Browse practical Windows guides, tutorials, and troubleshooting tips covering Windows 10 and Windows 11. This category includes step-by-step fixes, optimisation techniques, and how-to content for everyday users, IT professionals, and home lab enthusiasts.
I’ve recently been working on a project using WDS and MDT rather than SCCM and I needed to create some new custom images to deploy to around 200 machines. These consisted of Windows XP, Windows 7 Enterprise x86 and x64. Once I had created the custom image, I needed to then capture it using Sysprep … Read more
I’ve recently been trying to create a custom built Windows 8 image for future deployment using SCCM 2012 SP1. I built a clean Windows 8 base image and then installed all the programs that I wanted on the image and then run Windows Update. I made some changes to the Metro front screen and updated, … Read more
I’ve recently had a situation where I needed to install Windows Updates as part of the OSD process. However, the updates had to be run directly from the local WSUS server rather than from SCCM built in software updates solution. To do this, all you need to do is to install and integrate MDT. Once … Read more
I’ve been working for Windows language pack lately, particularly in the OSD part of SCCM. So part of that is knowing what the language pack codes are for various languages. The Windows language pack codes are very useful for dictating which language packs get installed during the deployment phase of your task sequence. 2024 Update … Read more
I thought it was time I started to test Windows 8, I’ll keep my opinions to myself on it for now but one of the many things that does not seem to work very well on it is the Windows Activation. Every time I tried to activate Windows it failed and I couldn’t find a … Read more
This guide will show you what you need to do to capture a Windows XP Service Pack 3 image, which you can then capture and deploy using Configuration Manager.First of all, you need to create a full image that is ready to be captured. This is usually best to install on a virtual machine using … Read more
Bit of a simple one this but very useful…. If you want to add a link into the left sidebar of your windows explorer (which is the bit below): All you have to do is browse to %userprofile%Links and then right-click, then go to New then Create Shortcut. Then follow the wizard to create a … Read more
Like most businesses, we still have programs that rely on Windows XP to run. So, I built a Windows XP Professional image to push out to our slightly older machines where XP is needed to run these older programs. Once created, the image on some machines was working fine, but on some (mostly newer older … Read more
As you may have seen on some of my previous posts, you can update Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader X via Windows Updates using SCUP through WSUS/SCCM. This stops the annoying pop-ups for users especially when they can’t install updates if they have not got local admin rights – just like standard Windows Updates, this … Read more
How to deploy java updates using WSUS and Windows Updates
Updating Flash Player and Adobe Reader across multiple machines can be streamlined by using System Center Update Publisher (SCUP) in conjunction with Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). This method allows you to push updates through Windows Updates efficiently. Download and Install SCUP To get started, download and install System … Read more
Today I cracked Windows XP OSD, turns out various problems I had with it in the past were down to the AHCI and Co-Processor settings. If you wish to see a full guide on how to sysprep and capture a Windows XP image, click the link below: Windows XP Sysprep Guide