computer_expert

Are you using the rereleased version of MDT 2013 update 1 (Build 8298)?

RAM - desk space HDD - Filing cabinets/drawers

Are the windows update steps before or after the domain join (recover from domain) step in the MDT task sequence? If they are before, then the machine will reach out to MS (unless you have configured the WSUS settings in MDT's customsettings.ini). If it is after the join step, is the 'do not connect to any windows update internet locations' GPO setting enabled in your policy?

Have you installed the 2012 R2 KMS host key from VLSC portal? edit - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3058168 should do the job (edit 2 - this is if you want to activate windows 10 clients)

I have the following settings set for the homepage: Google/Google Chrome/startup pages action on startup - open list of urls urls to open on startup - http://www.google.co.uk Google/Google Chrome/home page use new tab page as homepage - disabled configure home page url - http://www.google.co.uk

I can't remember off hand, but will have a look tomorrow morning (I seem to think that there were 2 settings I had to set in the GPO)

See here: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/internet-related-filtering-firewall/125051-locking-down-google-chrome.html

Have you got javascript enabled? This will stop the page from progressing, as will having IE Enhanced Security Configuration enabled. Either disable IE ESC whilst you set SW up (don't forget to reenable it after) or use another browser (can be from another machine if needed, but make sure the firewall ports for spiceworks are open in windows firewall)

Profile manager Workgroup manager was depreciated a few releases ago (around 10.6/10.7 I think). The replacement is called profile manager and is part of the server app on the mac app store. This has a section for setting up printers (plus a load of other settings too). There are other MDM solutions such as Jamf casper, but I've only recently started experimenting with server.app/profile manager so can't comment on the other MDM services

I left a VM running at the 'Checking for updates' stage overnight and it still hadn't finished in the morning. I bumped the ram up from 2GB to 4GB in the VM settings and it did it pretty much instantly (after binning the existing SoftwareDistribution folder)

This may help - https://plus.google.com/+FrancoisBeaufort/posts/XTfRbcCuouf You can use GPP to distribute the master_preference file.

Having recently done this myself - the only thing I use open directory for is profile manager. I joined the mac server to AD, then set up profile manager (which set up OD as a prerequisite) to push out config profiles to the mac clients. I bind the mac clients straight to AD rather than doing the old magic (/golden) triangle method of binding the macs to both AD and OD.

From the download page:

If you use NPS it's fairly easy to restrict MAC addresses to specific network policies by using the RADIUS Calling Station ID (or Called Station ID, I can't remember which one it is) attribute. Just be aware that MAC spoofing can easily bypass this though

The LAPs installer can be deployed via Group policy software deployment (as it's an MSI installer). Pop the installer onto a network share that all PCs have access to and create a new GP setting to deploy the installer (and configure the LAPS group policy settings)

You'll probably run into this issue too: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3077013

That's odd. The links below are for server 2012 R2 http://h20565.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5258668&swItemId=MTX_b779b75772904a9f877bd51345&swEnvOid=4168 http://h20565.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5258668&swItemId=MTX_f36e5785a3c54d96abe646298b&swEnvOid=4168 There are too many to list (over 50) - have you tried using something like HP's smart update tool (if you can get it)?

DL380e: http://h20565.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5258668&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4168 Seemed a bit of a kerfuffle to get there, but the above link seemed to work for me

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Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) Worked well when I tested it on a few isolated test machines

The TS140s are very capable - I'd bump the SSD up to 240gb/256gb as a minimum. the SSD I have in mine currently has 2x40gb VMDKs for a DC/file server and another 40gb VMDK for a different server so you would get through 120GB in no time (even more so if you use the thick provisioned option when setting up the disks for the VM). If you are going to be using ESXi, then you can install the hypervisor to a USB key (not sure about Hyper-V though).

Server 2003 and newer servers will auto upgrade to Server 2016 core when released......

I'd stay away from the microserver (coming from a gen7 microserver owner). By the time you have sourced and upgraded an EoL Xeon processor and bumped up the RAM to the max for the Gen8, the cost was a lot more than something like the Lenovo TS140 with the cashback offer (and the TS140 is a lot more powerful too)

Think I'd rather use a battered 8 year old single core laptop running XP than that hideous contraption.

I think you have to use DISM (or powershell) to strip the apps out of the windows image before you deploy it. You can find a long thread here discussing how to remove them: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-8/133164-windows-8-1-keeps-restoring-metro-apps.html#post1155904