment "ETIAM virtual printer" location "http://www.etiam.com" /q

1 2	rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /dl /n "ETIAM Print-in" /q rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /dd /m "ETIAM Print-in" /q

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility (EMS)

Goto Microsoft for details about Enterprise Mobility (EMS)

– In the cloud …