Category: ConfigMgr

A common scenario when managing 64-bit systems with ConfigMgr is; I can't find the ConfigMgr client?

The ConfigMgr client can be located in the Control Panel and the actual installation files through the explorer but the client is kind of hidden on 64-bit systems.

The reason is that the ConfigMgr client is a native 32-bit application and those application are not displayed right away in the Control Panel.
To show the ConfigMgr client icons in the Control Panel you must do the following:

Windows Server 2008 64-bit
Open the Control Panel
Enable Classic View
Double-click the ‘View 32-bit Control Panel Items’ icon

Windows Server 2003 64-bit
Open the Control Panel
Double-click the ‘View x86 Control Panel Icons’ icon

Sometimes it is required to look at the file systems at the client, for example to review some logs. On 32-bit systems the client is located at %Windir%\System32\CCM. This path is different for 64-bit systems. On those systems the client is located at %Windir%\SysWOW64\CCM.

From the same livemeeting with Jeff I can share you the following timeframe for ConfigMgr R3:

TAP Nominations Open - September
Beta - January 2010
TAP Nominations close - February 2010
TAP Program commences - March 2010
RTM - Q2 2010

Microsoft received already more than 500 TAP nominations which is really huge and impressive to see! Never the less TAP nominations are still open and available through Microsoft Connect.

Currently I'm in a really great livemeeting with Jeff Wettlaufer who just announced the following dates regarding Service Pack 2 for ConfigMgr

Release To Manufacturing (RTM) - End of October
Release To Web (RTW) - End of October
Slipstreamed media - Early November
General Availability - December

So in just two weeks you're good to go with Service Pack 2!

Like the title says today Microsoft officially announced the ConfigMgr R3 release. You read it correct, this is not a typo but really R3. From my understanding this is the first R3 of a Microsoft product.

This release covers some very cool new features which shall be introduced in the upcoming months.One feature I can share is that this release covers power management for your clients. This will reduce your energy consumption which saves you costs and you build a Greener IT environment.

A Technology Adoption Program (TAP) is launched to test the release and to provide your feedback to the team. You can complete the nomination survey here.

More information about this release and a cool blogcast can be found here.

Updated 11/26/09: See also my deep dive post regarding ConfigMgr R3 here!

I'm proud to announce the latest build of ConfigMgr Service Pack 2; 6468.2003 Release Candidate.

This build is the second step in the development of this pack. Taken from Microsoft Connect this pack delivers:

New Operating System Support
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2008 SP2
• Windows Vista Sp2

New Features in Out of Band Management
Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 improves on the Intel AMT integration provided in Service Pack 1. SP2 adds full feature support for computers that have the Intel vPro chip set and AMT firmware versions 4 & 5. In addition to providing feature parity with SP1 and AMT firmware versions 3.2.1, 4.0 and 5.0, the following new features are supported:

Wireless Management (mobile only)
• Up to eight (8) wireless profiles per out of band service point
• Profiles support SSID, WAP2-Enterprise or WAP-Enterprise security, AES or TKIP encryption, client authentication options of EAP-TLS or EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2 or PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2
• Versions of AMT earlier than 3.2.1 are supported with the Intel translator

Authenticated Wired 802.1x Management
• Single profile
• Profile supports client authentication options of EAP-TLS or EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2 or PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2
• Versions of AMT earlier than 3.2.1 are supported with the Intel translator

Audit Logging
• Supported on AMT versions 4 and 5
• Select which out of band management features to audit (critical events not supported)
• Enable or disable audit logging per computer after provisioning
• View, clear, and export to file the audit log entries by using the out of band management console

Power State Configuration
• Enable configuration of the power settings to specify whether out of band management activity is supported when the host is on (S0), host is on (S0) or in standby (S3), or always on (S0-S5)

Data Storage
• Save up to 4096 bytes in ASCII characters in the AMT data storage of each computer
• View and save to the data store by using the out of band management console

Keep in mind that there is no upgrade path from Beta or RC to the final RTM build. Besides that only TAP customers receive support on this pack.

Please register at Microsoft Connect to download the bits and to provide your feedback to the product team.