AADConnect has a JSON file and the ability to export – and there are also various AADConnect documenters out there… but sometimes you just want to get a core piece of info without having to start the GUI of wade through many pages of JSON.

Get-ADSyncConnector | select Name

Note the name of your “internal” domain as the connector (the one that doesn’t have “AAD” at the end)

(Get-ADSyncConnector -name <ConnectorName>).Partitions.ConnectorPartitionScope.ContainerInclusionList

(Get-ADSyncConnector -name <ConnectorName>).Partitions.ConnectorPartitionScope.ContainerExclusionList

A few months back, my Synology NAS (DS2413+) started having some poor performance over the network – it wasnt horrendous – but it was noticeable. Speeds during transfer were generally fine, but simple cut/paste operations took longer than expected – and moving large files to the NAS seemed to swap between poor and decent transfer rates. It is connected to the networked via a 2 x 1GB bond, up to date firmware wise etc etc… Its been rock-solid and awesome for many year prior to this (overall, the synology experience has been generally awesome)

After a while of not really worrying about it too much, i got little annoyed with the performance and decided to look into further…. basic logging showed no issues, resource monitor showed no issue, the switch showed no issues…

On the NAS, I went into control panel | File Services | SMB | Advanced settings and noticed the “maximum SMB protocol” was set to “SMB2 and Large MTU”…. given that everything on the network is now Server 2019 or Windows 10 – there was no reason not to use SMB3…. i was also a little perturbed that SMB3 was not the default setting for “maximum”. I also changed the minimum to “SMB2 with large MTU” – even though i don’t think i have any SMB2 devices left on the network.

Once this was changed, all was good again… not sure if there was a patch on the MS side which resulted in this or if its a synology thing… or some type of strange combo…. either way – the Synology is something i rarely check (outside of firmware updates) – and changing to SMB3 was always going to be a good thing.

Recently had this issue…. i was able to get to the specified URI via the browser with no issue.

Came across this post – https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-powershell/failed-downloading-az-and-other-modules-for-powershell/m-p/1292985 and this command fixed it for me

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

Apparently support for older protocols was dropped in April 2020

PowerShell Gallery TLS Support

While i agree with the move – its just a bit frustrating that, by the nature of the change, the site cant communicate the new requirement back.

I grabbed a couple of Draytek Vigor AP902 access points to work in conjunction with my Draytek Vigor 2925 router and Draytek Vigor 910c access point.

I dont mind the Draytek gear in general – for a home setup it is sufficient… however i did find i needed better wireless range thought that 3 AP’s with roaming would be a good fit…. and Drayteks central management swayed me towards getting an all-draytek solution. (as if you can manage 3 AP’s centrally, why wouldn’t you?!)

In short – it was/is a disappointment. The central AP management interface, accessed via the vigor 2925 is quite basic and there is no feedback indicating if applying a configuration to AP’s has been successful or not (for example).

The biggest issue however is that my PSK was applied incorrectly to all access points – this became apparent when all devices lost connectivity, despite the PSK being “the same”

When logging in directly to one of the access points to troubleshoot, i found the PSK in clear text, missing the last 5 characters. This was both good and bad…. bad as it was displayed in clear text, but good as it made the issue very clear.

From there, i simply updated the PSK on each individual AP, each with a 2.4 and 5.0GHz SSID, so 6 updates – and all was OK. Then disabled central management on the 2925.

If someone else is thinking of going for an all draytek solution for the same reasons…. my impression at the moment is – don’t do it.

I’ve emailed draytek support – and will update this post with their reply.

 

*** Update 07/01/2019 ***

I got a reply from Australian Draytek support – initially i got told “it works fine” – when i replied asking if a WPA2 key with certain characters in it, it does look like that a WPA2 key with “&” in it cannot be managed via the Vigor 2925 central management

Cross-post with http://www.hayesjupe.com/active-directory-2019-and-exchange-2019-whats-new/

 

The short answer is – not much.

Exchange 2019 was released a few weeks back, but was effectively un-usable, as Exchange 2019 requires Windows Server 2019…. and Windows server 2019 got pulled from release (like Windows 10 1809) due to some issues.

Windows Server 2019 was re-released a few days ago, which allowed nerds everywhere (including me) to put Server 2019 and Exchange 2019 into a test environment.

The most striking thing that is immediately noticeable is that everything looks the same…. The install process, the GUI, the management, all looks the same as it did in 2016. To me, this is a good thing – while Microsoft of the past seemed to believe that moving functions between areas was good – some consistency is nice to have too.

 

Active Directory

First appearances indicate there is nothing new in AD 2019, the installation process and management is exactly the same as 2016.

While installing, there is not even an option to set the forest and domain functional level to “2019” – only 2016.

A quick look at the schema version indicates it has increased and quick google finds this article

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/389thoughts/2018/08/21/whats-new-in-active-directory-2019-nothing/

So, while there is something new in the schema, its an incredibly small update….. and there are no new features or functionality of any type to focus on.

 

Exchange 2019

Exchange 2019 is a bit the same as AD, everything appears to be the same as Exchange 2016, from the install process to the management interface.

A google comes up with this

https://practical365.com/exchange-server/should-you-upgrade-to-exchange-server-2019/

So there are some changes and feature updates – but these updates may not have an impact/matter to your organization.

 

I found these two releases interesting overall as

• AD is the core of many enterprise networks
• Exchange is a core business application

To see a new release of both of these products with very minimal improvements I think demonstrates where all Microsoft’s development effort is going (which, to be fair, we already knew)

Last month there was an outage in the Azure – South Central US region, which, by reports, seemed to have some knock on effects for other regions.

This was reported at:

• https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/04/azure_its_getting_hot_in_here/
• https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-south-central-u-s-datacenter-outage-takes-down-a-number-of-cloud-services/

In the discussions that followed with our customers, particularly with those currently considering their digital transformation strategies including moves to Office 365 and/or Azure, some expressed varying levels of concern. This prompted some very valuable debate around Adexis and what we feel are some important viewpoints when it comes to digital transformation. Here were some of our thoughts;

Outages happen

Even with the enterprise-grade resources of Microsoft (or Amazon), 100% uptime of any service over a long period of time is not realistic. Between hardware issues, software bugs, scheduled downtime and human error, something, at some point will go wrong – just like in your on-premise environment. With all the buzz around cloud, it can sometimes be easy to forget that this is essentially just an IT environment somewhere else maintained by someone else. Like any IT environment, it is still reliant on humans and physical hardware which will inevitably experience failures of service from time to time.

Control and visibility

When an outage happens on-premise, the local IT team are able to remediate and have as much information as it’s possible to have – and can provide their users with detailed information regarding the restoration of service. Everything is in the hands of the local IT team (or the company to which it has been outsourced).
When an outage happens with Azure, the amount of information the local IT team has is minimal in comparison. Microsoft’s communication during O365/Azure outages varies, however, ETA’s and other information is generally vague at best. All control is with Microsoft and all the local IT team can say to staff is “Microsoft are working on it”. While Microsoft may be able to resolve the situation faster than you could on site (or not), the lack of visibility and control can sometimes be daunting. It’s not all doom and gloom though. In situations where the issue would need to be escalated to Microsoft anyway (i.e. premier support), the criticality of an international user-base can often mean a greater focus from Microsoft and inherently a faster resolution than what would be achieved for your single company.

Site resilience

Azure has many features which enable site resilience to protect a single data centre failure – but sometimes these are not used. This could be down to flawed design of services or simple cost saving. When architecting your environment (or engaging the experts at Adexis to provide these specialist services), it’s important you carefully consider your DR and BCP plans and ensure you have the redundancy built into your environment that matches those requirements. This is not unique to either cloud or on-premise and always must be carefully considered.

Root cause

It’s not uncommon for on-premise service outages to be “fixed” by a reboot. Root cause analysis and effective problem management is something that while nice, not many IT teams have time to complete.
Microsoft have the resources to perform these functions to great depth and in-fact their brand depends on it. A complete root cause analysis feeds back into improvement of their overall operations, which leads to greater consumer confidence and therefore greater penetration into the market. They also literally have access to the source code for the operating systems and many apps, in addition to strong relationships with hardware vendors to be able to get patches/fixes in times that all of us can only dream of.
While Microsoft has been known to hold their cards close to their chest at times in terms of releasing the real root cause of outages, they are definitely invested in resolving those root causes behind the scenes and preventing further outages. This means that the environment remains far more up to date and typically, far more robust than an on-premise environment.

SLA

While Microsoft might suffer reputational damage as the result of an outage, do not expect any form of meaningful compensation
The finically backed SLA that salespeople spruik is a joke – http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/DocumentSearch.aspx?Mode=3&DocumentTypeId=37
This is table for many services (but it does vary depending on specific services)

Name	Release Date	Version	Link
Exchange Server 2013 CU8	17 March 2015	15.00.1076.009
Exchange Server 2013 CU7	9 December 2014	15.00.1044.025
Exchange Server 2013 CU6	26 August 2014	15.00.0995.029
Exchange Server 2013 CU5	27 May 2014	15.00.0913.022
Exchange Server 2013 SP1	25 February 2014	15.00.0847.032
Exchange Server 2013 CU3	25 November 2013	15.00.0775.038
Exchange Server 2013 CU2	9 July 2013	15.00.0712.024
Exchange Server 2013 CU1	2 April 2013	15.00.0620.029
Exchange Server 2013 RTM	3 December 2012	15.00.0516.032
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 9	17 March 2015	14.03.0235.001
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 8 v2	12 December 2014	14.03.0224.002
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 8 (recalled)	9 December 2014	14.03.0224.001
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 7	26 August 2014	14.03.0210.002
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 6	27 May 2014	14.03.0195.001
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 5	24 February 2014	14.03.0181.006
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 4	9 December 2013	14.03.0174.001
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 3	25 November 2013	14.03.0169.001
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 2	8 August 2013	14.03.0158.001
Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 1	29 May 2013	14.03.0146.000
Exchange Server 2010 SP3	12 February 2013	14.03.0123.004
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 8	9 December 2013	14.02.0390.003
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 7	3 August 2013	14.02.0375.000
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 6	12 February 2013	14.02.0342.003
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 5 v2	10 December 2012	14.02.0328.010
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 5	13 November 2012	14.03.0328.005
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 4 v2	9 October 2012	14.02.0318.004
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 4	13 August 2012	14.02.0318.002
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 3	29 May 2012	14.02.0309.002
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 2	16 April 2012	14.02.0298.004
Exchange Server 2010 SP2 Update Rollup 1	13 February 2012	14.02.0283.003
Exchange Server 2010 SP2	4 December 2011	14.2.247.5
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 8	10 December 2012	14.01.0438.000
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 7 v3	13 November 2012	14.01.0421.003
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 7 v2	10 October 2012	14.01.0421.002
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 7	8 August 2012	14.01.0421.000
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 6	27 October 2011	14.01.0355.002
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 5	23 August 2011	14.1.339.1
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 4	27 July 2011	14.1.323.6
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 3	6 April 2011	14.01.0289.007
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 2	9 December 2010	14.01.0270.001	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2425179
Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 1	4 October 2010	14.1.255.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2407082
Exchange Server 2010 SP1	23 August 2010	14.01.0218.015	http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff728620(EXCHG.141).aspx
Exchange Server 2010 Update Rollup 5	13 December 2010	14.0.726.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2407113
Exchange Server 2010 Update Rollup 4	10 June 2010	14.0.702.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=982639
Exchange Server 2010 Update Rollup 3	13 April 2010	14.0.694.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=981401
Exchange Server 2010 Update Rollup 2	4 March 2010	14.0.689.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=979611
Exchange Server 2010 Update Rollup 1	9 December 2009	14.0.682.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=976573
Exchange Server 2010 RTM	9 November 2009	14.00.0639.021	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=884b5e4c-912c-4335-8b35-432aba919535
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 16	17 March 2015	08.03.0406.000
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 15	9 December 2014	08.03.0389.002
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 14	26 August 2014	08.03.0379.002
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 13	24 February 2014	08.03.0348.002
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 12	9 December 2013	08.03.0342.004
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 11	13 August 2013	08.03.0327.001
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 10	11 February 2013	08.03.0298.003
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 9	10 December 2012	08.03.0297.002
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 8-v3	13 November 2012	08.03.0279.006
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 8-v2	9 October 2012	08.03.0279.005
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 8	13 August 2012	08.03.0279.003
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 7	16 April 2012	08.03.0264.000
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 6	26 January 2012	8.03.0245.002
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 5	21 September 2011	8.03.0213.001
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 4	28 May 2011	8.03.0192.001
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 3-v2	30 March 2011	8.03.0159.002
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 2	10 December 2010	8.03.0137.003	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2407025
Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 1	9 September 2010	8.03.0106.002	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2279665
Exchange Server 2007 SP3	7 June 2010	8.03.0083.006	http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607233(EXCHG.80).aspx
Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Update Rollup 5	7 December 2010	8.2.305.3	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2407132
Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Update Rollup 4	9 April 2010	8.2.254.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=989381
Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Update Rollup 3	17 March 2010	8.2.247.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=979784
Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Update Rollup 2	22 January 2010	8.2.234.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=972076
Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Update Rollup 1	19 November 2009	8.2.217.3	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=971534
Exchange Server 2007 SP2	24 August 2009	8.02.0176.002	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ee7829a3-0ae8-44de-822c-908cd1034523&displaylang=en
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 10	13 April 2010	8.1.436.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=981407
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 9	16 July 2009	8.1.393.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=970162
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 8	19 May 2009	8.1.375.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=968012
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 7	18 March 2009	8.1.359.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=960384
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 6	10 February 2009	8.1.340.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=959241
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 5	20 November 2008	8.1.336.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=953467
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 4	7 October 2008	8.1.311.3	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=952580
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 3	8 July 2008	8.1.291.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=949870
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 2	9 May 2008	8.1.278.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948016
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 1	28 February 2008	8.1.263.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=945684
Exchange Server 2007 SP1	29 November 2007	8.01.0240.006	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5770bd59-376e-42ec-b940-be6225cd97ff
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 7	8 July 2008	8.0.813.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=953469
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 6	21 February 2008	8.0.783.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=942846
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 5	25 October 2007	8.0.754.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941421
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 4	23 August 2007	8.0.744.0	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940006
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 3	28 June 2007	8.0.730.1	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=935999
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 2	8 May 2007	8.0.711.2	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=935490
Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 1	17 April 2007	8.0.708.3	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=930809
Exchange Server 2007 RTM	8 March 2007	8.0.685.25	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=2600cab1-bf60-49bd-bef5-cb80083275ad
Exchange Server 2003 post-SP2 (KB956398)	1 August 2008	6.5.7654.4	http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956398
Exchange Server 2003 post-SP2 (KB951061)	1 March 2008	6.5.7653.33	http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951061
Exchange Server 2003 SP2	19 October 2005	6.5.7683	http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=906669
Exchange Server 2003 SP1	25 May 2004	6.5.7226	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A49560AD-4C8B-4449-9947-B054D7F12CCE&displaylang=en
Exchange Server 2003 RTM	28 September 2003	6.5.6944
Exchange Server 2000 post-SP3	1 August 2008	6.0.6620.7
Exchange Server 2000 post-SP3	1 March 2008	6.0.6620.5
Exchange Server 2000 post-SP3	1 August 2004	6.0.6603
Exchange Server 2000 post-SP3	1 April 2004	6.0.6556
Exchange Server 2000 post-SP3	1 September 2003	6.0.6487
Exchange Server 2000 SP3	18 July 2002	6.0.6249
Exchange Server 2000 SP2	29 November 2001	6.0.5762
Exchange Server 2000 SP1	21 June 2001	6.0.4712
Exchange Server 2000 RTM	29 November 2000	6.0.4417
Exchange Server version 5.5 SP4	1 November 2000	5.5.2653
Exchange Server version 5.5 SP3	9 September 1999	5.5.2650
Exchange Server version 5.5 SP2	23 December 1998	5.5.2448
Exchange Server version 5.5 SP1	5 August 1998	5.5.2232
Exchange Server version 5.5	3 February 1998	5.5.1960
Exchange Server 5.0 SP2	19 February 1998	5.0.1460
Exchange Server 5.0 SP1	18 June 1997	5.0.1458
Exchange Server 5.0 RTM	23 May 1997	5.0.1457
Exchange Server 4.0 SP5	5 May 1998	4.0.996
Exchange Server 4.0 SP4	28 March 1997	4.0.995
Exchange Server 4.0 SP3	29 October 1996	4.0.994
Exchange Server 4.0 SP2	19 July 1996	4.0.993
Exchange Server 4.0 SP1	1 May 1996	4.0.838
Exchange Server 4.0 RTM	11 June 1996	4.0.837

A 31 day month has 44,640 minutes, 2,232 minutes is 5% of that. So the service would have to be down a whopping 37.2 hours to get back 100% of your fees for that month only, and the compensation is in the form of a service credit off next month’s bill.
How to claim this service credit is detailed on page 5 of the document and basically, the onus is on you to prove that there was an outage and submit the paperwork within 2 months. A separate claim must be created for each service. What this essentially means is it’s usually more effort than it’s worth to log the claim for the service credits.

In Summary

Outages for cloud services must be anticipated, just like outages to on-premise services. The attitude of “It’s in the cloud so it’s not our problem” is simply not realistic and likely to catch you out, unprepared.
If you have vital services that you are considering moving to Azure (or AWS, or anywhere else), rest assured it can be safe to do so, but make sure you allow for site resiliency in your design and costing.

Adexis is neither pro, nor anti cloud. Unlike many other vendors, we have no skin in the game, no incentive to push you in one direction or the other. We are completely independent and can provide you with unbiased specialist advice on what is best for your environment and your business, including the pros and cons of staying on-premise or moving to the cloud for each service.

Every environment is different when it comes to security requirements, IT skillset, hardware availability, CapEx vs OpEx spend and a range of other factors – and these all feed into what is the best solution for your business.

If you’d like to explore your IT strategy further, please be sure to give us a call.

I ran into a situation recentlly where i needed to import a specific update from the Windows update catalog into WSUS (and in turn into SCCM)

I opened WSUS, clicked on “import updates”, seletced my update and was presented with

“This update cannot be imported into Windows Server Update Services, because it is not compatible with your version of WSUS”

Strange…. WSUS on 2016 is extremely similar to WSUS on 2012 R2… so whats going on here ?

Long story short… there seems to be issue with the url passed by the WSUS console when you click “import updates” to the browser.

When you first click on “Import updates”, IE will open (or you will use IE because it makes importing updates into WSUS easier) to

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Home.aspx?SKU=WSUS&Version=10.0.14393.2248&ServerName=<servername>&PortNumber=8530&Ssl=False&Protocol=1.20

Simply change the last part “1.20” to “1.80” – and importing updates will now work

i.e

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Home.aspx?SKU=WSUS&Version=10.0.14393.2248&ServerName=<servername>&PortNumber=8530&Ssl=False&Protocol=1.80

Microsoft product end of support dates are sometimes not easy to find and its not getting any better with the “current branch” releases and cloud solutions being governed by the Modern lifecycle policy.

The Modern lifecycle policy page further links to 3 product catagories, O365, Cloud platform and Dynamics. Unfortunately, its not clear (at least to me) how this helps with products such as SCCM current branch (be it 1606, 1702, 1706, 1710 or 1802) – however this information is available at another location

Likewise with the “traditional” products, most end of life information is available here – but to say that the information is difficult to search through is an understatement.

It also sometimes lacks detail, for example, there is no metion of the differing support for Windows 8.1 without update 1 and with update 1.

We have a number of clients that take the approach that while a server is running, to leave it there – and while I may personally not like this approach (i prefer to roll through the OS upgrades as they come out) – they have a valid approach and end of life information is important for them.

Keep in mind that everything listed below is end of extended support, not mainstream support – and i have taken some liberties (e.g. assumed that windows 8.1 is 8.1 with update 1)

Windows 10 dates have been sourced from the product lifecycle page, however this blog entry states than an additional 6 months has been granted to displayed Windows 10 versions.

If you find the below useful – cool. If i’ve got something wrong, or missed something that is key (in your opinion), please leave a comment.

 

Variable	Class	Description	SCCM 2007	SCCM 2012
_SMSTSAdvertID	Built in	Stores the current running task sequence deployment unique ID. It uses the same format as a Configuration Manager software distribution deployment ID. If the task sequence is running from stand-alone media, this variable is undefined.	Yes	Yes
_TSAppInstallStatus	Built in		No	Yes
_SMSTSBootImageID	Built in	Stores the Configuration Manager boot image package ID if a boot image package is associated with the current running task sequence. The variable will not be set if no Configuration Manager boot image package is associated.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSBootUEFI	Built in		No	Yes
_SMSTSClientGUID	Built in	Stores the value of Configuration Manager client GUID. This variable is not set if the task sequence is running from stand-alone media.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSCurrentActionName	Built in	Specifies the name of the currently running task sequence step. This variable is set before the task sequence manager runs each individual step.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSDownloadOnDemand	Built in	Set to true if the current task sequence is running in download-on-demand mode, which means the task sequence manager downloads content locally only when it must access the content.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSInWinPE	Built in	This variable is set to true when the current task sequence step is running in the Windows PE environment, and it is set to false if not. You can test this task sequence variable to determine the current operating system environment.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSLastActionRetCode	Built in	Stores the return code that was returned by the last action that was run. This variable can be used as a condition to determine if the next step is run.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSLastActionSucceeded	Built in	The variable is set to true if the last action succeeded and to false if the last action failed. If the last action was skipped because the step was disabled or the associated condition evaluated to false, this variable is not reset, which means it still holds the value for the previous action.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSLaunchMode	Built in	Specifies the task sequence launch method. The task sequence can have the following values: SMS - specifies that the task sequence is started by using the Configuration Manager client. UFD - specifies that the task sequence is started by using USB media and that the USB media was created in Windows XP/2003. HD - specifies that the task sequence was started from a hard disk (prestaged media only). PXE - specifies that the task sequence is started from PXE. DVD - specifies that the task sequence is started by using a DVD. CD - specifies that the task sequence is started by using a CD. UFD+FORMAT - specifies that the task sequence is started by using USB media and that the USB media was created in Windows Vista or later.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSLogPath	Built in	Stores the full path of the log directory. This can be used to determine where actions are logged. This value is not set when a hard drive is not available.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSMachineName	Built in	Stores and specifies the computer name. Stores the name of the computer that the task sequence will use to log all status messages. To change the computer name in the new operating system, use the OSDComputerName variable.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSMDataPath	Built in	Specifies the path defined by the SMSTSLocalDataDrive variable. When you define SMSTSLocalDataDrive before the task sequence starts, such as by setting a collection variable, Configuration Manager then defines the _SMSTSMDataPath variable once the Task Sequence starts.	No	Yes
_SMSTSMediaType	Built in	Specifies the type of media that is used to initiate the installation. Examples of types of media are Boot Media, Full Media, PXE, and Prestaged Media.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSMP	Built in	Stores the name or IP address of a Configuration Manager management point.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSMPPort	Built in	Stores the management point port number of a Configuration Manager management point.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSOrgName	Built in	Stores the branding title name that is displayed in a task sequence progress user interface dialog box.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSPackageID	Built in	Stores the current running task sequence ID. This ID uses the same format as a Configuration Manager software package ID.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSPackageName	Built in	Stores the current running task sequence name specified by the Configuration Manager administrator when the task sequence is created.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSRunFromDP	Built in	Set to true if the current task sequence is running in run-from-distribution-point mode, which means the task sequence manager obtains required package shares from distribution point.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSSiteCode	Built in	Stores the site code of the Configuration Manager site.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSType	Built in	Specifies the type of the current running task sequence. It can have the following values:	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSTimezone	Built in	The _SMSTSTimezone variable stores the time zone information in the following format (without spaces): Bias, StandardBias, DaylightBias, StandardDate.wYear, wMonth, wDayOfWeek, wDay, wHour, wMinute, wSecond, wMilliseconds, DaylightDate.wYear, wMonth, wDayOfWeek, wDay, wHour, wMinute, wSecond, wMilliseconds, StandardName, DaylightName	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSUseCRL	Built in	Specifies whether the task sequence uses the certificate revocation list when it uses a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate to communicate with the management point.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSUserStarted	Built in	Specifies whether a task sequence is started by a user. This variable is set only if the task sequence is started from the Software Center. For example, if _SMSTSLaunchMode is set to SMS. The variable can have the following values:	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSUseSSL	Built in	Specifies whether the task sequence uses SSL to communicate with the Configuration Manager management point. If your site is running in native mode, the value is set to true.	Yes	Yes
_SMSTSWTG	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSAssignmentsDownloadInterval	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSAssignmentsDownloadRetry	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSAssignUsersMode	Built in	Specifies how a task sequence associates users with the destination computer. Set the variable to one of the following values.	No	Yes
SMSTSDownloadProgram	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSDownloadRetryCount	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSDownloadRetryDelay	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSErrorDialogTimeout	Built in	When an error occurs in a task sequence, a dialog box is displayed that is automatically dismissed after a number of seconds specified by this variable. By default, the dialog box is automatically dismissed after 900 seconds (15 minutes)..	Yes	Yes
TSErrorOnWarning	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSLanguageFolder	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSLocalDataDrive	Built in	Specifies where temporary files are stored on the destination computer while the task sequence is running.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSMPListRequestTimeout	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSPersistContent	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSPostAction	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSPreferredAdvertID	Built in	Forces a specific targeted deployment on the destination computer to be run. This can be set through a prestart command from media or PXE. If this variable is set, the task sequence overrides any required deployments.	No	Yes
OSDPreserveDriveLetter	Built in		No	Yes
SMSTSRebootDelay	Built in	Specifies how many seconds to wait before the computer restarts. The task sequence manager will display a notification dialog before reboot if this variable is not set to 0.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSRebootMessage	Built in	Specifies the message to display in the shutdown dialog box when a restart is requested. If this variable is not set, a default message will appear.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSRebootRequested	Built in	Indicates that a restart is requested after the current task sequence step is completed. If a restart is required, just set this variable to true, and the task sequence manager will restart the computer after this task sequence step. The task sequence step must set this task sequence variable if it requires the restart to complete the task sequence step. After the computer is restarted, the task sequence will continue to run from the next task sequence step.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSRetryRequested	Built in	Requests a retry after the current task sequence step is completed. If this task sequence variable is set, the SMSTSRebootRequested must also be set to true. After the computer is restarted, the task sequence manager will rerun the same task sequence step.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSUDAUsers	Built in	Specifies the primary user of the destination computer. Specify the users by using the following format. Separate multiple users by using a comma (,).	No	Yes
OSDDataImageIndex	Apply Data image	Specifies the index value of the image that is applied to the destination computer.	Yes	Yes
OSDWipeDestinationPartition	Apply Data image	Specifies whether to delete the files located on the destination partition.	Yes	Yes
OSDApplyDriverBootCriticalContentUniqueID	Apply Driver package	Specifies the content ID of the mass storage device driver to install from the driver package. If this is not specified, no mass storage driver is installed.	Yes	Yes
OSDApplyDriverBootCriticalINFFile	Apply Driver package	Specifies the INF file of the mass storage driver to install.	Yes	Yes
OSDApplyDriverBootCriticalHardwareComponent	Apply Driver package	Specifies whether a mass storage device driver is installed, this must be “scsi”.	Yes	Yes
OSDApplyDriverBootCriticalID	Apply Driver package	Specifies the boot critical ID of the mass storage device driver to install. This ID is listed in the "scsi" section of the device driver’s txtsetup.oem file.	Yes	Yes
OSDAllowUnsignedDriver	Apply Driver package	Specifies whether to configure Windows to allow the installation of unsigned device drivers. This task sequence variable is not used when deploying the Windows Vista and later operating system.	Yes	Yes
OSDAdapter	Apply Network Settings	This task sequence variable is an array variable. Each element in the array represents the settings for a single network adapter on the computer. The settings defined for each adapter are accessed by combining the array variable name with the zero-based network adapter index and the property name.	Yes	Yes
OSDAdapterCount	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the number of network adapters installed on the destination computer. When the OSDAdapterCount value is set, all the configuration options for each adapter must be set. For example, if you set the OSDAdapterTCPIPNetbiosOptions value for a specific adapter then all the values for that adapter must also be configured.	Yes	Yes
OSDDNSDomain	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the primary DNS server that is used by the destination computer.	Yes	Yes
OSDDomainName	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the name of the Windows domain that the destination computer joins. The specified value must be a valid Active Directory Domain Services domain name.	Yes	Yes
OSDDomainOUName	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the RFC 1779 format name of the organizational unit (OU) that the destination computer joins. If specified, the value must contain the full path.	Yes	Yes
OSDEnableTCPIPFiltering	Apply Network Settings	Specifies whether TCP/IP filtering is enabled.	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinAccount	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the network account that is used to add the destination computer to a Windows domain.	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinPassword	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the network password that is used to add the destination computer to a Windows domain.	Yes	Yes
OSDNetworkJoinType	Apply Network Settings	Specifies whether the destination computer joins a Windows domain or a workgroup.	Yes	Yes
OSDDNSSuffixSearchOrder	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the DNS search order for the destination computer.	Yes	Yes
OSDWorkgroupName	Apply Network Settings	Specifies the name of the workgroup that the destination computer joins.	Yes	Yes
OSDConfigFileName	Apply OS image	Specifies the file name of the operating system deployment answer file associated with the operating system deployment package.	Yes	Yes
OSDImageIndex	Apply OS image	Specifies the image index value of the WIM file that is applied to the destination computer.	Yes	Yes
OSDInstallEditionIndex	Apply OS image	Specifies the version of Windows Vista or later operating system that is installed. If no version is specified, Windows setup will determine which version to install using the referenced product key.	Yes	Yes
OSDTargetSystemDrive	Apply OS image	Specifies the drive letter of the partition that contains the operating system files.	Yes	Yes
OSDComputerName	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the name of the destination computer.	Yes	Yes
OSDProductKey	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the Windows product key.	Yes	Yes
OSDRegisteredUserName	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the default registered user name in the new operating system.	Yes	Yes
OSDRegisteredOrgName	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the default registered organization name in the new operating system.	Yes	Yes
OSDTimeZone	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the default time zone setting that is used in the new operating system.	Yes	Yes
OSDServerLicenseMode	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the Windows Server license mode that is used.	Yes	Yes
OSDServerLicenseConnectionLimit	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the maximum number of connections allowed.	Yes	Yes
OSDRandomAdminPassword	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies a randomly generated password for the administrator account in the new operating system. If set to “true”, the local administrator account will be disabled on the target computer. If set to “false”, the local administrator account will be enabled on the target computer, and the local administrator account password will be assigned the value of the variable OSDLocalAdminPassword.	Yes	Yes
OSDLocalAdminPassword	Apply Windows Settings	Specifies the local administrator password. This value is ignored if the Randomly generate the local administrator password and disable the account on all supported platforms option is enabled.	Yes	Yes
OSDAutoApplyDriverCategoryList	Auto Apply Drivers	A comma-delimited list of the driver catalog category unique IDs. If specified, the Auto Apply Driver task sequence action considers only those drivers that are in at least one of these categories when installing drivers. This value is optional, and it is not set by default. The available category IDs can be obtained by enumerating the list of SMS_CategoryInstance objects on the site.	Yes	Yes
OSDAllowUnsignedDriver	Auto Apply Drivers	Specifies whether Windows is configured to allow unsigned device drivers to be installed. This task sequence variable is not used when deploying Windows Vista and later operating systems.	Yes	Yes
OSDAutoApplyDriverBestMatch	Auto Apply Drivers	Specifies what the task sequence action does if there are multiple device drivers in the driver catalog that are compatible with a hardware device. If set to "true”, only the best device driver will be installed. If “false”, all compatible device drivers will be installed, and the operating system will choose the best driver to use.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateAdapterSettings	Capture Network Settings	Specifies whether the network adapter settings (TCP/IP, DNS, and WINS) configuration information is captured.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateNetworkMembership	Capture Network Settings	Specifies whether the workgroup or domain membership information is migrated as part of the operating system deployment.	Yes	Yes
OSDCaptureAccount	Capture OS Image	Specifies a Windows account name that has permissions to store the captured image on a network share.	Yes	Yes
OSDCaptureAccountPassword	Capture OS Image	Specifies the password for the Windows account used to store the captured image on a network share.	Yes	Yes
OSDCaptureDestination	Capture OS Image	Specifies the location where the captured operating system image is saved. The maximum directory name length is 255 characters.	Yes	Yes
OSDImageCreator	Capture OS Image	An optional name of the user who created the image. This name is stored in the WIM file. The maximum length of the user name is 255 characters.	Yes	Yes
OSDImageDescription	Capture OS Image	An optional user-defined description of the captured operating system image. This description is stored in the WIM file. The maximum length of the description is 255 characters.	Yes	Yes
OSDImageVersion	Capture OS Image	An optional user-defined version number to assign to the captured operating system image. This version number is stored in the WIM file. This value can be any combination of letters with a maximum length of 32 characters.	Yes	Yes
OSDTargetSystemRoot	Capture OS Image	Specifies the path to the Windows directory of the installed operating system on the reference computer. This operating system is verified as being a supported operating system for capture by Configuration Manager.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateStorePath	Capture user state	The UNC or local path name of the folder where the user state is saved. No default.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateAdditionalCaptureOptions	Capture user state	Specifies user state migration tool (USMT) command line options that are used when capturing the user state, but not exposed in the Configuration Manager user interface. The additional options are specified in the form of a string that is appended to the automatically generated USMT command line.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateMode	Capture user state	Allows you to customize the files that are captured by USMT. If this variable is set to “Simple,” then only the standard USMT configuration files are used. If this variable is set to “Advanced,” then the task sequence variable OSDMigrateConfigFiles specifies the configuration files that the USMT uses.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateConfigFiles	Capture user state	Specifies the configuration files used to control the capture of user profiles. This variable is used only if OSDMigrateMode is set to “Advanced”. This comma-delimited list value is set to perform customized user profile migration.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateContinueOnLockedFiles	Capture user state	Allows the user state capture to proceed if some files cannot be captured.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateEnableVerboseLogging	Capture user state	Enables verbose logging for the USMT.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateSkipEncryptedFiles	Capture user state	Specifies whether encrypted files are captured.	Yes	Yes
_OSDMigrateUsmtPackageID	Capture user state	Specifies the package ID of the Configuration Manager package that will contain the USMT files. This variable is required.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateComputerName	Capture Windows settings	Specifies whether the computer name is migrated.	Yes	Yes
OSDComputerName	Capture Windows settings	Set to the NetBIOS name of the computer. The value is set only if the OSDMigrateComputerName variable is set to “true”.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateRegistrationInfo	Capture Windows settings	Specifies whether the computer user and organizational information is migrated.	Yes	Yes
OSDRegisteredOrgName	Capture Windows settings	Set to the registered organization name of the computer. The value is set only if the OSDMigrateRegistrationInfo variable is set to “true”.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateTimeZone	Capture Windows settings	Specifies whether the computer time zone is migrated.	Yes	Yes
OSDTimeZone	Capture Windows settings	Set to the time zone of the computer. The value is set only if the OSDMigrateTimeZone variable is set to “true”.	Yes	Yes
SMSConnectNetworkFolderAccount	Connect to network	Specifies the administrator account that is used to connect to the network share.	Yes	Yes
SMSConnectNetworkFolderDriveLetter	Connect to network	Specifies the network drive letter to connect to. This value is optional; if it is not specified, then the network connection is not mapped to a drive letter.	Yes	Yes
SMSConnectNetworkFolderPassword	Connect to network	Specifies the network password that is used to connect to the network share.	Yes	Yes
SMSConnectNetworkFolderPath	Connect to network	Specifies the network path for the connection.	Yes	Yes
OSDConvertDiskIndex	Convert disk	Specifies the physical disk number that is converted.	Yes	Yes
OSDBitLockerRecoveryPassword	Enable bitlocker	Instead of generating a random recovery password, the Enable BitLocker task sequence action uses the specified value as the recovery password. The value must be a valid numerical BitLocker recovery password.	Yes	Yes
OSDBitLockerStartupKey	Enable bitlocker	Instead of generating a random startup key for the key management option “Startup Key on USB only,” the Enable BitLocker task sequence action uses the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) as the startup key. The value must be a valid, 256-bit Base64-encoded BitLocker startup key.	Yes	Yes
OSDDiskIndex	Format/Partition	Specifies the physical disk number to be partitioned.	Yes	Yes
OSDDiskpartBiosCompatibilityMode	Format/Partition	Specifies whether to disable cache alignment optimizations when partitioning the hard disk for compatibility with certain types of BIOS. This can be necessary when deploying Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating systems. For more information, see article 931760 and article 931761 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.	Yes	Yes
OSDGPTBootDisk	Format/Partition	Specifies whether to create an EFI partition on a GPT hard disk so that it can be used as the startup disk on EFI-based computers.	Yes	Yes
OSDPartitions	Format/Partition	Specifies an array of partition settings; see the SDK topic for accessing array variables in the task sequence environment.	Yes	Yes
OSDPartitionStyle	Format/Partition	Specifies the partition style to use when partitioning the disk. "MBR" indicates the master boot record partition style, and "GPT" indicates the GUID Partition Table style.	Yes	Yes
SMSInstallUpdateTarget	Software Updates	Specifies whether to install all updates or only mandatory updates.	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinAccount	Domain Join	Specifies the account that is used by the destination computer to join the Windows domain. This variable is required when joining a domain.	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinDomainName	Domain Join	Specifies the name of a Windows domain the destination computer joins.	No	Yes
OSDJoinDomainOUName	Domain Join	Specifies the RFC 1779 format name of the organizational unit (OU) that the destination computer joins. If specified, the value must contain the full path.	No	Yes
OSDJoinPassword	Domain Join	Specifies the network password that is used by the destination computer to join the Windows domain. If the variable is not specified then a blank password is tried.	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinSkipReboot	Domain Join	Specifies whether to skip restarting after the destination computer joins the domain or workgroup.	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinType	Domain Join	Specifies whether the destination computer joins a Windows domain or a workgroup. To join the destination computer to a Windows domain specify "0". To join the destination computer to a workgroup specify "1".	Yes	Yes
OSDJoinWorkgroupName	Domain Join	Specifies the name of a workgroup that the destination computer joins.	Yes	Yes
OSDBuildStorageDriverList	Prepare capture	Specifies whether sysprep builds a mass storage device driver list. This setting applies to only Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It will populate the [SysprepMassStorage] section of sysprep.inf with information on all the mass storage drivers that are supported by the image to be captured.	Yes	Yes
OSDKeepActivation	Prepare capture	Specifies whether sysprep resets the product activation flag.	Yes	Yes
OSDTargetSystemRoot	Prepare capture	Specifies the path to the Windows directory of the installed operating system on the reference computer. This operating system is verified as being a supported operating system for capture by Configuration Manager.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateStorePath	State Store	The UNC or local pathname to the location from which the user state is restored. This value is used by both the Capture User State task sequence action and the Restore User State task sequence action.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateFallbackToNAA	State Store	Specifies whether the Network Access Account is used as a fallback when the computer account fails to connect to the state migration point.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateSMPRetryCount	State Store	Specifies the number of times that the task sequence step tries to find a state migration point before the step fails.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateSMPRetryTime	State Store	Specifies the number of seconds that the task sequence step waits between retry attempts. The number of seconds can be a maximum of 30 characters.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateStorePath	State Store	The UNC path to the folder on the state migration point where the user state is stored.	Yes	Yes
SMSRebootMessage	Restart	Specifies the message to be displayed to users before restarting the destination computer. If this variable is not set, the default message text is displayed.	Yes	Yes
SMSRebootTimeout	Restart	Specifies the number of seconds that the warning is displayed to the user before the computer restarts. Specify zero seconds to indicate that no reboot message is displayed.	Yes	Yes
OSDStateStorePath	Restore user state	The UNC or local pathname of the folder from which the user state is restored.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateContinueOnRestore	Restore user state	Specifies that the user state restoration continues even if some files cannot be restored.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateEnableVerboseLogging	Restore user state	Enables verbose logging for the USMT tool.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateLocalAccounts	Restore user state	Specifies whether the local computer account is restored.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateLocalAccountPassword	Restore user state	If the OSDMigrateLocalAccounts variable is “true,” this variable must contain the password that is assigned to all local accounts that are migrated. Because the same password is assigned to all migrated local accounts, it is considered a temporary password that will be changed later by some method other than Configuration Manager operating system deployment.	Yes	Yes
OSDMigrateAdditionalRestoreOptions	Restore user state	Specifies additional user state migration tool (USMT) command line options that are used when restoring the user state. The additional options are specified in the form of a string that is appended to the automatically generated USMT command line.	Yes	Yes
_OSDMigrateUsmtRestorePackageID	Restore user state	Specifies the package ID of the Configuration Manager package that contains the USMT files. This variable is required.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSDisableWow64Redirection	Command line	By default, when running on a 64-bit operating system, the program in the command line is located and run using the WOW64 file system redirector so that 32-bit versions of operating system programs and DLLs are found. Setting this variable to “true” disables the use of the WOW64 file system redirector so that native 64-bit versions of operating system programs and DLLs can be found. This variable has no effect when running on a 32-bit operating system.	Yes	Yes
WorkingDirectory	Command line	Specifies the starting directory for a command-line action.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName	Command line	Specifies the account by which the command line is run. The value is a string of the form username or domain\username.	Yes	Yes
SMSTSRunCommandLinePassword	Command line	Specifies the password for the account specified by the SMSTSRunCommandLineUserName variable.	Yes	Yes
SMSClientInstallProperties	Setup SCCM	Specifies the client installation properties that are used when installing the Configuration Manager client.	Yes	Yes