SCCM SP2 Update Hanging on ‘Initialize Configuration Manager site’.

During an SP2 upgrade of a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, I noticed that the installation was taking a lot longer than I thought it should. The installation screen was still active (the progress bar was scrolling along as normal) but the task had not moved on from Initialize Configuration Manager site in some time. Over two hours in fact.

Reviewing the C:\ConfigMgrSetup.log file revealed that the install had indeed stalled and the last couple of entries in my logfile looked like this.

08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Status Manager.
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Scheduler (LAN Outbox).
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Scheduler (Requests).
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Data Loader.
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Software Inventory Processor (Site).
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Despooler.
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Replication Manager (Incoming).
08-04-2010 12:55:21> Enabling monitoring for inbox def Discovery Data Manager.
08-04-2010 12:55:21> 1: <Status Modules><\Status Modules>
08-04-2010 12:55:21> 1: <Components><Status Module: SMS Server\Components>
08-04-2010 12:55:21> 1: <Components><Status Module: SMS Client\Components>
08-04-2010 12:55:21> 1: <Components><Status Module: SMS Provider\Components>

After some research, I discovered that the reason this was occurring was I had a huge collection of .CCR files within the ccr.box folder on my site server. When I say huge collection, I mean over a million files. After deleting them all, which took around 30 minutes, the installation jumped right to the next stage.

It’s worth noting, the .CCR files were actually in a sub-folder of ccr.box, so I’m assuming that SCCM SP2 update searches for all .CCR files in the complete ccr.box folder hierarchy.

Deploying Adobe Reader Updates in Enterprise Environments.

Anyone who works with software deployments will know where I’m coming from on this. Adobe Reader has to be the single most time consuming piece of software when it comes to software packaging and distribution. With such a large user base and ever increasing targeted threats, it’s no wonder we find ourselves with critical updates to deploy. Often more than one a month.

The trouble with Adobe Reader updates is that they aren’t particularly easy to distribute. Sure, you can download the MSI installer from Adobe’s website and use the Adobe Customisation Wizard to create a neat little MST file to transform the install with all your company’s standard settings, but have you ever tried installing the new MSI over a previous version? Not so easy now huh.

For some unknown reason, Adobe engineer their Reader installations in such a way that simply deploying the new MSI isn’t enough. For instance, you can’t simply push out Adobe Reader 9.3.3 and hope that it updates all the previous 9.3.2 installations. You first have to uninstall all previous versions.

Adobe updates usually come in the form of MSP files. These files are designed to patch your existing installation points. It’s important to note that this is only the case for quarterly updates. Security updates cannot be used to patch your administrative installation point.

For this example, I’m going to patch my Adobe Reader 9.3.0 administrative installation point with the MSP for 9.3.3.

Oh but wait, another fly in the ointment. You can’t patch a 9.0 administrative point with 9.3.3 directly. You must follow this order of patching:

9.3.0 > 9.3.2 > 9.3.3

Start by downloading all of your files. You’ll need:

• Your 9.3.0 administrative point
• AdbeRdrUpd932_all_incr.msp
• AdbeRdrUpd933_all_incr.msp

Slipstreaming Updates into the Administrative Installation Point.

Fire up a command line window, and run the following. This command will integrate your MSP with your installation point.

msiexec.exe /a "path to acroread.msi in admin point" /p "path to AdbeRdrUpd932_all_incr.msp" /qb

You’ll notice the installer wizard configuring your computer. Note that this is actually configuring your installation point, not your computer.

Repeat the above with the AdbeRdrUpd933_all_incr.msp file. You will now have an installation point with Adobe Reader 9.3.3 ready to roll.

Deploying the Updated Version.

If like me you have Microsoft System Center Configuration 2007 at your disposal, you can make use of my batch file script that I have created to remove all previous versions of Adobe Reader prior to installing the new 9.3.3 version. Simply set the script to run before the installation for Adobe Reader 9.3.3 and you should find the install takes place with no errors.

For the script to work fully, you’ll need to add the MSIZap executable into the same folder as the script. This can be downloaded for free as part of the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility (found here…). You only need msizap.exe for the script to work, forget about the other files. MsiZap is a very useful tool. Check out the command line syntax I use and experiment to your hearts content.

If you only have Group Policy at your disposal, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to modify the script to call the install after the uninstalls have taken place. Hope this helps!

REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 6
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A00000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 7
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70900000002} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.0
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A80000000002} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81000000002} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.4
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81300000003} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.0
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A90000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.1
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.2
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A92000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.3
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A93000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 6
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A00000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 7
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70900000002}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.0
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A80000000002}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81000000002}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.4
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81300000003}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.0
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A90000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.1
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.2
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A92000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.3
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A93000000001}

SCCM Custom Report: List Workstations That Haven’t Rebooted in X Days.

This custom report can be useful for identifying workstations that have not rebooted recently. I use this report to identify users that may not have received the latest Group Policy settings or other items that require a reboot to be enforced. As well a report query, you must also add a prompt (no code necessary) named ‘Days‘. This is the variable that will store the amount of days you wish to search back. Set the default to 7 and do not allow nulls.

SELECT
CS.Name0 AS [Hostname],
CS.UserName0 AS [Last User],
DateDiff(Day, OS.LastBootUpTime0, GetDate()) AS [Uptime (in Days)],
OS.LastBootUpTime0 AS [Last Reboot Date],
WS.LastHWScan AS [Last Hardware Inventory]
FROM
DBO.v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS WS LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_GS_Operating_System OS ON WS.ResourceID = OS.ResourceID
LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM CS ON CS.ResourceID = OS.ResourceID
LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_GS_SYSTEM SYS ON SYS.ResourceID = OS.ResourceID
LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_R_SYSTEM RSYS ON RSYS.ResourceID = CS.ResourceID
WHERE
SYS.SystemRole0 = 'Workstation' AND DateDiff(Day, OS.LastBootUpTime0, GetDate()) > @Days
ORDER BY
CS.Name0

SCCM Custom Report: All Servers Rebooted in the Last 7 Days.

This custom report for SCCM 2007 allows an administrator to determine which servers have been rebooted in the last 7 days. If you wish to change the 7 day interval, all you need to do is change the number 168 to the number of days, specified in hours.

SELECT
CS.Name0 AS [Hostname],
RSYS.Description0 AS [Directory Description],
DateDiff(Hour, OS.LastBootUpTime0, WS.LastHWScan) AS [Uptime (in Hours)],
OS.LastBootUpTime0 AS [Last Reboot Date],
WS.LastHWScan AS [Last Hardware Inventory]
FROM
DBO.v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS WS LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_GS_Operating_System OS ON WS.ResourceID = OS.ResourceID
LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM CS ON CS.ResourceID = OS.ResourceID
LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_GS_SYSTEM SYS ON SYS.ResourceID = OS.ResourceID
LEFT OUTER JOIN DBO.v_R_SYSTEM RSYS ON RSYS.ResourceID = CS.ResourceID
WHERE
SYS.SystemRole0 = 'Server' AND DateDiff(Hour, OS.LastBootUpTime0, GetDate()) < 168
ORDER BY
CS.Name0

Adobe Flash Player ActiveX Enterprise Deployment.

Update: You might want to check out this more recent article which discusses a more reliable method of installation for SCCM users, along with blocking auto updates with scripting and Group Policy, if transforms aren’t your bag.

Another day, another Adobe related software update. Today I recieved a security bulletin notifying me of a critical update to the Adobe Flash player software. When this happens, I usually have a handful of days to prepare the update for mass deployment through ConfigMgr. The new version (10.1.53.64) is available through the Adobe website, and if you have applied for a distribution license, you can grab the MSI right now!

Unfortunately, Adobe still have not taken the time to create a reliable MSI installer, so we are still left with having to workaround the little annoyances. The main issue I face is getting Adobe Flash Player to disable its automatic update feature, since we do not want our clients going out to the big bad interwebs and pulling down all sorts of untested updates.

To remedy this, I create a text file named mms.cfg, which needs to be placed into %windir%\System32\Macromed\Flash.  The cfg file only needs to contain one line, shown below.

AutoUpdateDisable=1

Now we have the config file created, all that’s left is to create a transform file (MST) based on the downloaded MSI, which drops the config file into the location above during install. For those of you who aren’t familiar with transforming a MSI file, you can execute the following command to do so.

msiexec.exe /i "install.msi" TRANSFORMS="transform.mst" /qb RebootYesNo="No" Reboot="ReallySuppress"