Install Hyper-V Role to Windows Server 2012 R2 During OS Deployment

There are plenty of blogs about this subject, however, many of these blogs are outdated and some of their tips do not work properly for Windows Server 2012 R2. Also, in my case, I’m not using MSDT to install features and roles, but instead I’m using a captured WIM image.

To install Hyper-V role, just add a “Run Command Line” task, towards the end of the task sequence, Install Operating System task.

I’m using the following PowerShell command:

Powershell.exe -Command "& {&'Install-WindowsFeature' –Name Hyper-V -IncludeManagementTools -Restart}"

Also, here’s an interesting link that discusses this particular issue.

Run PowerShell Script in Schedule Tasks

The following will allow you to run a Powershell script as a scheduled task. These instructions have been tested on a Windows 7 64bit computer.

Before proceeding, make sure your Powershell script runs without any errors. The best way to make sure your script is running fine is by calling it from a command prompt.

Note: Make sure you run Set-ExecutionPolicy from an elevated Powershell window to make sure your system (Windows 7) is allowed to run Powershell scripts.

1. Open a Command Prompt window
2. Run: powershell -file <your ps script file>
3. Make sure it executes properly

 

Now, open Windows 7 Task Scheduler:

1. In the Actions tab
2. Power shell is found at: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
   1. You can also just use powershell.exe
3. In Add arguments (optional) field, add the following: -File “C:\Path-to-your-script\Your-ps-script.ps1”
   1. Sample: -File “C:\Program Files (x86)\Info Folder\Get-Speed.ps1”
4. In Start in (optional) field, add the following: C:\Program Files (x86)\Info Folder
   1. Sample: C:\Program Files (x86)\Info Folder

I’m not going to go over the other sections as this is the main section to be able to execute Powershell scripts from Schedule Tasks.

Get Active Network Adapter

Recently I had the need to create a script to find out what was the active network adapter in our server, so after some ideas from the web, I came up with a one line PowerShell script that helped me achieve my goal.

Note: Get-NetAdapter is a PowerShell commandlet that’s present on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 R2. This command will not work on Windows 7.

Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object {($_.LinkSpeed -eq “1 Gbps”) -and ($_.Status -eq ‘Up’)}

In this line, I’m basically getting the adapter with status ‘Up’ and with a linkspeed equals to ‘1 Gbps’. One can change LinkSpeed property to match your server’s network adapter speed(s).

List All Disks (VMDKs) In A Virtual Machine (ESXi)

Using VMware PowerCLI, PowerShell, there’s a nifty way to get a list of all VMDKs associated with a virtual machine(s).

Here’s the command:

Get-Vm | Get-Harddisk | Select Parent, StorageFormat, Filename, CapacityGB, Name | Export-Csv -Path C:\SomeFolder\SomeOutputFile.csv –NoTypeInformation

This command lists all VMDKs for all virtual machines in your VMware cluster.

For this sample, I chose to output the following fields:

Parent, StorageFormat, Filename, CapacityGB and Name

This sample code will provide you something like this:

From a GUID to its GPO name.

Numerous times I had the issue, when troubleshooting a group policy object error, in which I only had the GPO’s GUID, but not its actual name. Well, it turns out that there is a powershell applet that performs a search in AD, using the GUID, and it returns the GPO’s full description for you.

1. Open Widnows PowerShell Modules
2. Type: get-gpo
3. Paste that GUID and press ENTER

SCCM 2012 – Software Center Options

The original information came from this source, I’m just adding a few more screenshots for my benefit.

The following script will allow you to change a particular setting found in SCCM 2012’s Software Center.

In Software Center, under the Options tab, and under the Computer maintenance heading, there is a setting – Automatically install or uninstall required software and restart the computer only outside of the specified business hours – that can be set to True (checked) or False (unchecked) by using this script.

Use the following code to obtain the current status of the option. This code you’ll use as the Discovery script.

$getStatus = Invoke-WmiMethod -Namespace "Root\ccm\ClientSDK" -Class CCM_ClientUXSettings -Name GetAutoInstallRequiredSoftwaretoNonBusinessHours -ComputerName $env:ComputerName -ErrorAction STOP

If ($getStatus.AutomaticallyInstallSoftware -eq "True")
{
Write-Host "Compliant"
}
Else
{
Write-Host "Non-Compliant"
}

Here’s how you’ll add this code to a Configuration Items object.

 

Next, we’ll need to add the code to make the change or Remediation script

Invoke-WmiMethod -Namespace “Root\ccm\ClientSDK” -Class CCM_ClientUXSettings -Name SetAutoInstallRequiredSoftwaretoNonBusinessHours -ArgumentList @($TRUE) -ComputerName $env:ComputerName -ErrorAction STOP

Here’s how you’ll add this code to a Configuration Items object.

Next, we need to configure a Compliance Rule for the Configuration Item.

Now, as the final portion, we need to create a Configuration Baseline based on the Configuration Item created here and then deploy the Configuration Baseline.