SCCM 2012 OSD Retain Computer Name on re-image rebuild

[mwilde]

I am migrating our PC workstation Windows 7 build process from MDT 2010 lite touch to SCCM 2012 zero touch. Everything is working expect one thing.

When I re image a PC, if the PC is already known to AD I want it to keep the previous machine name, so that it retains its collection memberships for software. If I put the PC into the collection that the OSD task sequence is advertised to, the machine successfully rebuilds with the same machine name. Starting from Windows - i.e the configuration manager client.

If I initiate the rebuild via PXE boot the machine gets a new name.

I have read that if the OS is booted from PXE or boot media then the deployment type is new computer. But if the TS is advertised to an existing client and initiated from the config manager client, the deployment type is refresh.

I'm currently using itx-solutions.nl AutoNameControl to get RIS style naming i.e. PC-123, PC-124 etc.

When I used MDT and lite touch I used MaikKoster Deployment Webservice and obtained the machine name via the GetComputerNameByNetbootGuid service. This worked perfectly. I don't know what exactly sets this in AD, but have noticed the PC's built with SCCM have no value for NetbootGuid so this doesn't work.

How do I always get the PC to retain the same name on rebuild?

[Peter van der Woude]

The easiest method is when the machines are known to SCCM.

[mwilde]

It turns out it was the AutoNameControl. It creates a new name regardless.

I set a TS variable called ExisitngClient as the first step of my TS - but put a condition on it, to check for the existence of CcmExec.exe on the client. If it exists then I set the variable to TRUE.

 

Then later on when the AutoNameControl runs, I put a condition of IF ExistingCient not equals TRUE.

Meaning it only runs if it didn't have Config Manager on before the format.

It seems to work.