I’ve been revisiting my MDT process as I wanted to try and use Windows Update to get drivers during deployment - by itself this is not a problem, I can just remove the WSUSServer=http://wsus:8530 configuration from the CustomSettings.ini. However as the device is added to the domain, Group Policy will configure the device to use the local WSUS for updates, this is desired as I still want to use WSUS for future updates, but I want to use Windows Update during deployment.

Windows Server Update Services, along with a growing list of other traditional Microsoft server products, seems to be in ‘maintenance mode’ at best. It’s been on my mind as to whether they’re going to release a cloud based version in Azure (unless they already have something like that and I’ve missed it) or if they’re going the route that I think they are: just update from the internet and don’t worry about it, which seems to be the answer when looking at Windows Autopilot.

Download it from the Microsoft TechNet Gallery the PowerShell Gallery and GitHub. Today I’ve released an update to my Hyper-V Backup Utility. In version 4.3 I’ve added the ability to specify the Hyper-V Virtual Machines you wish to backup using a TXT file. I’ve also improved some of the commenting and cleaned up some of the code. Whether you are running Hyper-V on a Windows 10 desktop or a Windows Server 2016 cluster, this utility can be used to backup your virtual machines.

With this utility I set out to generate a status report of network attached devices from a CSV file. This utility is very similar to my Windows Server Status Monitor PowerShell Utility, except the functionality is limited to ping responses and so is ideal for both Windows based and non-Windows devices. This utility is available to download from GitHub, the Microsoft TechNet Gallery and PowerShell Gallery. If you’d like to contact me, please leave a comment, send me a tweet or DM, or you can join my Discord server.

Download it from the PowerShell Gallery and GitHub. 23/02/2019 Update: Version 1.6 has now been released, you can check out the new features on the announcement post here. I’ve released an update to my Windows Server Status Monitor utility. In version 1.5 there are two new features: A light theme for the report page. An option to export the monitoring data to a CSV file. Whether you only have a few servers or a hundred, this utility can be used to monitor them and alert you about problems.

Recently I’ve had time to catch up and reflect on a few games that all touch on aspects of mental illness. I tend not to write personal blog posts, but I want to share some of my thoughts on these games as they made me think about interactive storytelling and mental illness, at a time where I’m currently reflecting on a lot on my own life. Although I’m not going out of my way to spoil the plots of these games, I’m going to assume that by reading this post you have either played them or don’t care about spoilers.

Download it from the Microsoft TechNet Gallery the PowerShell Gallery and GitHub. 2019-02-23 Update: Version 1.6 has now been released, you can check out the new features on the announcement post here. Today I’ve released an update to my Windows Server Status Monitor PowerShell script. Version 1.4 brings a few updates: Offline servers will always be at the top of the page. Servers are sorted alphabetically, regardless of what order they are specified in the TXT file.

Continuing from a previous post: Building A Windows 10 1803 (April 2018 Update) Reference Image with MDT, this post will walk through creating a Deployment Share to deploy the Windows 10 reference image. It is assumed that you have a Server or PC with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and it’s dependencies installed and have been through the post previously mentioned. Creating the Deployment Share Open the Deployment Workbench from the Start Menu.

This post will walk through installing and configuring Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to build a reference image of Windows 10 1803 (April 2018 Update) using a Hyper-V Virtual Machine. It is assumed that you have a Server or PC ready to install MDT onto and create an file share for MDT to build the image with. Here are the links to the software we’ll be using: Windows 10 1803 Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (8450) Windows 10 1803 x64 Volume Licensing Service Center Additional software which may be useful to you:

Windows Deployment Services can not be installed on Windows Server Core unfortunately - it still requires a Windows Server install with a GUI (Desktop Experience). Luckily we can still install it using PowerShell and the command line. In this post I’ll go through the initial steps on how to deploy and configure a WDS server using command line and PowerShell. Important note: If you need the to boot Windows Server 2016 ISO from a USB flash drive, use the Windows USB/DVD Tool available to download direct from Microsoft.

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) can use a lot of resources, so why not use Windows Server Core and make the most of the resources you have. In this post I’ll go through the initial steps on how to deploy and configure a WSUS server using command line and PowerShell. Important note: If you need the to boot Windows Server 2016 ISO from a USB flash drive, use the Windows USB/DVD Tool available to download direct from Microsoft.

Windows Server Core is an ideal choice for Active Directory Domain Controllers due to it’s low resource usage and greatly reduced attack surface. In this post I’ll go through the initial steps on how to deploy a new Active Directory forest and add an additional Domain Controller to the domain, and finally I’ll run some basic checks on the health of the domain after installation. Important note: If you need the to boot Windows Server 2016 ISO from a USB flash drive, use the Windows USB/DVD Tool available to download direct from Microsoft.

In a couple of weeks the next update to Windows 10 - Redstone 4, 1803, the Spring Creators Update will be released and later this year Redstone 5, 1809 will be come out, all being well. This continues the pace set last year and the semi-annual release cycle that Microsoft have put into place. For those of you who, like me, might be wondering what would happen to Windows Server’s release cycle.