Unable to create CCM namespace

So tonight I ran into an issue with a workstation. The SCCM Client simply refused to connect to the ConfigMgr server. I tried running a repair on the client installation, but it came up with an error stating it couldn't create the CCM namespace in WMI.... wtf? Out of all the issues I've ran into, this was a first. I Googled the issue, and after a bit of looking found the following solution... even though I'm not exactly sure what it's doing. It's to late to dig into it to much, I just wanted to post the issue and solution on here before I forgot.

To resolve this... for me anyways, do the following.

1. Open command prompt and navigate to %windir%\system32\wbem\
2. run "mofcomp cimwin32.mof" (If you get errors, ignore them.)
3. run "mofcomp cimwin32.mfl" (Ignore the errors.)
4. run "net stop winmgmt
5. run "rmdir /s /q repository"
6. run "rmdir /s /q logs"
7. run "mkdir logs"
8. run "net start winmgmt"

You should now be able to run a repair on the SCCM Client and it should begin functioning normally.

Enjoy

Deploying Microsoft Report Viewer 2005

So unlike Report Viewer 2008, 2005 is a bit more difficult to install quietly. With the 2008 version you simply run "install.exe /q" and it works. With the 2005 version, you have to do the following...

ReportViewer2005.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /q"

By doing all that, it's quietly running the install.exe file that exists inside of the ReportViewer2005.exe file. If you simply run "ReportViewer2005.exe /q" you'll just get a window that pops up with "Next" on it. Not what you want.

Enjoy

Preventing data loss due to USB flash drives

***Not Fully Tested***

So I've been thinking lately about data loss due to a recent branch of our company all quiting at the same time and deleting as much data as they could without it being notible. (Luckily we had backups to restore what was deleted.)

So what I've come up with won't prevent users from deleting data off their computers or the network, but it will prevent them from stealing information by copying it to flash drives and such.

Navigate to
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

then change the dword "WriteProtect" to "00000001". By making that change whenever a user tries to write data to a external drive they will get a write protect error.

Enjoy