Task Sequence Environment not available

Problem:
Your deploying a Script which shell use Task Sequence Variables with SCCM.
There seems to be a problem when creating the object for the Task Sequence Environment CreateObject("Microsoft.SMS.TSEnvironment").
You may also get the following error: Error 429 - ActiveX component can't create object.

Solution:
Make sure that your really running the script within a Task Sequence. Also check that you have created a Task Sequence Advertisement (Advertise Task Sequence).

NULL Values in SCCM Hardware Inventory

I tried to capture the value of the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\YOURCOMPANY\Department from all systems independed of the OS architecture. I had the problem that the inventory delivered NULL Values in the database, although everything seemed to be configured correctly. The problem occurred very sporadic. Sometimes a system delivered a value and sometimes it didn’t.
Here’s my basic configuration.mof and sms_def.mof

configuration.mof
#pragma namespace ("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2")
#pragma deleteclass("CustomHINV86", NOFAIL)
[DYNPROPS]
class CustomHINV86
{
[key] string KeyName = "";
string Department;
};

[DYNPROPS]
instance of CustomHINV86
{
KeyName="CustomHINV";
[PropertyContext("localHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\YOURCOMPANYDepartment"),
Dynamic, Provider("RegPropProv")]
Department;
};

#pragma namespace ("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2")
#pragma deleteclass("CustomHINV64", NOFAIL)
[DYNPROPS]
class CustomHINV64
{
[key] string KeyName = "";
string Department;
};

[DYNPROPS]
instance of CustomHINV64
{
KeyName="CustomHINV";
[PropertyContext("localHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\YOURCOMPANYDepartment"),
Dynamic, Provider("RegPropProv")]
Department;
};


sms_def.mof
#pragma namespace ("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2\\SMS")
#pragma deleteclass("CustomHINV86", NOFAIL)
[SMS_Report(TRUE),
SMS_Group_Name("Your Custom HINV"),
SMS_Class_ID("YOURCOMPANYYour Custom HINV1.0"),
SMS_Context_1 ("__ProviderArchitecture=32uint32"),
SMS_Context_2 ("__RequiredArchitecture=trueboolean")]

Class CustomHINV86: SMS_Class_Template
{
[SMS_Report(TRUE),key] string KeyName;
[SMS_Report(TRUE)] String Department;
};

#pragma namespace ("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2\\SMS")
#pragma deleteclass("CustomHINV64", NOFAIL)
[SMS_Report(TRUE),
SMS_Group_Name("Your Custom HINV"),
SMS_Class_ID("YOURCOMPANYYour Custom HINV1.0"),
SMS_Context_1 ("__ProviderArchitecture=64uint32"),
SMS_Context_2 ("__RequiredArchitecture=trueboolean")]

Class CustomHINV64: SMS_Class_Template
{
[SMS_Report(TRUE),key] string KeyName;
[SMS_Report(TRUE)] String Department;
};

The result was the following entry in the SQL table

ResourceID	GroupID	RevisionID	AgentID	TimeStamp	Department0	KeyName0
33	1	3	1	14.09.2010 16:59:19	NULL	CustomHINV

That’s the problem!
As the hardware inventory listed above is designed for both OS architecture, there should be created two entries in the table. I then compared those entries with some working one, from another customization and saw the differences.
The entries were overwritten, as the column KeyName0 is not unique. This also explained the sporadic behavior. Depending on which inventory entry (32bit or 64 bit) was written into the database in which order, the first one was overwritten.
The correct entries for a 64 bit system should look like this:

ResourceID	GroupID	RevisionID	AgentID	TimeStamp	Department0	KeyName0
33	1	3	1	14.09.2010 16:59:19	NULL	CustomHINV86
33	1	3	1	14.09.2010 16:59:19	MyValue	CustomHINV64

So the result was to customize the configuration.mof file the get unique KeyName0 columns. Here it is:
#pragma namespace ("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2")
#pragma deleteclass("CustomHINV86", NOFAIL)
[DYNPROPS]
class CustomHINV86
{
[key] string KeyName = "";
string Department;
};

[DYNPROPS]
instance of CustomHINV86
{
KeyName="CustomHINV86";
[PropertyContext("localHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\YOURCOMPANYDepartment"),
Dynamic, Provider("RegPropProv")]
Department;
};


#pragma namespace ("\\\\.\\root\\cimv2")
#pragma deleteclass("CustomHINV64", NOFAIL)
[DYNPROPS]
class CustomHINV64
{
[key] string KeyName = "";
string Department;
};

[DYNPROPS]
instance of CustomHINV64
{
KeyName="CustomHINV64";
[PropertyContext("localHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\YOURCOMPANYDepartment"),
Dynamic, Provider("RegPropProv")]
Department;
};

SCCM PatchMgmt - Custom Reports

Here are some SCCM Patch Managenment Reports which i've created for my customers

Maintenance/Patch - Windows and each Computer

select 
v_Collection.Name as CollectionName, 
v_ServiceWindow.Description, 
v_FullCollectionMembership.Name as Computername  
from v_ServiceWindow 
inner join v_FullCollectionMembership on (v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID = v_ServiceWindow.CollectionID) 
inner join v_Collection on (v_Collection.CollectionID = v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID) 
order By v_Collection.Name 

Required Updates for a specific Computer

select 
v_R_System.name0 as 'Computername', 
v_UpdateInfo.Title as 'Updatename', 
v_StateNames.Statename 
from 
v_StateNames, 
v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll 
Inner Join v_R_System On (v_R_System.ResourceID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.ResourceID) 
Inner Join v_UpdateInfo On (v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.CI_ID) 
where 
v_StateNames.TopicType = 500 and 
v_StateNames.StateID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status and 
v_R_System.name0 = @Computername and 
Statename = 'Update is required' 

Count of Required Updates for all Computers

select 
v_R_System.Name0 as 'Computername', 
Count(v_StateNames.Statename) as 'Required Updates' 
from 
v_StateNames, 
v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll 
Inner Join v_R_System On (v_R_System.ResourceID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.ResourceID) 
Inner Join v_UpdateInfo On (v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.CI_ID) 
where 
v_StateNames.TopicType = 500 and 
v_StateNames.StateID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status and 
v_StateNames.Statename = 'Update is required' 
Group By v_R_System.Name0 

Number of Computers requiring an Update

select 
v_UpdateInfo.Title as 'Updatename', 
Count(v_R_System.name0) as 'Count of Computers' 
from 
v_StateNames, 
v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll 
Inner Join v_R_System On (v_R_System.ResourceID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.ResourceID) 
Inner Join v_UpdateInfo On (v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.CI_ID) 
where 
v_StateNames.TopicType = 500 and 
v_StateNames.StateID = v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll.Status and 
Statename = 'Update is required' 
Group By v_UpdateInfo.Title 
Order By 'Count of Computers' DESC 

Assinged number of Updates for each Computer

select 
v_R_System.Name0 as Computername, 
Count(v_UpdateInfo.Title) as Updates
from v_UpdateState_Combined
inner join v_R_System on (v_R_System.ResourceID = v_UpdateState_Combined.ResourceID) 
inner join v_CIAssignmentToCI on (v_CIAssignmentToCI.CI_ID = v_UpdateState_Combined.CI_ID) 
inner join v_CIAssignment on (v_CIAssignment.AssignmentID = v_CIAssignmentToCI.AssignmentID) 
inner join v_UpdateInfo on (v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID = v_UpdateState_Combined.CI_ID) 
inner join v_StateNames on (v_StateNames.TopicType = v_UpdateState_Combined.StateType) 
where
v_StateNames.StateID = v_UpdateState_Combined.StateID and
v_StateNames.StateName not like 'Update is not required'
Group by v_R_System.Name0

Assinged Updates and current State for a specific Computer

select 
v_R_System.Name0 as 'Computername', 
v_UpdateInfo.Title as 'UpdateDescription', 
v_StateNames.StateName as 'State'
from v_UpdateState_Combined, v_CIAssignmentToCI,v_CIAssignment,  v_UpdateInfo,v_StateNames,  v_R_System
where v_R_System.Name0 =  @MACHINENAME and
v_UpdateState_Combined.ResourceID = v_R_System.ResourceID and
v_UpdateState_Combined.CI_ID = v_CIAssignmentToCI.CI_ID and
v_CIAssignmentToCI.AssignmentID = v_CIAssignment.AssignmentID and
v_UpdateState_Combined.CI_ID = v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID and
v_UpdateState_Combined.StateType = v_StateNames.TopicType and 
v_UpdateState_Combined.StateID = v_StateNames.StateID and
v_StateNames.StateName not like 'Update is not required'
Order By UpdateDescription

Assinged Updates in an UpdateList and current State for a specific Computer

select distinct v_R_System.Name0,v_StateNames.StateName, v_UpdateInfo.Title
from v_AuthListInfo,v_CIRelation,v_UpdateState_Combined,v_StateNames,v_UpdateInfo,v_R_System
where v_AuthListInfo.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.FromCIID and
v_CIRelation.ToCIID = v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID and
v_UpdateState_Combined.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.ToCIID and
v_StateNames.TopicType = v_UpdateState_Combined.StateType and
v_StateNames.StateID = v_UpdateState_Combined.StateID and
v_R_System.ResourceID = v_UpdateState_Combined.ResourceID and
v_R_System.Name0 = @COMPUTERNAME and
v_AuthListInfo.Title = @UPDATELIST and
v_StateNames.StateName not like 'Update is not required' 

Number of assinged Updates in an UpdateList and current State for all Computers

select  v_R_System.Name0 as Computername , v_StateNames.StateName ,count(v_UpdateInfo.Title) as UpdateCount, v_AuthListInfo.Title as Updatelist
from v_AuthListInfo
inner join v_CIRelation On (v_CIRelation.FromCIID = v_AuthListInfo.CI_ID)
inner join v_UpdateInfo On (v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.ToCIID)
inner join v_CIAssignmentToCI on (v_CIAssignmentToCI.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.ToCIID)
inner join v_CIAssignmentTargetedMachines on (v_CIAssignmentTargetedMachines.AssignmentID = v_CIAssignmentToCI.AssignmentID)
inner join v_R_System on (v_R_System.ResourceID = v_CIAssignmentTargetedMachines.ResourceID)
inner join v_UpdateState_Combined on (v_UpdateState_Combined.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.ToCIID)
inner join v_StateNames on (v_StateNames.StateID = v_UpdateState_Combined.StateID)
where v_AuthListInfo.Title = @UPDATELIST and
v_UpdateState_Combined.ResourceID = v_R_System.ResourceID and
v_StateNames.TopicType = v_UpdateState_Combined.StateType
and v_StateNames.StateName not like 'Update is not required'
group by v_R_System.Name0, v_StateNames.StateName, v_AuthListInfo.Title
order by v_R_System.Name0

Number of Updates in an Update Deployment

select AssignmentName as Deployment,Count(CI_ID) as UpdateCount
from v_CIAssignment 
Inner Join v_CIAssignmentToCI On (v_CIAssignmentToCI.AssignmentID = v_CIAssignment.AssignmentID)
where AssignmentName Like 'Update%' 
Group By AssignmentName
order By AssignmentName

All Updates in an Updatelist

select distinct v_UpdateInfo.Title
from v_AuthListInfo,v_CIRelation,v_UpdateInfo
where v_AuthListInfo.CI_ID = v_CIRelation.FromCIID and
v_CIRelation.ToCIID = v_UpdateInfo.CI_ID and
v_AuthListInfo.Title = @UPDATELIST
order by v_UpdateInfo.Title

ConfigMgr Patch Installer

The ConfigMgr Patch Installer is a tool (vbscript) which can be used for installing updates which are advertised from SCCM. If the updates are advertised without a deadline. Especially it is useful for Windows Server 2008 Core edition as they do not have a GUI and so the updates can't be installed. My tool will query SCCM for each Update which is advertised to the System and will install it. The result can be displayed in a output logfile.

The Tool can be downloaded at systemcentercentral.com and winoneclick.com