Month: February 2016
Getting Started with Windows 10 Provisioning Packages
This is a quick guide to help you get started with using a Windows 10 Provisioning Package to configure Windows 10 during deployment. This example specifically focuses on (and was tested) for a bare-metal deployment using ConfigMgr 1511 and Windows 10 1511.
[Update 2/23/17] – the WICD tool is now also available as a universal app from the Windows Store at https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9nblggh4tx22.
- Start WICD with ICD.exe from C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Imaging and Configuration Designer\x86\
- Create the desired customizations, such as:
- Disabling automatic updates for the Windows Store
- Homepage for the Edge browser
- Allow Cortana
- Disallowing Windows tips
- Set a custom Start menu layout
Note: to easily create the LayoutModification.xml file, simply adjust the start menu as you would like, then run PowerShell command “Export-StartLayout -Path C:\Temp\LayoutModification.xml”
- Disabling automatic updates for the Windows Store
- Export the provisioning package
- Description of the package
- Set the desired security
- File save location
- Build the package
- Description of the package
- Apply the provisioning package
More info: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/mt147439.aspx
Remove Universal Apps During ConfigMgr OSD
As part of a systems management strategy for Windows 10, many organization may choose to uninstall Universal Apps. During OSD for ConfigMgr, this uninstall process use a simple PowerShell script (as shown below) to execute the commands for removing the targeted Universal Apps. While this does command does “remove” the Apps as seen in the event logs (Apps and Services > Microsoft > Windows > AppXDeployment-Server) the Apps are regenerated upon the first logon of a user.
Get-AppXPackage -Name *bing* -AllUsers | Remove-AppXPackage
Furthermore, there is an option (UniversalAppUninstall) within a WICD Provisioning Package. There are times when this option would be a better approach, but I have not been successful in having it function to uninstall Apps. Unfortunately, information is scant on this topic.
A Solution
Stumbling around for other who may have found other means to address this situation, Jörgen Nilsson (Microsoft MVP) has a PowerShell script which does completely remove those undesired Universal Apps. The key difference is that his script uses the Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage cmdlet against the full package name.
The variable for AppList that I use this:
$AppsList = "Microsoft.BingFinance","Microsoft.BingNews","Microsoft.BingWeather","Microsoft.XboxApp","Microsoft.SkypeApp","Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection","Microsoft.BingSports","Microsoft.ZuneMusic","Microsoft.ZuneVideo","Microsoft.Windows.Photos","Microsoft.People","Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub","Microsoft.WindowsMaps","microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps","Microsoft.Getstarted","Microsoft.3DBuilder"
To execute the script as part of a Task Sequence in ConfigMgr, it’s as easy as having placing the script file in a classic Package, and having the step “Execute PowerShell Script” with the Bypass option set.
Azure AD Proxy: BadGateway, Possible Loop
When using Azure AD Premium’s Application Proxy feature, if you should receive an error that states “Status code: BadGateway” along with the line “The service detected a possible loop. Make sure that the internal URL doesn’t point to the external URL of any application.”
Example web page error:
The cause – when making a change to the internal URL, I had incidentally set the internal URL to use the external URL. The surprising thing is that App Proxy actually allowed me to save the changes!
t3chn1ck 