SCCM help with application deployment

[mdrabble]

I'm currently testing deployment of Windows 10 along with package deployments to Windows 10.

 

Normally we including everything within the base image but for testing and possibly moving forwards I may keep the wim and apps deployed separately

 

Anyway...... I have an MSI which seems to just sit at the installing stage. Which log file on SCCM do I need to look at to see what is going on?

 

I can install manually using the same command line details as SCCM do I know it works.

 

Ta

[Geoff]

Bookmark this page. It lists a lot of the useful SCCM log files. Unfortuantly not new ones in 2012 though

 

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/lxchen/2009/04/03/a-list-of-sccm-log-files/

 

The one you want to look at is on the client and it's the AppEnforce.log file. This should tell you what is going on.

 

Also if you still have no joy, try wrapping up the MSI deployment in the Powershell App Deploy Toolkit.

 

PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit

 

You get much better error handling and logging at a minimum. Plus it's easier to test packages before you put them into SCCM.

[sultan966]

1. You have to look at your task sequence. Here is a working task sequence for Windows 10.

 

2. Load network card driver in SCCM.

 

Compare your task sequence with this one and see if there is any difference.

Edited February 16, 2017 by sultan966

[mdrabble]

I have several MSI already applying nicely as part of my TS - I have a group (Serif) which for some reason would deploy via TS but will if I manually run the command.

 

I'll take a look at AppEnforce.log to see if I can see anything otherwise will look at the powershell option.

[Geoff]

I'll take a look at AppEnforce.log to see if I can see anything otherwise will look at the powershell option.

 

AppDiscovery.log and AppIntectEval.log may also have clues.

[Arthur]

I have an MSI which seems to just sit at the installing stage

Does the MSI exhibit the same behaviour if you run exactly the same installer command from a Command Prompt under the "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" account (which is what SCCM uses). If so, it's probably something to do with the MSI than SCCM.

 

Use PsExec to open a Command Prompt as SYSTEM...

 

psexec -s -i -d cmd.exe

[Arthur]

Bookmark this page. It lists a lot of the useful SCCM log files. Unfortunately not new ones in 2012 though

Bookmark this one instead...

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/plan-design/hierarchy/log-files

[ReadTheNetwork]

Have you tried building virtual apps and deploying them? It's quite a nice/neat method as they are kept in their own little 'bubble' in the OS.

Plus they're quite easy to create/deploy (less need for silent install scripts for exes).

[Geoff]

@ReadTheNetwork I've never used App-V in SCCM. Can you point me towards a guide?

[ReadTheNetwork]

Hi Geoff, sorry for the slow reply. Been trying to rack my brains over Lync 2013 .

I used the Microsoft TechNet.

 

Download the Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack (MDOP) from your Microsoft Licensing Service centre.

1) Create two virtual machines (one for testing, one for the app creation).

2) Install the Microsoft Application Virtualisation Sequence tool on the building machine and create a check point.

3) Run the Microsoft Application Virtualisation Squencer on the building machine and run through the process.

 

When you've created an app, you'll need to restore it to a clean state (the checkpoint before building an app).

At the end it'll create you an app-v 5 application which you can deploy in SCCM (as easy as MSIs).

 

You can edit the package afterwards, but one thing I do is after the install, you confirm it's finished. Then you can change the start menu/icons etc. Then continue through the prompts to capture the changes.

 

For your first package try a simple one and not Microsoft Office . Try notepad++ or something similar. You'll notice when it's installed it doesn't appear in the Uninstall list in the programs and features section.

 

It's a bit brief, but let me know if you need a better description.

[Arthur]

In the latest preview Windows ADK there's a new Auto Sequencer for App-V which might be worth looking at too?

 

http://deploymentresearch.com/Research/Post/599/What-s-new-in-the-Windows-ADK-10-Insider-Preview-v15021

 

The App-V Auto Sequencer is a few PowerShell modules that allow you to create a virtual machine, and have it automatically sequence an application.

 

The main main module is New-AppVSequencerVM.psm1 which is found in the New-AppVSequencerVM folder. When imported this module also imports the AutoSequencingUtils.psm1 module found in the main (parent) folder.

 

After importing the module, you get a new cmdlet that can create a virtual machine, and inject instructions to automatically sequence an application. For this to work you need to have a VHD file of a Windows 10 setup. A Windows 10 VHD file can easily be created via the Convert-WindowsImage.ps1 script available on TechNet)

 

Note: If using Windows Server 2016 as your Hyper-V host, you need to modify the checkHyperV function in the AutoSequencingUtils.psm1 module to detect Hyper-V correctly.

 

Here are the commands I used to create the virtual machine:

 

# Import the App-V Auto Sequencer module
Import-Module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Microsoft Application Virtualization\AutoSequencer\New-AppVSequencerVM\New-AppVSequencerVM.psm1"

# Create the virtual machine
New-AppVSequencerVM -VMName APPV002 -ADKPath "C:\Setup\Windows ADK Insider Preview v14965" -VHDPath "C:\VHDs\APPV001.vhd" -VMMemory 2048MB -VMSwitch Internal -CPUCount 2

 

The above mounts the Windows 10 VHD and injects the App-V sequencer into it as well as an unattend.xml file. Then it creates a virtual machine and starts it.