Maintenance Window & User Experience setting

Hello,
We're having a lot of issues regulating our Windows Updates, mind you I consider myself novice to intermediate when it comes to SCCM has I have been managing the SCCM software and update deployments for a year or so now at work.
My question is the following:
I have Software (Windows) Updates scheduled to be pushed to every workstation on the network on the First Monday morning of every month.
All of them have an ASAP availability and installation Window so when comes 00:00:01 AM the patches are installed.
My issue are the multiple reboots in case of update dependencies and or faulty update patches that won't go through until another reboot. Some time it could extend for days, so for the time being the reboots are not enforced.
I would like to activate the reboots and from my understanding if a maintenance window is say set Monday 1AM to 6AM, all the updates with a deadline will be applied.
Now i'm wondering two things: First, in the deployment properties in the "Write filter handling for Windows..." under "User Experience" section there is a checkbox that sites "Commit changes
at deadline or during a maintenance window (requires restarts)". Does this mean that updates will be applied ASAP OR IF a maintenance window is defined it will overrule the deadline as soon as the deadline is over and apply the updates during
the window and this has nothing to do with Business Hours set on the end-user client Software Center?
Secondly, with ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 in "Assets and Compliance"
when I right click the properties of computer group to set the actual maintenance window there's a check box
"Apply this schedule only to task sequences", I'm sure the answer is clear, but what exactly does it refer to, like imaging a computer through PXE boot... or?
thanks!
Eric

UPDATE:
I think I found the answer to my issue....
In the deployment section under "Deadline Behaviour"
"When the installation deadline is reached, allow the following activities
to be performed outside of the maintenance window:"
- Software updates installation
- System
restart (if necessary)
Those options were checked...... so the reboot ensued anyhow. >;(
thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated!
Eric

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Ok I have a strange problem regarding the performance of my graphics card Radeon HD 6750m in my bootcamped window 7 and maybe in OSX,here's what happened.
Firstly I noticed this when going to load up Battlefield 3 which has been ruining fine on low settings since it first came out, but today i loaded the game as usual and when i started playing i noticed that the performance had completely bogged down to about 1 fps and had became unplayable so had a look at the video settings and they were all the same (set to the lowest possible) so i quit the game and restarted the game/machine a couple of time but no change, still completely unplayable for no apparent reason.
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Yeah its all very strange, in my opinion it must be something to with the drivers. After I had relised that something had seriously changed with my hardware setup in the way windows recognizes the graphics card, I tried reinstalling different versions of the drivers for the AMD Radeon HD 750M and one version gave me a small improvement of about 0.2 in the windows user experience thing scale in the category that scores the graphics (cant remember which version the driver was was as it was a spur of the moment thing) so could be a driver problem but it was working fine using the preview drivers AMD provided on their web site before.
I have also tried using the the original disk that bootcamp created during the install to re-install origianl divers (basically all the necessary drivers for windows to recognise hardware in Macbook Pro) and that never made any difference.
This also happened before the windows update that you wrote about Cuziuzi (its was an optional update for the windows 64bit) because I installed this after battlefield 3 had died on me thinking it might resolve the problem.
on a sidenote steam is refusing to lauch games on osx and i'am the process of re-downloading the game again to try and fixes the issue (have only got L4D2).
I am going to look into it tomorrow and try to figure out what the problem is and post some info about drivers specifications and some more clarifying information.
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Also cziuzi what's ur hardware specs?

End-User Experience error running agent on windows server 2008 R2

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Have you followed installation procedure described in the following article: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/ibf/setup_guide/ibf10_install.html ?
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Maintenance Windows Set to Use UTC Time Actually Using Local Time on Client

Hey All -
When patching servers last month, we ran into an issue on a couple of collections. This month, it's occurring on all of them so far.
The Issue
We have about 40 collections for various server groups. Each has a single maintenance window set for roughly a 4 hour window using UTC time.
When advertising a task sequence (or something else) to run only inside of the window, it fails. Examining the execmgr.log shows the error: "CExecutionRequest::The program may never run because of Service Window restrictions."
If I open SCCM Client Center, connect to one of the systems, and view Service Windows, I see that they are set, but were set using the hours I set but as if I did not choose UTC when I did. We are in CST which is a 5-06 hour difference therefore it
fails to deploy.
Only Fix So Far
The only fix found so far is to delete the maintenance window and re-create it using the exact same settings. After this is done and policy refreshes, Client Center shows the windows correctly.
The problem with the above fix is that at some point, they seemingly are being corrupted again as some which were fixed last month seem to must be re-created again this month.
Screenshots / Logs
Maintenance Window
8:00PM in our timezone should make it start at 2:00PM CST
SCCM Client Center Viewing Window of System in Collection Same Window Above Was Applied to
Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!
Ben K.

Hi,
Please review the blog explaining about maintenance windows
and hopefully it will help you.
Business Hours vs. Maintenance Windows with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2012/03/28/business-hours-vs-maintenance-windows-with-system-center-2012-configuration-manager.aspx
We
are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this
interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time.
Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.

Setting credential mppings to windows user for the fileadapter?

When I tried to access a network drive with the fileadapter this did not work at first. In the end I figured out you need to run the weblogic/soa_server process as a user that has rights to access network drives. So instead of the Local System user I configured the node manager service (windows 2008) to logon as a special user. This does not look like a very elegant solution. In the file Adapter you can configure credental mappings. When I tried to use this with a windows user this does not work. Am I missing something. Is it possible to have weblogic server running under the default system user but use some kind of credential mapping in the file adapter so I can access network drives and not only local drives. Accessing local drives is pretty useless to my opinion. You would not use that in real life.

you can map the remote drive to a drive letter within weblogic and then use that to access from file adapter.
Some approaches for mapping network drives within weblogic process are discussed here:
http://atheek.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/mapping-network-drives-in-weblogic-windows/

Maintenance Window not honoured?

Hi Folks,
The more I read through these forums on how the Maintenance Window works the more I feel my deployment was set-up correctly. However, I had a number of workstations unexpectedly install Win7 SP1 and restart during business hours (which are defined as
06:00 to 23:00 with a Configuration Baseline).
My SP1 deployment is set-up as follows:
Set as Install, Required, pre-deploy software to user's primary device (checked),
Advertised at 08:30 with a deadline of 23:30 the same day (last Friday)
User Experience is 'Show All Notifications', and has 'Software Installation' and 'System Restart (if required to complete the installation)' unchecked.
No restart flags specified on SP1 command line, just using /quiet and /nodialog
Should Config Manager enforce specific behaviour regardless of the applications intended behaviour set to 'No specific action'
However, a small number of users turned their workstations off when leaving last Friday. When they came in today (Monday morning) the installation was triggered straightway.
Checking the logs at one of those affected I can see that the Maintenance Window is detected but for some reason is not honoured. I can't see any mention of the user triggering the restart either.
Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Mic

Business hours and maintenance windows are two different things. Business hours will not prevent the installation from happening when the deadline is reached. For a very good read about this see:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2012/03/28/business-hours-vs-maintenance-windows-with-system-center-2012-configuration-manager.aspx
My Blog: http://www.petervanderwoude.nl/
Follow me on twitter: pvanderwoude

Maintenance Windows and Installation Deadline

I know this has been discussed many times in the past, but I wanted to clarify in my mind what I think happens.
I have a maintenance window on a collection that is daily between 3:30am and 5:30am. I create a deployment for software updates with an available time at 2:00am. I specify the installation deadline in the deployment for 3:00am.
In the Deadline behavior (user experience) I do not have either option checked (Software updates installation and System restart). So, my MW will not be ignored.
With these settings, the needed updates will be downloaded, but not installed until the start of the maintenance window at 3:30am. (in essence, the deadline should be "before" the MW if I want them to install at the next MW).
Thanks!

I did:
<![LOG[New Service Window Policy notification received.]LOG]!><time="14:14:52.483+300" date="01-15-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="996" file="servicewindowmanager.cpp:217">
<![LOG[CCM::ServiceWindowManager::CServiceWindowHandler::OnPolicyCreated - A policy change has occurred. New policy has been created.]LOG]!><time="14:14:52.483+300" date="01-15-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager"
context="" type="1" thread="996" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:2044">
<![LOG[    Populating instance of ServiceWindow with ID={3DE9CD79-CC8A-4CDD-AD75-74191AB07BFA}, ScheduleString=786F1B4010100008, Type=4]LOG]!><time="14:14:52.483+300" date="01-15-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager"
context="" type="1" thread="996" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:104">
<![LOG[        StartTime is 1/16/2015 3:30:00 AM]LOG]!><time="14:14:52.483+300" date="01-15-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1"
thread="996" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:176">
<![LOG[        Duration for the Service Window is Total days: 0, hours: 02, mins: 00, secs: 00]LOG]!><time="14:14:52.483+300" date="01-15-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager"
context="" type="1" thread="996" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:106">
<![LOG[    The Service Window={3DE9CD79-CC8A-4CDD-AD75-74191AB07BFA} has started at 1/16/2015 3:30:00 AM]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager"
context="" type="1" thread="5032" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:1200">
<![LOG[OnIsServiceWindowAvailable called with: Runtime:1, Type:4]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="5420"
file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:2258">
<![LOG[        Biggest Active Service Window has ID = {3DE9CD79-CC8A-4CDD-AD75-74191AB07BFA} having Starttime=1/16/2015 3:30:00 AM]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015"
component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="5420" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:1336">
<![LOG[
Duration is 0 days, 02 hours, 00 mins, 00 secs]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="5420" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:1337">
<![LOG[ActiveServiceWindow has 7200 seconds left]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="5420" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:1248">
<![LOG[Program can run! Setting *canProgramRun to TRUE]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="5420" file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:1249">
<![LOG[OnIsServiceWindowAvailable called with: Runtime:900, Type:2]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="4760"
file="servicewindowhandler.cpp:2258">
<![LOG[No Restricting Service Windows exist. It can therefore run...]LOG]!><time="03:30:00.071+300" date="01-16-2015" component="ServiceWindowManager" context="" type="1" thread="4760"
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ITunes setup on a NAS with multiple windows users - how?

iTunes setup on a NAS with multiple windows users?
I am very confused on what is the best way to handle this setup for my friends family. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry in advance as I know this is a long winded post - I have a feeling this will help others faced with the same issues or questions.
CURRENT SETUP
I have three new Windows 7 machines networked (two desktops and one laptop) that have four users on each - as busy family with children who need the computers for homework, projects, games, etc... The goal of this setup is that any user can log onto any computer and have there documents available to them no matter computer was free to use. I set this up using the library function in Windows 7 and seems to work pretty well.
I have put a Buffalo Linkstation NAS on the system as well. This was going to serve two purposes 1) run some backup software to protect the computers and 2) consolidate the iTunes content in one place for all users. There is also an iPad in the home that I should would be better served by accessing the content on the NAS without requiring any of the computers being on. Dave is thinking about getting some other playback devices like Apple TV so thought a NAS would be a good way to go.
CURRENT ITUNES SETUP - I have created a new iTunes library on the NAS by holding the SHIFT button down while starting iTunes and pointed to that folder on a Share on the NAS. There was no music on the system at the time as we are planning to copy this over from an OLD machine that is now not being used. I have also authorized all the computers and turned on the home sharing feature (although I am not sure what good that does).
This “shift” button trick seesm to also point the default directory there without point to it in the advanced setup tab of iTunes.
I then synced one of the iPods with purchased content on it and synced that to the library after asking me to do so before an update. All the content showed up in the library and was playable - awesome.
I then logged into each user on each machine (yikes) and installed iTunes and used the “shift” trick to connect each users iTunes to the database on the NAS. Everything seems to work - but I have not tested it thoroughly.
SUMMARY
3 new Windwos 7 networked machines
4 identical users on each machine
1 TB Buffalo linkstation
iTunes setup with the folder on a SHARE
all user’s itunes connected to the iTunes folder on the NAS
all computers authorized with home sharing turned on.
one iTunes user account signed in on each machine
multiple iPods and one iPad in the system
QUESTIONS/CONCERNS
Is there a better way to do this on a NAS?
Would home sharing be better in some way?
I understand the NAS should show up under the shared section in iTunes - I assume that would mean that would mean each user has an iTunes library on their documents?
I have read that there may be corruption issues if users on the different machines try to access iTunes at the same time.
Will there be any issues syncing that various iPods with?
Ugh - sorry for the long post and all the questions. I am just trying to find the best way to do this. I wish Apple would put out a best practices document for setups like this. Thanks in advance.

This is a user to user support forum. Your fellow users can offer solutions or workarounds based on their experience with the application. If you think it should work differently drop a line to iTunes Feedback.
For reasons unknown Apple haven't chosen to allow iTunes to be suspended in one profile and active in another. My recollection is that this applies even if each profile has a different library, although it is some time since I've committed a personal test.
I'm not sure why my suggestion make less sense that your current approach?. As I understand it currently everybody is either signed into their own account when they can do something other than work with iTunes, or they sign into the special iTunes account where they can't access any of their other stuff. You don't have to disable fast user switching. Follow exactly the same steps, but make sure everyone closes iTunes before turning the computer over to another user. Disabling fast user switching helps to enforce that action.
tt2

A user experience for CP5(with 6 issues)

Hi respected Adobe team,
I am a CP5 user for 2months. After using CP5 for a part of time, I got some user experience to share with you.
1. I published a CP project as a .swf with 1280*1024. When I watched this .swf as other dimension (except 1280*1024),some mess line will appear in the video.
The video with mess line:
The correct video:
2. I think CP5 can publish CP project as a .flv, but I don’t know how to? In this window I don’t know how to add a server to publish .flv file. .flv file is very useful for me, so could you help me?
3. Why .f4v file’s dimension need less than 1024*768? If I had a 1280*1024 CP project and I wanted to publish it as a .f4v file, I have to compress this project. As the result of compress is mess lines appear in the video.
4. When I published a CP project as a .swf, sometimes this sentence appear (your computer does not have sufficient memory resource to publish your file).
I had some information in this issue. This project was created in CP5. Whatever how long time I open this project, when I publish it this dialog will appear. In my opinion, if the CP project had a long time video (much video information), the chances of this dialog’s appear will grow up. But if I change some setting maybe this dialog will not appear.
In this setting the dialog appeared:
In this setting the dialog didn’t be appeared:
5. When I import a .swf to Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, the .swf can’t be displayed normally. And I tried to analyze a .swf(about 2 min long) by a tool, the result is the .swf just have 37 frames. The strangest point is more than 90% video content is in the 35th frame. Other 36 frames almost have nothing. I don’t know why.
6. When I recording a long time video, CP cut the video as many slides automatically. Sometime it makes me a little uncomfortable.
In this CP project, I recorded this video at a heat. But CP cut it automatically (become 18 slides).
At last, I have an advice for CP. If we can modify the video part in every part, it will be great! Actually, I am a big fan for Adobe productions. So wish a better CP version (maybe CP 6?). Thank you!
My msn:[email protected]
Glad to make friends with you!

Hi Nick,
I'm sorry to note that you are facing these issues with Captivate 5. While many of the issues you've reported probably have a workaround (I've listed some follow-up actions below), one issue we've had difficulty reproducing is the 'out of memory' issue when you publish. Can we schedule a conference call with a Connect session to investigate this further. Please mail me at- shamer at adobe dot com with details on the geo you are located in and some convienet time slots for the call.
Regards,
Shameer
Adobe Captivate Team
The other issues:
>>
1. I published a CP project as a .swf with 1280*1024. When I watched this .swf as other dimension (except 1280*1024),some mess line will appear in the video.
Can you check if this is an FMR swf (does the video camera icon appear on your Cp slides in the film strip/ thumnails? In that case there will be some lines observed with resizing.
2. I think CP5 can publish CP project as a .flv, but I don’t know how to? In this window I don’t know how to add a server to publish .flv file. .flv file is very useful for me, so could you help me?
You cannot publish the Cp project as an FLV. You publish as an F4V file. You then have to manualy upload this on to a streaming server (if that is what you are attempting).
3. Why .f4v file’s dimension need less than 1024*768? If I had a 1280*1024 CP project and I wanted to publish it as a .f4v file, I have to compress this project. As the result of compress is mess lines appear in the video.
This is a limitation from the way we use codecs for F4V. We are currently investigating this issue.
6. When I recording a long time video, CP cut the video as many slides automatically. Sometime it makes me a little uncomfortable.
In this CP project, I recorded this video at a heat. But CP cut it automatically (become 18 slides).
We can look at this issue also in our connect session, but I believe your auto FMR might be getting triggered in some scenarios, hence the number of slides varies.

Mail attachments to windows users

when iI send mail with attachments to Windows users, they can't click on the attachment to view it, they can only download the file. I am sending the mail with windows friendly attchments selected. Any ideas on how I can fix this??

I use a PC laptop running Windows XP at work and we use Outlook as our email client.
I have the PC laptop at home with me and I just sent an email with Mail on my PB to my business email address. I used RTF for message composition, inserted a signature composed with RTF and added a PDF file as an attachment with Send Windows Friendly selected.
I downloaded the message and attachment with Outlook and when opening the message, I was able to open the attachment from within the message by double-clicking on the attached file.
I searched for an available option or setting with Outlook that would prevent me from doing this but I couldn't find one.
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Better user experience for slow reports (loading in background, progressbar

Hi
In our application, some reports take a long time till they are displayed. Therefore it would be nice, if i could provide the user with some feedback (example: progressbar). Is it possible to have this? Upon print, when a pdf file is being constructed (in web) we already have such functionality in place, is it possible to have it generally?
Mayb,e it would also be possible to have the report load the first page quickly, so the user has already something to look at, and load all the other needed data in a background thread. (i dont think it is possible, however, somebody may have an idea)
Does anybody have an idea how we could achieve a better user experience for our reports. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
Greetings
I am using:
Crystal Reports 2008 (in Asp.net, Windows Forms)
Version .NET 3.5 (SP1)
PS: of course a very fast report would be the finest solution. However, i guess this will not be possible with our reports and the volume of data they access

Hi Daniel,
Crystal Report 2008 we have a inbuilt functionality of progress bar .If you are not getting progress bar for every report that means those reports are not taking to much time.
For more info regarding progressbar this check this link:
[https://boc.sdn.sap.com/node/8035]
Look for processingIndicatorDelay and processingIndicatorText.
If you want to improve performance of report then we need to keep in mind few thing while creating report in Crystal report designer:
Here are a few points related to performance issue .
The performance of a report is related to:
External factors:
1. The amount of time the database server takes to process the SQL query.
( Crystal Reports send the SQL query to the database, the database process it, and returns the data set to Crystal Reports. )
2. Network traffics.
3. Local computer processor speed.
( When Crystal Reports receives the data set, it generates a temp file to further filter the data when necessary, as well as to group, sort, process formulas, ... )
4. The number of records returned
( If a SQL query returns a large number of records, it will take longer to format and display than if was returning a smaller data set.)
Report design:
1. Where is the Record Selection evaluated?
Ensure your Record Selection Formula can be translated in SQL, so the data can be filter down on the server, otherwise the filtering will be done in a temp file on the local machine which will be much slower.
They have many functions that cannot be translated in SQL because they may not have a standard SQL for it.
For example, control structure like IF THEN ELSE cannot be translated into SQL. It will always be evaluated
in Crystal Reports. But if you use an IF THEN ELSE on a parameter, it will convert the result of the condition to
SQL, but as soon as uses database fileds in the conditions it will not be translated in SQL.
2. How many subreports the report contains and in section section they are located.
Minimise the number of subreports used, or avoid using subreports if possible because
subreports are reports within a report, and if you have a subreport in a details section, and the report returns 100
records, the subreport will be evaluated 100 times, so it will query the database 100 times. It is often the biggest
factor why a report takes a long time to preview.
3. How many records will be returned to the report.
Large number of records will slow down the preview of the reports. Ensure you only returns the necessary data on the report, by creating a Record Selection Formula, or basing your report off a Stored Procedure, or a Command Object that only returns the desired data set.
4. Do you use the special field "Page N of M", or "TotalPageCount"
When the special field "Page N of M" or "TotalPageCount" is used on a report, it will have to generate each page
of the report before it displays the first page, therfore it will take more time to display the first page of the report.
If you want to improve the speed of a report, remove the special field "Page N of M" or "Total Page Count" or formula that uses the function "TotalPageCount". If those aren't use when you view a report it only format the page requested. It won't format the whole report.
5. Link tables on indexed fields whenever possible.
6. Remove unused tables, unused formulas, unused running totals from the report.
7. Suppress unnecessary sections.
8. For summaries, use conditional formulas instead of running totals when possible.
9. Whenever possible, limit records through selection, not suppression.
10. Use SQL expressions to convert fields to be used in record selection instead of using formula functions.
For example, if you need to concatenate 2 fields together, instead of doing it in a formula, you can create a SQL Expression Field. It will concatenate the fields on the database server, instead of doing in Crystal Reports.
SQL Expression Fields are added to the SELECT clause of the SQL Query send to the database.
11. Using one command as the datasource can be faster if you returns only the desired data set. It can be faster if the SQL query written only return the desired data.
12. Perform grouping on server
This is only relevant if you only need to return the summary to your report but not the details. It will be faster as less data will be returned to the reports.
Hope this helps!!
Regards,
Shweta

Deadline VS Maintenance Window

I have configured the device collection for maintenance at 12am-6am everyday.I recently deployed windows update as required and deadline at 5pm. My understanding is that after 5pm, the update will wait till the next maintenance windows before it's installed.
However, the updates keeps installing at 5pm or whatever deadline i configure.
Am i having a wrong assumption or is my SCCM not configured correctly?

That is proper assumption only if under User Experience tab on software deployment you have
not selected any check boxes under Deadline behavior.

Deadline, Business Hours vs. Maintenance Windows

I read the blog about Business Hours vs. Maintenance Windows, but I still have two questions
http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2012/03/28/business-hours-vs-maintenance-windows-with-system-center-2012-configuration-manager.aspx
Event 1: Application A
No Maintenance Windows & No Wake on LAN;
Business hours is 5am to 10pm;
User start laptop at 8AM and close at 5PM every day;
Deadline is 11PM, Thursday;
Available is 9Am, Monday, User clicks "Install Later".
So when A will be installed?
Event 2: Application B
Maintenance Windows is 1AM to 4AM , NO Wake on LAN, B has not been configured that install when out of Maintenance Windows;
Business hours is 5am to 10pm;
User start laptop at 8AM and close at 5PM every day;
Deadline is 11PM, Thursday;
Available is 9Am, Monday, User clicks "Install Later".
User never start laptop in Maintenance Windows time, so if it mean that B will never be installed?

To add a couple of clarifying points to the article linked:
- Business hours are meaningless after a deployment's deadline and are only used before the deadline.
- Business hours are only relevant if a user has explicitly stated for a deployment to be enforced outside of their business hours.
- The intent of business hours is to allow users to schedule enforcement of a required deployment before a deadline but outside of their work hours so it never interrupts them.
The article does say all of this, just not as directly.
For Event 2 (application b), this is why using maintenance windows usually doesn't work well for workstations. Why would the business hours be set for 5AM to 10PM though? That really makes no sense based on my third point above. Of course in this case, if
the system is totally off, it doesn't really matter anyway.
Jason | http://blog.configmgrftw.com | @jasonsandys

Windows Media Player keeping Automatic Maintenance window/Windows Updates from doing auto-restart

I have a system that is connected to a domain, and it runs a video playlist in Windows Media Player for digital signage upon bootup (and auto-login). WMP is set to loop the videos over and over again, but it also is preventing automatic updates from
installing and/or auto-restarting at 3:00AM in the morning (and yes, the system power management is set to keep the computer on all the time).
How can I fix this?
I have a GPO set up to install updates and restart automatically (option 4). I tried the GPO option to use the Windows 8 maintenance window to install updates, and also tried turning that option off and just using a 3:00AM restart period. Neither
option seems to work, so it looks like Windows Media Player is preventing an auto-restart to finish the update installation. Is there any way around this, so that Windows Media Player doesn't stop Windows Updates from doing its job? I don't care
if that means the video stops playing because it just starts up again on the next bootup.
I looked at the WMP GPO's and the only option that sounds like it's related is the option to turn on or off the auto-updating of media info for WMP, but it has nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish. If I missed something, let me know.
If there is some other way to accomplish this, such as associating and launching the playlist file with the Xbox Videos app, I would be fine with that, but I need it to loop the playlist continually (I also use the Shuffle option
in WMP - ***see note below for another question). I still want the system to automatically install updates and reboot on a regular schedule despite the video playing in the foreground.
***Side question: is there any way to turn Repeat and Shuffle options on in WMP without having to load the GUI (for scripting a playlist)?
Just FYI: this system is actually using Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Enterprise (from a MAPS account), but it isn't customized aside from not having the standard WinRT apps from a stock Win 8.1 install loaded - it is a stock install from the ISO.
From what I understand, it is the same as Windows 8.1 Enterprise, except that it is only licensed to be used as an "appliance" machine for a single role - which it is. So I'm assuming that there are no actual differences from a "regular"
Windows 8.1 SKU that would cause this issue. If I am completely mistaken about this, please notify me on it. The reason I'm making this statement is in case there are any differences in Embedded 8.1 Industry Enterprise that I am not aware of.
Otherwise, I welcome any assistance that would target a "regular" version of 8.1 Enterprise. NOTE: Someone said to post this into the Windows Embedded forum, but the only one that exists is the one for POSready - and this is HARDLY the
POSready version of Windows Embedded that I'm using.

Hi,
Did you use the policy Local Computer Policy\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\Always automatically restart at the scheduled time?
I noticed an description "restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations" policy is enabled, then this policy has no effect." it means if system installed some updates which unneeds restart computer, this policy would has no effect.
In my opinion, your problem should not caused by WMP setting. please check your installed updates whether they need restart computer.
In addition, Power Managment in Control Panel also can prevent the schedule task running.
Control Panel\System and Security\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings\Change advanced power settings\Sleep\Allow wake timers
Please make sure this option is enable.
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

Windows User Switching to Mac – System Install/Setup Help

Hi All,
I’m a (very) long time windows user switching to Mac. I know nothing about Mac’s as in zero zip (I’ve been messing with an iMac for 2 weeks.) Buying a MacBook Pro (spec’s at bottom). I do creative work audio/video/graphics and use a lot of nonstandard peripherals e.g. audio interfaces, RAID, drawing tablets etc. Getting a new system setup is a long and laborious process.
When I get a new computer here’s my normal process:
Step 1
I reinstall windows to get rid of the junk software that’s always added by third parties.
Update all hardware drivers & software (OS and Auxiliary app’s)
Tweak Windows OS for my needs
Make full system backup
Step 2
Install all my major app’s e.g. adobe creative suite, audio programs etc.
Install non-standard peripherals such as audio interfaces, RAIDs etc.
Make full system backup
Step 3
Open up all major app’s and customize e.g. set preferences etc.
Set-up and test app specific peripherals, tweak as necessary
Make full system backup
Step 4
Install virus software and unimportant apps/hardware. No backup.
Is this basically what I should do with the mac? What kind of issues might I expect? Are there steps or issues I’m worrying about that don’t apply to the Mac? Finally, is there an equivalent to the windows Blue Screen of Death? Does the system every get so jammed up that a complete wipe out and re-install of OS and software is required?
I know these are very open questions so I’m only looking for general information.
Thanks
Here’s the machine I’m going to buy:
15” MacBook Pro (Late 2013) | 2.3GHz i7 Quad | 512GB PCIe-Based SSD | 16GB Ram - GeForce GT 750M (2GB)

Just to clarify the Mac includes anti-virus software and updates with no additional software purchase required?
Yes. Unlike Windows OS X was designed from its inception to be a secure multiuser operating system incorporating many protections specifically intended to isolate one user's space from another. Each succeeding release has only added more protections, and Apple updates its virus / malware database regularly.
Third party "anti-virus" products abound, but none of them improve upon anything OS X already includes. Most of them are simply worthless junk. Some will only cause problems, while others are arguably malicious. No one knows more about Macs and how to protect them than the company that builds them.
Apple is the most famously secretive company since E-Systems, yet the vast majority of Mac related problems reported on this site are the direct result of using ill-conceived products from third party developers claiming unique knowledge of OS X's inner workings. The companies selling them are desperate to assert their continued relevance in a market that is seeing rapid contraction of Windows PCs in favor of iPads - and to a lesser extent, Macs - that have never had the need for their products. Many AV vendors have been reduced to sordid scare tactics as they see their market and revenue stream diminish. Unfortunately, scare tactics work, resulting in widespread misery among Mac users gullible enough to swallow them. That represents a threat all to itself.
If it were not for Windows' predilection for malicious alteration from viruses and malware we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Even though I’m doing some heavy lifting e.g. video editing, audio recording (full band), large folders of music files/video clips/animations etc. no system/drive maintenance is required by me or if it is the software to do so is already included?
Correct. As a professional you may not be satisfied with the bundled apps such as iMovie but Apple has professional video and audio recording apps as well. Even they are not very expensive. You can find out more about them in the Professional Applications forum.
A Mac needs no third party maintenance utilities. Like "anti-virus" products most of them are worthless also.
Time Capsule: I thought that was Apples hardware for backup, remote access, streaming etc.
Yes. The Time Capsule is Apple's combination wireless router and backup device. You can just as easily use any inexpensive hard disk to use in conjunction with Time Machine.
Time Machine is Apple's backup software and it's included with OS X. You can use either one, or both. You can also use inexpensive commercial "clone" software such as Carbon Copy Cloner. Each one has its advantages, as well as their limitations. In the interest of redundancy I use all of them.
B&H Photo is a highly reputable vendor, one of the few I recommend.

Maintenance Window & User Experience setting

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