Rajiv

hmmmm....when I click on that link, I get something else, not the intro you mention.

When we install any application, for example an antivirus software - like McAfee on a server...we need admin rights on the server. I can logon using my domain admin credentials and install that application. That software usually does NOT run using my domain admin credentials. How is SCCM 2012 any different? I guess I need to understand what the SMSAdmin user is really for. Is it a service account [meaning SCCM will be running under that account]? Even if that is true...why the need to logon using SMSAdmin to do the install. Just do the install using any user who has enough rights and then change the services to run under SMSAdmin. .......or I am totally missing something?

I have a question about step # 1. Why create all these accounts? More specifically... I don't understand what is the need for this account - SMSadmin. Why not use a domain admin account for all these installs?

Is there a way to recover an accidently deleted packages folder? I was in configmgr console and accidently deleted a folder under packages which contained many software packages! I know this sucks....but I was hoping there was a way to recover that folder. I dont have backups enabled in the site management [even worse, I know, I know] The packages are still there in SMSPKGD$. The advertisements are still pointing to [non existent] packages. HELP!

well, I just wanna report that this method does not work for all machines. For one particular machine, no matter what I do.....abortpxe still happens. I wonder what else can I do about it.

I imported the XML and I am surprised how many steps it has! See this screenshot: I am a newbie to SCCM and my [working OSD] TS is only this long: Would it be possible to describe a simple USMT procedure? All I want is to capture user state from one [existing] XP machine and restore that userstate to the Win 7 machine being deployed via SCCM-OSD.

What do we use for USMT from XP/Vista to Windows 7? USMT does not support Windows 7

it worked for me too ! BUT, my problem was slightly different. After creating a computer association a particular PC was refusing to appear in the OS deployment collection. I added it over and over again, all in vain! I did your procedure but put % as the value of the atribute - resource name. Then the wizard found the troublesome PC! I checked it's box and viola! it appeared in the OSD collection. The aportPXE went away too! Thanks!

I find it easier to go to SCCM console>>>OSD>>> [on homepage] click on advertisement link. All info is there!

ok, so I found the answer to my question here: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/archive/2009/07/27/a-step-by-step-for-using-osd-through-system-center-configuration-manager-2007.aspx on that page....go to : Step 2: Create a bare metal client record:

Thanks for the very nice writeup. I am trying to find out this: In the Deploy Win 7 collection...how do I include a fresh [bare metal] PC which has no OS? I guess a bare metal PC can be added using its MAC address. But when I try to add its MAC, SCCM's console does not detect it {I mean it does not appear in the search results} when I go into the collection >> properties. So how is a bare-metal machine imaged using SCCM?

BTW, If you already installed Windows 2003 SP2, you do not need to install WDS. It is already included in SP2 I heard it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766320(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_InstallingWDS Then I checked my win2k3 server and yes it already had SP2. You need to go to add-remove programs and then Add/remove windows components. There you will see WDS, you need to install it!

It is working now! Here is how I solved my issue: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/configmgrsetup/thread/62057efd-29ca-4261-bf8b-5865220a170f?prof=required and http://iboyd.net/index.php/2009/01/09/troubleshooting-sccm-and-bits-downloads/

[update: I solved my issue, added resolution into the other {instruction}thread.] I tried this procedure but ran into some trouble. The client is not upgraded. It still shows the old version - 6221. ccmsetup.exe runs on the client machine. It runs for a long time....like 15 minutes and then disappears. I looked into all ...CCM\logs but could not find any reference. There is something in mtrmgr.log but nothing interesting. What can I do to troubleshoot this?

I tried this procedure but ran into some trouble. The client is not upgraded. It still shows the old version - 6221. ccmsetup.exe runs on the client machine. It runs for a long time....like 15 minutes and then disappears. I looked into all ...CCM\logs but could not find any reference. There is something in mtrmgr.log but nothing interesting. What can I do to troubleshoot this?