ConfigMgr Prerequisites Tool

Overview
Releases
Features

ConfigMgr Prerequisites Tool is designed to help administrators prepare their infrastructure and systems when about to install System Center Configuration Manager.

Preparing your environment for a successful deployment of Configuration Manager should not be an obstacle or a time consuming task. Many of the issues that might occur during the initial installation process can often be resolved by making sure that the correct prerequisites are in place.

The ConfigMgr Prerequisites Tool will help you to successfully prepare your environment allowing you to install the required software and Windows features.

Fixed a bug where the old method of using ping to determine internet connectivity has been replaced with WebClient instead to work in restricted network environments that don’t allow ping outbound. Also changed the lookup URL for connectivity to ‘http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt’ instead of ‘developer.microsoft.com’.

With the changes that came in Windows 10 ADK version 1809 (and assumingly onwards) the tool has been updated to support both installation files to also download and install the WinPE add-on. Offline installation for Windows 10 ADK has also been updated with a new drop-down menu to specify the type of installer to ensure that the correct silent installation parameters are being used. See the ADK section for more information.

Changed the way the tool reads in the available Windows ADK versions. Previous behavior would attempt to scrape the docs.microsoft.com website but since this has proven to be an ineffective way and has required an update to the tool for each new Windows ADK release another approach was required to make the tool stable. From this version and forward, the tool will read the Windows ADK versions and get the download information from a XML feed hosted on www.scconfigmgr.com.

Fixed an issue when detecting Windows ADK version from the Windows Hardware Dev Center. Downloads for Windows ADK has now been moved to docs.microsoft.com, causing updates to the web parsing section of the tool.

Fixed an issue when detecting Windows ADK versions from the Windows Hardware Dev Center resulted in an empty list box. This issue occurred after Microsoft updated the web site layout.
Correct an issue causing the wrong error message to appear when the WSUS Post-Install process fails.

Version 3.0.0 has been completely re-written in C# and WPF. Every section and operation of the tool has been written to support asynchronous calls whenever possible. With the change from PowerShell to C# a modern design is also introduced including a more simplified tab experience. Another benefit from this language change is that the tool now only consists of a single executable. It will also automatically require elevation, so that issues around non-elevated privileges are eliminated.
Primary Site and Central Administration Site windows feature installation now only install the minimum required items for the selected site type to install successfully. Remember to install the windows features for a Management Point and Distribution Point if you plan to host these roles on the same server as the selected site type. A message will appear showing a reminder for this operation.
The tool now has a Settings section, built to make the tool easier to use. Within the section you can define alternative credentials, setup a connection to a SQL Server and specify what alternative source to use when re-trying a failed windows feature installation.
Installation of windows features for any site type can now be re-tried with sources files from a specific location containing the operating system files required to install the feature that failed.
This tool can now also prepare a server for holding the Certificate Registration point role.
Prerequisite checks for launching the tool has been reduced to only check for a valid operating system type, e.g. Member Server. Support for running the tool on a Domain Controller has been added, but with a warning message that this is not supported, meaning it has not been tested extensively.
Configuring Active Directory for a Configuration Manager environment has improved and is now spread over multiple tabs. Automatic detection for the Schema Master role owner and PDC Emulator role owner has been added in this version. Support for providing different credentials when creating the System Management container and extending the Active Directory schema has also been added.
Supported and available Windows ADK version from the Windows Hardware Dev Center can automatically be detected by a simple web page scraper. This improves the experience of the tool when installing Windows ADK in the online mode. Previously, the tool would require an update to add-in the latest Windows ADK version URL.
A whole new section for SQL Server is introduced in this version. You can now configure the SQL Server memory usage settings, validate the correct collation for Configuration Manager is in use for the specified SQL Server connection, pre-create the Configuration Manager database and split the files in addition to configure SSRS database file settings.
This version also includes a better messaging system that prompts for success and/or failures. Warning and information messages are also shown when eligible.

Site types

Central Administration Site
Primary Site
Secondary Site

In addition to what’s mentioned above, the tool will also allow you to:

Configuration Manager configuration:
- Download prerequisite files for Configuration Manager setup
- Download and install Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK)
- Create NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS files to prevent unwanted volumes to be used by Configuration Manager
Active Directory configuration:
- Extend Active Directory schema
- Create System Management container in Active Directory
- Configure permissions on System Management container
SQL Server configuration:
- Configure SQL Server memory usage settings
- Validate SQL Server collation
- Pre-create the Configuration Manager database
- Configure SSRS database file size settings

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Source

ConfigMgr Prerequisites Tool

Site types

Site System roles

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