Tool: OSConfig News 20151209

OSConfig Main Page

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Minor OSConfig update was published today on GitHub:

If you add CMTrace.exe to C:\Windows\System32 (by way of OSConfig OEM Folders) then you will have the OSConfig.log available for progress viewing.  If it gets hidden by the Getting Ready, just press Alt+Tab to bring it to the foreground.  Additionally more Samples have been added for DefaultLayouts.xml and LayoutModification.xml.  Enjoy

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Tool: OSConfig for GaryTown

OSConfig Main Page

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Gary Blok has a great blog called GaryTown.  If you are into OS Deployments and ConfigMgr, you probably already have this site bookmarked.

What I would like to do is to look at all his steps for configuring Windows 10 and see how OSConfig can help him out.  To view his post, head over to Windows 10 Customizations during OSD.  Let’s get started

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DefaultAppAssoc (Change Default Applications for Extensions)

OSConfig will perform an export of the Default AppAssociations before and after OSConfig applies settings

Additionally, C:\Windows\OSConfig\Utility will contain 3 scripts related to DefaultAssociations to import / export / clear what has been imported.

Future version of OSConfig will apply the AppAssoc.xml automatically, but I am still running this in testing . . . although you can just add a script to OSConfig to enable this functionality now.

Tool: OSConfig News 20151208

OSConfig Main Page

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More OSConfig changes were released today on GitHub:

Utility

A Utility directory has been added to OSConfig for Windows 10.  In here you will find some scripts to generate Application Association XML (Import in OSConfig is being worked on), a PowerShell script to get a list of your installed AppxPackages (included for Windows 8.1 as well), and two CMD scripts to Import or Export a Start Layout.

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DefaultLayouts.xml

OSConfig will now import a DefaultLayout%Architecture%.xml if placed in the Themes\Start directory

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OSConfig Samples

These have been reorganized so you can use them better.

• Appx Windows 8.1 – Includes a PowerShell script to remove junk, as well as the Defaults
• Appx Windows 10 1507 – Includes a PowerShell script to remove junk, as well as the Defaults
• Appx Windows 10 1511 – Includes a PowerShell script to remove junk, as well as the Defaults
• Settings Windows – Files in here can be placed in your OSConfig\Windows directory to be applied to all deployments.  These are not OS Specific
• Settings Windows 7 – Files in here can be placed in your OSConfig\Windows 7 directory to be applied to Windows 7 only
• Settings Windows 8.1 – Files in here can be placed in your OSConfig\Windows 8.1 directory to be applied to Windows 8.1 only
• Settings Windows 10 – Files in here can be placed in your OSConfig\Windows 10 directory to be applied to Windows 10 only
• Settings Windows XP – Files in here can be placed in your OSConfig\Windows XP directory to be applied to Windows XP only
• Start Windows 10 1507 – Contains the DefaultLayouts.xml for this build.  I’ll detail how to use it soon enough
• Start Windows 10 1511 – Contains the DefaultLayouts.xml for this build.  I’ll detail how to use it soon enough
• Theme Windows 10 (Blue) – Sample Theme.  Contents should be placed in OSConfig\Windows 10\Theme for processing.  Added Logos and DefaultLayouts.xml
• Theme Windows 10 (Red) – Sample Theme.  Contents should be placed in OSConfig\Windows 10\Theme for processing.  Added Logos and DefaultLayouts.xml

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Consumer Experiences

This has been disabled by default in OSConfig.  Details here or view the Log for the link

Tool: OSConfig Appx Packages

OSConfig Main Page

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Working with Appx Packages can be a challenge . . . and Windows 10 adds a fair amount of crud that I don’t want to deploy in an Enterprise environment.

Tool: OSConfig Theme Sample – Windows 10

OSConfig Main Page

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Included in the 20151204 version of OSConfig is a Theme Sample for Windows 10 Enterprise at OSConfig\Samples\Theme (w10e)

If you downloaded the Zip from GitHub, and copied the contents to your Deployment Share, this will reside in %DeployRoot%\Applications\OSConfig\Samples\Theme (w10e).  To activate this Theme for your Windows 10 deployment, simply the contents to your %DeployRoot%\Applications\OSConfig\Windows 10\Theme directory

Tool: OSConfig Settings

OSConfig Main Page

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The main feature of OSConfig is the ability to modify Operating System but the use of Settings.

In this directory you can place the following file extensions:

• BAT
• CMD
• EXE
• REG
• PS1
• VBS
• All other extensions are ignored

Additionally, there are some naming rules that can be applied to file names:

• Files with “Sample” in the name Skipped
• Files with “Undo” in the name Skipped
• Files with “TSYes” in the name Applied if C:\_SMSTaskSequence\OSConfig\OSConfig.cmd does exists
• Files with “TSNo” in the name Applied if C:\_SMSTaskSequence\OSConfig\OSConfig.cmd does NOT exist
• Files with “Modern” in the name Applied if the Operating System is not Windows XP
• Files with “x86” in the name Applied if the Operating System is x86
• Files with “x64” in the name Applied if the Operating System is x64
• Files with “RunOnce” in the name Only applied once, then moved to C:\Windows\OSConfig\Settings\RunOnce

These will be discussed in more detail in separate posts

Tool: OSConfig Registry Snapshot

OSConfig will create a Registry Snapshot CMD file at C:\Windows\OSConfig\Registry\_Snapshot.cmd

Tool: OSConfig Registry Backup

OSConfig will create a backup of most of the Registry before and after the main routine is executed in C:\Windows\OSConfig\Registry\Backup.  This allows for your to validate any changes that were made by OSConfig, or to use them to reset a setting to default.  As you can see they are sorted in pairs showing an export before and after OSConfig has run.

 

Tool: OSConfig Logs

After OSConfig has completed running, the content to OSConfig will be persistent in C:\Windows\OSConfig

In our first run, we provided the $OEM$, Settings, and Theme directories, but Logs and Registry are created by OSConfig.  This post will review the Logs directory

Tool: OSConfig News 20151204

OSConfig Main Page

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I’ve made some changes to OSConfig that change some of my previous posts, so I’m going to go through and update everything.  Here are the changes:

• Sample Reg files have been removed so I can work on a template
• Sample directory has been added.  Appx and a Windows 10 theme are in there for now
• Minor changes to the VBS and WSF scripts themselves.  Make sure you get the latest update from GitHub.  For download instructions, read Tool: OSConfig Download

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You can always get to view all OSConfig posts at https://winpeguy.wordpress.com/my-scripts/tool-osconfig/

Or by using “The Pages” link in the upper right corner of my blog