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15

Updated August 2009

 

These instructions are for Windows 7 builds 7077 and beyond.

 

Several Intel based platforms contain Management Engine Interface (MEI) and Serial over LAN (SOL) devices.  Windows 7 drivers for these devices have been made available to OEMs for currently shipping platforms (2008 / 2009 model desktop and mobile PCs).  MEI and SOL Windows 7 driver support for previous generation PCs (2007 desktop and mobile) is planned for early Q1, ’10.

 

To enable Windows 7 testing and evaluation,  prior to driver availability, MEI and SOL Vista drivers, either pre-loaded on your PC or available from the OEM, can be installed on the Windows 7 Release Candidate or RTM OS builds by utilizing Windows 7 compatibility mode.  The following instructions can be used to install the MEI and SOL Vista drivers:

 

 

  1. Locate or download the released MEI and SOL Vista drivers from your OEM
  2. Locate the setup.exe file for the device to be installed
  3. Right click on the setup.exe and select properties
  4. Select the Compatibility tab
  5. In the compatibility mode section check the box “Run the program in compatibility mode for:”
  6. Select the following in the drop down “Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)”
  7. At the bottom of the properties window set the privilege level by checking the box in front of “Run the program as an administrator”
  8. Click Apply
  9. Click OK to exit out of the properties window
  10. Double click on the setup.exe and follow the normal install/setup steps
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SCCM allows the right click menu items in the SCCM console to be customized.  We utilized this capability to demonstrate how configuration of custom AMT support could be added to SCCM.  Since SCCM SP1 does not support wireless AMT configuration, we added some basic support for this to the SCCM menu system. 

The attached zip contains files that show how to add right click menu items to Altiris, how to make wireless configuration scripts and how to use both of these capabilities to embed wireless AMT configuration support directly into SCCM. This package is intended as a demonstration only.

This package contains the following components:

1.             Genscript: This utility creates a VB script that pushes wireless profiles, certificates and AMT configuration data to an arbitrary client.  The Genscript utility and user guide are included in this package. The latest version can be found here: http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-ws-management-translator/.

2.             XML files: For the demonstration, there are two XMLs needed: vpro_client.xml and vpro_colleciton.xml.  One pushes settings to an entire collection and the other pushes settings to a single member. The single member XML file calls push.vbs directly.  The collection XML calls gp_exe.vbs which calls push.vbs on all the collection members.

3.             Wireless configuration script generated by Genscript: This script is executed with the client’s hostname and domain name as command line arguments.  It conducts certificate requests, configures the client with those certificates and configures a wireless AMT profile.  For details on Genscript and how to use it to generate wireless configuration scripts refer.

4.             Push.vbs: This script takes a hostname as a command line argument and calls a wireless configuration script. The name of this script is hard coded in push.vbs along with the domain suffix to use.  For simplicity I hard coded which wireless configuration script to use. By default, this script is hard coded as vpro_config_update.vbs.

5.             Gp_exe.vbs: This script calls push.vbs for all the members of a particular collection. It is based on the sms_ping.vbs script.  It takes the target collection as a command line argument and then calls push.vbs for each hostname.

6.             Add_to_Collection.vbs – This script adds a client instance to a particular collection.  It is used to populate a ‘Push Failed’ collection with client instances for clients that fail a wireless settings push. The collection ID for the destination collection is hard coded in the script.

7.             Delete from Collection.vbs – This script removes client instances from a particular collection. It is used to remove client instances from the ‘Push Failed’ collection when a wireless settings push succeeds for that client.

8.             Clear_collection.vbs – This script clears the contents of a given collection.  It is useful for clearing the ‘Push Failed’ collection.

 



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Microsoft has just announced that they are accepting participation nominations for the System Center Configuration Manager SP2 Technology Adoption Program (TAP).  The full announcement can be found here https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=11121&SiteID=16
(Note: you will need to log into the Microsoft Connect website to view the announcement):

As detailed within the announcement, Microsoft is extending new OS support along with improving on the Intel AMT integration with SCCM SP2.  From the announcement, the key AMT / vPro enhancement are:

·         OOB Wireless Management: Wireless Profile Management

·         End Point Access Control: 802.1x support

·         Persistent Data Storage: Non Volatile Memory or Third Party Data Store (3PDS)

·         Access Monitor: Audit Log

·         Remote Power Management: Power State Configuration

Additional detail on these new features can be referenced in the announcement.

To submit your participation nomination for the SCCM SP2 TAP, you will need to fill out the nomination survey (link located in the Nomination section of the announcement).

--Matt Royer

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