About me

Hello, and welcome to my website!

My name is Rens Hollanders, I’m 37 years old and living in the Netherlands.

I’ve been working in IT for almost 15 years now, over the years I have developed my expertise in the Workplace Architecture with a strong focus on end-point deployments.

I am a accredited CompTia Certified Technical Trainer as I take pleasure in transferring knowledge about the technologies I’m passionate about.

Besides working I have some hobbies and interests I’m just as passionate about:
Long time visitor of music venues and festivals
Collecting and listening music on vinyl records mostly Rock oriented
Watching Formula 1 and soccer
Gaming (Battlefield Franchise, SIM Racing)
Small addiction for nice shoes and watches

Please take note that the blogs, information and comments that I write are based on my own personal experience and opinions. And in no way reflects the experience and opinions of others, like vendors, employers etc.

37 thoughts on “About me

    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi Alexandr,

      Thanks for your comment, could you provide me a copy of your bootstrap.ini and customsettings.ini as well? You can find them in the .\DeploymentShare\Control folder.

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
  1. Christoffer Ramachandran

    Hi Rens,
    Google somehow found your website and I’ve found some helpfull stuff in the long road into MDT (learning).
    I’ve never managed to install drivers during deployment.
    What I’ve tried is to put the drivers in the out-of-box drivers thing and did the big no no and didnt put any filters or anything just put it all there… NO success… Now I have tried to put them as applications and silently install them… then it’s unable to procesd cause the NIC drivers havent been installed. To me its cind of odd cause PE find the NIC but not windows… Um!
    I’ve noticed that the drivers part has been improved since the good old days with RIS… I’ve managed to install Windows but the same issue remains, does *PIIIP*-ing drivers… sigh… 😉

    Hope you can help me out! 🙂

    Cheers!

    Reply
  2. Ben

    Rens, Hey.. first off apologies for posting this here but I’m unsure of the right place. I’m looking for some advice on an Office 2016 deployment task. Can I pose a question to you about this and if so what format would you prefer?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi Ben,

      Sure my e-mail address is around here somewhere, otherwise send me a DM through twitter.

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi Cor,

      This can best be achieved through custom scripting (vbscript) you can create a custom HTA application or use the wizard designer of MDT to create custom pages.
      Unfortunately I don’t have a turnkey solution

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
  3. C

    Hi Rens – do you know if it’s possible to generate the list of task sequences that are displayed by MDT based on the system model, or based on the answers to questions during the MDT interview? For example, only some models would get to choose either Windows 7 and Windows 10 task sequences, while other models would only get a list of Windows 7 task sequences.

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi C,

      Unfortunately this is not the way MDT works or is intended to work. You cannot decide which task sequences are presented per model. However you can initiate a certain task sequence based on a model. This can be done easily in CustomSettings.ini but when things tend to get complex (or your CS.ini is getting larger) I would advise you to incorporate the database functionality of MDT, there you can present task sequences on a make / model based selection, and also per device.

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
      1. C

        Hi Rens – thanks for the answer. We don’t currently use the MDT database, but I will look into it.

        thanks!
        C

        Reply
  4. Lars

    Rens, kan je me helpen.
    Op kantoor hebben we een M700z alleen MDT herkent hem niet als een PC of laptop.

    Ik heb het volgende in me Rules staan:

    “[ByLaptop]
    subsection=Laptop-%IsLaptop%
    [Laptop-True]
    OSDComputerName=NB-%AssetTag%
    [Bydesktop]
    subsection=Desktop-%IsDesktop%
    [Desktop-True]
    OSDComputerName=FC-%AssetTag%
    ;Set Computer Name at Deployment
    OSDComputerName=%ComputerType%-%MACHINENAME%

    maar toch geeft hij me een MiniNT-xxxx naam.
    Kan je me helpen ?

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Goedemorgen Lars,

      Schijnbaar kan het ZTIgather script niet opmaken a.d.h.v. de SystemEnclosureType class (zie https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394474(v=vs.85).aspx) of het een laptop of desktop is. Wat je kan doen is een powershell prompt openen op het systeem en vervolgens intypen: gwmi win32_computersystem, dan krijg je in ieder geval een Model en Manufacturer terug. Je kan je CustomSettings.ini dan aanpassen naar Priority= Model, ByLaptop, ByDesktop, Default en dan een nieuwe sectie maken met model of manufacturer naam.

      In het geval dat de Manufacturer HP of Hewlett-Packard zou zijn, krijg je dan eenzelfde subsectie als bij [ByLaptop] of [ByDesktop] maar de naam van de sectie is dan de output waarde van de WMI query. Dus [Hewlett-Packard] in het geval van manufacturer, of bijvoorbeeld [ProBook 6560b] in het geval van model.

      Veel succes! Groeten!

      Reply
      1. Lars

        Ken je me iets meer op weg helpen?

        dit is wat ik krijg als ik het command van hier boven uitvoer.

        Manufacturer: LENOVO
        Model: 10EY001KMH

        Kan je laten zien hoe ik dit dan in me CS.ini kwijt kan ?

        Reply
        1. Rens Hollanders

          Hoi Lars,

          Voeg het volgende toe in je CS.ini

          Boven in staat nu Priority=ByLaptop, ByDesktop, Default. Voeg daar nu aan toe/tussen: Priority=Model, ByLaptop, ByDesktop, Default

          En dan voeg je een subsectie toe in je CS.ini eronder:

          [10EY001KMH]
          OSDComputerName=FC-%AssetTag%
          ;Set Computer Name at Deployment
          OSDComputerName=%ComputerType%-%MACHINENAME%

          En daarna volgen dan de secties die je al had staan:
          “[ByLaptop]
          subsection=Laptop-%IsLaptop%
          [Laptop-True]
          OSDComputerName=NB-%AssetTag%
          [Bydesktop]
          subsection=Desktop-%IsDesktop%
          [Desktop-True]
          OSDComputerName=FC-%AssetTag%
          ;Set Computer Name at Deployment
          OSDComputerName=%ComputerType%-%MACHINENAME%

          Groeten Rens

          Reply
          1. Lars

            Top het werkt, bedankt.
            Kan ik je nog een par vragen stellen waar ik niet helemaal mee uitkomen?
            Heb je misschien een email adres waar ik je op mag mailen of mag ik ze hier bij zetten ?

  5. Craig

    Hi Rens

    Sorry to bother you again. Last time I promise 🙂

    I opened the deployment share VIA the MDT workbench on my production server and could not view the apps, TS’s and OS etc. id ran a DS update hoping this would fix the issue.

    I can no longer view it via MDT workbench on either server although I can browse the share just fine and the deployment wizard still works.

    What have I done? Do you have any suggestions to fix it?

    Thanks
    Craig

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi Craig,

      No problem, when you upgrade the MDT deploymentshare certain scripts and xml files are overwritten with newer files. In the control folder you will find an xml file called version.xml. This gets updated when you update the deployment share. You can lower the mdt version inside this xml file manually or you recreate a new deployment share with the older version of MDT and replace the version.xml of that share with the share you currently cannot open. After this try mounting the share with your old MDT version.

      Let me know.

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
      1. Craig

        Hi Rens

        Thanks for responding.

        I tried restoring to a previous version but both files have the same number 6.3.8330.1000

        I also tried to restore all the files with the control folder but still no change.

        Thanks
        Craig

        Reply
        1. Rens Hollanders

          Craig,

          Did you manually lower the version number in the version.xml? Do you have a proper file level backup so you can go back prior the situation?

          Cheers! Rens

          Reply
  6. Aady.

    Hi, Admin.

    it will be really great help, if you could write a post on how to only clean C drive and install windows in MDT 2013. Suppose OS is installed already installed and user has some data in the D drive. So what can be done, so that MDT will only clean C drive and install to it, without touching data on D drive.

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi Aady,
      Be aware that automation (like MDT) drivers on constants, things that are always the same, so you can assume things. Let’s say that if you have deviant disk configurations you need to custom script exactly what you want to achieve.
      I think you need to have a look at the MDT refresh scenario: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/deploy-windows-mdt/refresh-a-windows-7-computer-with-windows-10, also you can specify which drive to install the operating system on. This can be found in the “install operating” step in your task sequence. Lastly you can create a custom script which formats the designated partition (usually the 2nd partition) prior to the installation of the operating system. So there should be enough possibilities to sort this out.

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
  7. Betsy Brahm

    I’m in the process of studying for the 70-695 test. While deep into troubleshooting my Win 2012 Config Manager 2012 R2/MDT/WDS server and the HyperV client OS’s……. I bumped into your Webpage and what a delight it is. Troubleshooting tips from the field, just what I need!! Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge and experience. I hope knowledge-sharing brings you good karma.

    Thanks
    Betsy Brahm
    San Francisco CA

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders

      Hi Betsy,

      Great to hear. I wish you the best of luck with your exam. Kind regards,

      Rens

      Reply
  8. Mo

    Hi Rens,

    Thanks for ur great posts. I had a quick question, i have implemented MDT/WSUS for the build and capture at the company i am working for. One of the company policy is to completely disable 8.3 notation. In my ts i run the command cmd /c fsutil 8dot3name set 1
    after the Tattoo. With fsutil query C: i can see that 8.3 notation is disable after the Install Operating System fase but still when i do a dir /x on C:\windows or C:\Windows\system32 i still see shortfiles names.
    I have even put the command between the format disk and install operating system but unfortunatelly no change.

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards
    Mo

    PS: The same command works perfect when doing a build and capture in Sccm.
    I even commented out the 8.3 part in LTIapply.wsf script but still no change. Shortnames are still there after the Install OS step. I am using MDT 2013 version 6.3.8443.1000 to capture a Windows 7 OS.

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders Post author

      Hi Mo,

      Thank you for your question. I don’t have any experience with disabling 8.3 notation. However my question would be, is MDT or SCCM the perfect way to achieve this solution? Could it be done any other way? Like GPO for instance

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders Post author

      Hi, to which article did you reply? Cause now it’s under about me. So I don’t have a clue.

      Regards Rens

      Reply
      1. Ray

        Sorry – yes – it was :
        MDT 2013 – Configuring your environment for Bitlocker deployments with TPM, Windows 8.1 and MDT 2013

        Cheers

        Reply
  9. Nhan Tran

    Thanks for the great post about ‘Activating Adobe Acrobat in a non-persistent Environment’.
    I’ve been searching the web for installing Adobe Acrobat 2017 in a Citrix environment and could not find anything that helped me, until I found your post. I followed it step by step and it worked perfectly. Thanks again.

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders Post author

      Hi Nathan,

      You are welcome. It can be a pain in the behind the way how Adobe forces us to make it work on an Server Based Computing environment. Glad to hear my article is still relevant.
      Also I can’t comprehend why Adobe does not maintain such article them selves.

      Good it worked!

      Cheers! Rens

      Reply
  10. Abs

    Hi Rens,

    I’m just getting to grips with MDT\WDS deployment. I have managed to join the domain and drop the target device in to my OU.
    I am struggling with adding this devie to an AD group. I am running a script from MS Technet Library and have a TS to call the script and updated the my ini file:

    ADGroup = LDAP://CN=IT Computers,OU=Groups,DC=corp,DC=continuum,DC=com

    But get an error on the TS with: The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.
    Its strange i have managed to add the computer to the domain and drop it an OU?
    Any ideas where this is going wrong for me?
    Script can be found here: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Add-the-current-computer-3759f02d

    Thanks, Abs

    Reply
    1. Rens Hollanders Post author

      Hi Abs,

      Why don’t you use the machineobjectou variable? This also places the computer in a designated OU?
      Also with ADSI edit or Object Viewer in AD you can retrieve the distinguished OU name of the OU. Copy that string and paste it right after: LDAP://

      Good luck!

      Reply
  11. John Barneveld

    Hoi Rens,

    Ik zat jouw artikel te lezen hoe ik meerdere customsettingfile.ini kon gebruiken.

    Ik heb een customsetting.ini waar ik alles uitgesloopt hebt mbt tot schermen en antwoorden.
    Als een pc opnieuw ingespoeld moet worden, dan start ik de TS en het enige scherm wat ik zie is de computernaam met het join domain scherm. Daar heb ik een pulldown menu zodt de juiste OU gekozen kan worden. meer staat er niet in en de TS loopt netjes door.

    Nu wil ik ook een TS maken voor het creeren van een referentie image met een capture er aan vast. Die had ik eerst in een andere deploymentshare staan, maar daar wil ik vanaf. Dus ik heb de customsetting.ini daarvan hernoemd naar capture.ini. Deze geplaats in mijn andere share in de control folder waar ook de bootstrp.ini e de customsetting.ini staat.

    Nieuwe tasksequence aangenaakt en daar op 4 plekken gather local only aangepast naar rules file : capture.ini

    mijn customsettings ini heb ik niet aangepast is nog helemaal default met de secties. heb alleen de schermen enzo daaronder uitgzet.

    als ik nu de TS opstart en ik selecteer die create reference task waar ik die aanpassing in hebt gemaakt, dan leest tie nog steeds de customsettings.ini

    blijkbaar doe ik iets verkeerd , maar wat ?

    Reply
  12. Bryan Sr

    Hi Rens,

    Trying to find ADK for Server 2008/ 2008 R2 to use DISM to change the OS Version to allow migrating to new Microsoft Server version.

    Thanks in advance for any help.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Rens Hollanders Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.