From Zero to 10 - Windows 10 Deployment Round-up
· β˜• 2 min read
This is a round-up all my previous posts regarding deployment and configuring Windows 10, installing Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Windows Server Update Services into one post for reference. Installing and Configuring a WSUS Server Installing WSUS from scratch! Resolving WSUS Connection Errors On Windows Server 2012 R2 Installing and Configuring Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Getting Started With Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 8443 and Windows 10 1607/1703 PXE Booting for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit PXE Booting with WDS for UEFI and BIOS Devices Building and Deploying a Windows 10/Windows Server 2016 Reference Image Building a Windows 10 1607 Reference Image with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 8443 Deploying a Windows 10 1607 Reference Image with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 8443 Building a Windows 10 1703 (Creators Update) Reference Image with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Building a Windows 10 1709 (Fall Creators Update) Reference Image with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Building a Windows Server 2016 Reference Image with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Customising and Configuring Windows 10 Stuck Windows Updates from WSUS on Windows 10 1607/Windows Server 2016 Windows 10 1607 (Anniversary Update) opens msn.

Configuring Hyper-V For Support Of Nested Virtual Machines
· β˜• 5 min read
With Hyper-V it is possible to run VMs inside of VMs without needing to install third-party virtualization software. You might not have the need to run an entire Virtual Machine inside of another, but some upcoming security features of Windows 10 require Hyper-V to be enabled so this could be a way to have those security features on a Windows 10 VM that you otherwise would not be able to take advantage of.

Hyper-V Backup Utility
· β˜• 13 min read
Flexible Hyper-V Backup Utility Hyper-V Backup Utility is available from: GitHub The Microsoft PowerShell Gallery Please consider supporting my work: Sign up using Patreon. Support with a one-time donation using PayPal. Please report any problems via the ‘issues’ tab on GitHub. Thanks -Mike Features and Requirements Designed to be run on a Hyper-V host. The Hyper-V host must have the Hyper-V management PowerShell modules installed. Can be used to backup VMs to a device which the Hyper-V host does not have permission to run a regular export to.

Windows 10 1709 Fall Creators Update Deployment Preview
· β˜• 2 min read
I’ve been testing a preview build of Windows 10 1709 - the Fall Creators Update with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and putting it through a few task sequences. I’m happy to say that I’ve not encountered any issues, which I did with previous updates. Keep reading for more info on my testing below. The main point of this post is just to say that when the time comes to deploy the Fall Creators Update with MDT, you shouldn’t encounter any issues.

On-Prem AD User Creator Utility
· β˜• 5 min read
Configurable Script For Creating On-Prem Active Directory User Accounts On-Prem AD User Creator Utility is available from: GitHub Please consider supporting my work: Sign up using Patreon. Support with a one-time donation using PayPal. Please report any problems via the ‘issues’ tab on GitHub. Thanks -Mike Features and Requirements Requires the Active Directory PowerShell module be installed. Requires A CSV file containing the FirstName and LastName of each user to create.

3D Maze Remix - Update v1.1
· β˜• 2 min read
Update v1.1 Now Available in the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 Download for Windows, Mac and Linux I’ve been working on an update to 3D Maze Remix - a small game I made based on the Windows 95 screensaver: 3D Maze. This update focuses on making the game more of a complete package. I’ve focused on improving the look and feel to be more consistent and more accurate to the source material.

Windows 10 1709 (Fall Creators Update) Available 17th October 2017
· β˜• 1 min read
I don’t usually do these news-type posts (plenty of other blogs for that) but here we are… The next major update of Windows 10 version 1709 also known as the Fall Creators Update has been announced for 17th October 2017. As with 1703 (Creators Update), it will roll out over Windows Update in phases and for those of us who’ll be wanting the .iso from the Volume Licensing Service Center, it should be available very close to the main release date.

WSUS Maintenance Utility
· β˜• 5 min read
Clean up WSUS WSUS Maintenance Utility is available from: GitHub The Microsoft PowerShell Gallery Please consider supporting my work: Sign up using Patreon. Support with a one-time donation using PayPal. Please report any problems via the ‘issues’ tab on GitHub. Thanks -Mike Features and Requirements It’s designed to run either on a WSUS server itself or can be run from a remote machine. The computer that is running the utility must have the WSUS management PowerShell modules installed.

Image Factory Utility
· β˜• 8 min read
Automate Creation of WIM Files Image Factory Utility is available from: GitHub The Microsoft PowerShell Gallery Please consider supporting my work: Sign up using Patreon. Support with a one-time donation using PayPal. Please report any problems via the β€˜issues’ tab on GitHub. Thanks -Mike Features and Requirements This utility is designed to run on a computer with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit installed. The computer must have either the Hyper-V management PowerShell modules installed, or Virtual Box.

Upgrading to Windows 10 1703 (Creators Update) with Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
· β˜• 7 min read
As Windows is now delivered ‘as-a-service’ with major updates being released biannually, you may want to push out these major updates using WSUS. In previous posts I’ve covered deploying Windows 10 1703 (Creators Update) as a clean install with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and also how to perform an upgrade to Windows 10 1703 using MDT. In this post, I’ll walk through the process of pushing out the upgrade to Windows 10 1703 using WSUS.

App Spotlight: Groove Music
· β˜• 5 min read
Update 02/10/2017 The Groove Music service is being discontinued, here’s the blog post from Microsoft covering the details. A small home project I’ve been working on recently is trying to consolidate all my personal music files along with deciding on a streaming service. Up until now I’ve only had my music files on my main PC and used Spotify along with a monthly subscription for tracks not in my personal library, but I really wanted one place to host my personal collection and also have access to a streaming catalogue.

Windows Server Status Monitor
· β˜• 5 min read
PowerShell based Windows Server monitor I wanted to create a lightweight and easy to setup server status monitor. It needed to highlight any metrics that were outside of a customisable threshold visually and be able to e-mail the report or run continuously. Based on a script from Bhavik Solanki (on TechNet) and with some help from my good friend, and software developer Dan Price, we created WinServ-Status, now known as Windows Server Status Monitor.

Upgrading to Windows 10 1703 (Creators Update) with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
· β˜• 8 min read
If you’re looking to deploy the latest version of Windows 10 1703 (better known as the Creators Update) as a fresh install, please check out this post. This post is designed to walk through installing and configuring Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and to create a Task Sequence to upgrade to Windows 10 1703 from a previous version of Windows. The Windows upgrade process has come along way in recent years, so in certain circumstances it may be worth while running an upgrade, rather than a wipe-and-load.