MDT 2013 / ADK / Server 2012 R2 - Way to Preserve Computer Name on a Refresh?

[sjtsnix]

Is there a way to Preserve Computer Name on a Refresh Task Sequence?

 

I'd like to be able to Refresh a Lab of 30 PC's over the summer, or as needed, and maintain the existing PC Name.

 

Everything I've read leads me to believe that I won't be able to do this easily, if at all.

 

If preserving a Computer Name on a Refresh cannot be done, I guess I can change the naming convention 'on the fly' for that classroom, and then rename them back to the standard computer names after the fact

 

Or, I could just delete the 30 PC's from AD, and manually type in the PC names individually in the task Sequence as I PXE boot these to refresh them with Litetouch.

 

Either method is not ideal, but I don't see a better option.

 

Feedback on how you deal with a Lite Touch refresh of multiple PC's where you want to maintain the PC name of the computer would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Stephen

[victory2012]

MDT and Computer Name

 

this is what i did hope it helps.

[sjtsnix]

victory2012,

Thank you for the Link, I had read this on my searches, and wasn't sure it would work. I've given it a go, and it looks like it'll work for renaming existing PCs. I have LiteTouch autojoin the Domain, and I thought the Automatic Join the Domain step would break with the existing PC name already present in AD. It rejoined the domain in my Virtual Lab setup without issue. I'll try I on physical PCs in Production as soon as I have a chance.

 

Once thing that changed, though, was I use the following to display the PC Name via the customsettings.ini file:

 

My original settings: OSDComputername=LAB-nnn-#right("%SerialNumber%",7)#

were replaced with:

UserExit=UserExit.vbs

OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()#

 

and now %OSDComputername% in not producing the name of the Computer name as it did before:

 

_SMSTSOrgName=Running %TaskSequenceID% On %OSDComputername%

 

I've posted the question back at the URL that you provided earlier, to see if the author of that script has any suggestions on regaining that functionality.

 

thanks again,

Stephen

[free780]

If you are going to refresh you have to initiate the wizard from within windows. It should use the existing hostname. You just need skip computername=YES .