PRTG is by far my favoured tool for monitoring IT infrastructure. With its built in sensors you can check the PING time for a server, check that windows services are up and running or with a little tweaking monitor paper trays in a MFP (and so much more). A recently discovered feature for me is the sFlow monitor. This tracks… Read more
Category: Software
This section looks at what is new in the world of software (Operating Systems included) and how to take best advantage of what is out there.
Windows 8.1 SCCM sysprep fails – (0x00004005)
When trying to capture a Windows 8.1 (Enterprise 64bit for anyone that wants to keep track) using the System Centre Configuration Manager Capture Image ISO I kept getting the error message Task Sequence: Image Capture Wizard has failed with the error code (0x00004005). For more information, contact your system administrator or helpdesk operator. The image was as normal as any… Read more
Monitoring Sharp Photocopiers Paper Tray with SNMP (PRTG)
There are lots of great reasons to replace personal printers with centralised photocopiers but one of the overlooked ones can be the greater ability to monitor these copiers using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). This article looks at keeping track of the status of the paper trays (how full they are!) using PRTG (http://www.paessler.com/prtg) on Sharp photocopiers. To get rolling… Read more
Deploying Greenfoot 2.3 via GPO
In this guide I will show you how to create a deployment of Greenfoot 2.3 using Group Policy Software Deployment while ensuring that the software is available for all users of the computer and removing the unnecessary desktop and start menu shortcuts. If you don’t feel like reading through the guide and you want to use the modifications listed above… Read more
Import a ics to Outlook.com
Since the upgrade from Hotmail Calendar to Outlook.com Calendar the import features for calendar files (namely ics) has become a lot easier/simpler. So to see how to import a ics file (for example from a British Airways booking) see the screen shots below.
SCCM Task Sequence fails with error 0x00000032
A bit of a silly one this time round but when running a deploy/capture (with application installation half way through) SCCM 2012 task sequence just after installing the applications I got the error message. Task sequence: <task sequence name> has failed with the error code (0x00000032). For more information, contact your system administrator or helpdesk operator. As it turns out… Read more
Update Dell BIOS using SCCM 2012 Task Sequence
Recently I came across a need to update the BIOS of a number of Dell PCs, given that the PCs were due to be re-imaged it made sense to perform the update as part of the System Centre Configuration Manager 2012 task sequence process. To kick this process off you will need A need to update the BIOS – you should… Read more
Deploying the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Client via GPO
When it comes to SCCM 2012 you have a powerful bit of software to deploy software updates and applications however all of this is worthless without the SCCM 2012 client which must first be installed. This client comes as part of any task sequence that you configure however what if you have PCs that have been previously imaged or have… Read more
Changing the path to a MSI in Group Policy Software Installation
Lets imagine that for the past few years software has been deployed using Group Policy Software Installation and that a single server has been used to store the MSIs. The only issue is you now want to move the MSIs to another server or even better are looking to move the MSIs to a DFS share. The ovious option would be… Read more
Deploying Adobe Reader 11 to the Enterprise via GPO
PDF is quite possibly one of my favourite web technologies – if nothing else it is my #1 way to share files with others knowing that when they go to view/print them it will look precisely the same as it does on my PC. The great thing about Adobe PDF reader is its very easy to fully customize the installation without… Read more