HTA to prompt for computer name and time zone in OSD of Configuration Manager

A common requirement of new operating system deployments from Configuration Manager is to have the ability to prompt for variables such as a computer name, time zone, and whether or not to install applications and updates. You could add MDT integration to Configuration Manager or you could create your own HTA using basic HTML and VBScript. However there are limitations with HTA files you should be aware of and you’ll need to tweak your task sequences.
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WSUS virtual machine high CPU usage

I was recently deploying a WSUS server as part of a System Center Configuration Manager implementation when my Configuration Manager server’s CPU became pegged at 100%. It was clear the issue was being caused by the WsusPool IIS application pool. I was expecting the CPU to struggle for a few hours during the initial check-ins by Windows Clients. I had also made the recommended changes to the WsusPool to service the demands of Windows 10 clients. However after 24 hours the server was still struggling with 8 vCPU using 99% CPU. Eventually I noticed VMTools was absent from the virtual machine. I researched whether this could have an enormous performance impact and as it turns out, it can. The storage drivers alone vastly improve I/O performance for intensive workloads.Installing VMTools immediately resolved the issue. The WsusPool continued to be intensive for a few more hours while it processed client check-ins but used only 20-30% CPU while the IIS Worker Process was able to grow to consume 12GB of memory. But a few hours later initial client check-ins had completed and everything was back to normal. Conclusion: Install VMTools.
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Windows 10 Express Updates in Configuration Manager taking a long time to download and install

Windows 10 and Server 2016 Express Updates may not be what we think they are. I was recently implementing System Center Configuration Manager 1702 and thought I’d try enabling Microsoft’s newly released Express Updates functionality which become fully supported as of the April 2017 Cumulative Update. However I quickly discovered there’s major consequences of enabling the global settings.
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How to improve sources in Kodi with a premium provider

Addons for Kodi such as Covenant, Elysium, and Exodus rely on third-party sources for content. In many cases these sources will have daily bandwidth limits and connection throttling. Real-Debrid is an unlimited multihoster which provides access to premium hosting providers with faster, reliable, and higher quality sources (1080P and HD). It’s fairly inexpensive costing around $5 a month. For more information on Kodi, see the article What is Kodi and how do I use it to stream movies and tv shows?
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Send vCenter statistics to Graphite/Grafana with PowerShell

In this article I’ll walk you through setting up VMPerf-To-Graphite PowerShell script written by Matthias and available on GitHub. This will provide the ability to graph metrics such as CPU memory, IOPS, read latency, and write latency on a per-VM basis. It’s extremely useful information that will provide insight for troubleshooting resource contention. And the best part, it’s Open Source. If you don’t already have Grafana and Graphite, see the article Installing and configuring Grafana on Ubuntu.
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How to use your own router with Bell Fibe/FiberOP internet by enabling Advanced DMZ

Bell Fibe Internet or Bell Aliant FiberOP Internet is a popular choice among Canadians.  However the equipment provided by Bell and Bell Aliant may not suit everyone’s needs. If you’ve tried to attach a router to a Bell modem you will quickly realize that multiple internal networks are created as the Bell modem acts as a router and wireless access point. It becomes even more convoluted if you require port forwarding. To make matters worse, the Bell equipment could interfere with your personal router’s wireless network performance. There’s a better way to use your own personal router with Bell Internet.
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Installing and configuring Grafana on Ubuntu

Graphite is a scalable metric graphing solution. It’s a popular choice in the enterprise for collecting metrics from multiple sources and producing readable graphs. However, Graphite’s graphing interface isn’t all that user friendly and it’s difficult to showcase the collected metrics. This is where Grafana shines. Grafana is a web front-end for Graphite or InfluxDB. Although they have their own graphing solutions, Grafana is far more powerful and much easier to use. I’ll guide you through installing and configuring Graphite and Grafana on Ubuntu 14.04.
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Installing PHP for IIS on Server 2012/2016/2019 using the Web Platform Installer

Installing PHP on IIS is fairly straight forward using Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer.  Unfortuantely numerous resources available on the web as well as the Web Platform Installer’s prerequisite check overlook a few prerequisites when installing PHP on IIS running on Windows Server. I’ve developed a guide and a list of requirements that will make the process of installing PHP on IIS much easier.
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“VMware Remote MKS has stopped working” when rebooting virtual machines

Recently I started receiving the error “VMware Remote MKS has stopped working” when starting, rebooting, and shutting down virtual machines with the VMware vSphere Client console. I searched the VMware community forums and was overwhelmed with the amount of ignorance. It turns out the problem is caused by overlapping versions of the vSphere Infrastructure Client. It appears that the VI Client for vSphere 6 relies on the version 5.5. This is fine until you need to install version 5.1 of the VI Client which overwrites some registry values causing version 6 to become unstable. Luckily the user enriquepessoa on the VMware community forums has a solution by running a simple registry file which can be downloaded from this thread, https://communities.vmware.com/message/2576374#2576374. I no longer receive the error “VMware Remote MKS has stopped working” when starting, rebooting, and shutting down virtual machines.
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Watch NHL Game Center (NHL.TV) in 60fps on Windows devices with Kodi

Update September 28, 2017: The NHL Game Center Mod is no longer working. A new add-on called NHL TV is now available from the official Kodi repository. For more information see the article Watch NHL Gamecenter or NHL.TV in 60fps with Kodi. Original article: NHL Game Center was recently overhauled to NHL.TV. The re-launch was accompanied by new apps for iOS and Android which allows subscribers (or those with a Rogers Share Everything plan) to stream games in full HD at 60fps. Although iOS and Android users have beautiful apps to stream live NHL games, one of the most popular platforms on earth was forgotten.. again. Those of us who run Windows, especially anyone with Media Center PCs running Windows, understand the pain of watching NHL games through a web browser. It’s an awful experience which is limited to 30fps (frames per second). But as long as you’re a subscriber, you can stream those games on Windows in crystal clear 60fps with the recently updated NHL Game Center Mod addon for Kodi. 
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How to use your own router with Telus Optik internet by enabling Port Bridging

Telus Optik internet is among the most popular providers in Western Canada. However the equipment provided by Telus may not suit everyone’s needs and you may want to use your own personal router for more robust features such as 5Ghz, guest networks, gaming priority, or you may want to place a router somewhere else for optimal signal without moving the equipment provided by Telus (in my case my Telus Modem was near my television receiver but the wireless was out of range of the bedroom). If you’ve ever tried to attach a router to a Telus modem you may have quickly realized that you’ll end up with multiple internal networks as the Telus modem also acts as a router and wireless access point. It becomes convoluted if you require any port forwarding as the rules would have to be configured on both the Telus equipment as well as your router. To make matters worse, the wireless network broadcast by the Telus equipment could interfere with your personal router’s performance. There’s a better way to use your own personal router with Telus Optik internet.
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Get started with FoundationPress theme for WordPress

FoundationPress is an amazing template for WordPress built on top of Zurb’s Foundation framework. It’s responsive, easily customized, and is very well documented by both Zurb and the community. In my opinion it’s one of the best frameworks available. The most powerful way to take advantage of Foundation is by leveraging SCSS (Sassy Cascading Style Sheet). I highly recommend checking out the Foundation Kitchen Sink for a quick look at Foundation’s default but easily customized styling. 
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Get started with Zurb’s Foundation 6 for Sites on Windows with SCSS (Sass)

The Foundation Framework is one of the most popular web development frameworks available. It’s responsive, easily customized, and is very well documented by both Zurb and the community. This makes it one of the most powerful frameworks. The best way to take advantage of Foundation is by leveraging SCSS (Sassy Cascading Style Sheet). I’ll go over what’s required within Windows to begin your first web development project using Foundation. 
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Fix for Logitech G430 USB gaming headset on Windows 10

UPDATE: I began to have problems with my headset a few weeks later. It appears it was related to the Logitech Gaming Software but uninstalling it would cause my headset to stop working. I realized that the reset option in Windows 10 was likely using a bad image. I thought about using DISM to repair the files, but I ended up re-installing Windows 10 from scratch. I did not use Windows 10’s built in reset option and instead opted to clean the drive and re-install Windows 10 which also re-created the recovery partition. After re-installing Windows 10 my headset worked immediately without needing any drivers. The USBAUDIO.SYS file was present (as it should have been) and I did not need to install LGS. If you run into this issue, I highly recommend avoiding the reset option in Windows 10 and instead perform a fresh install. It appears the recovery image when upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 10 could be corrupt. Hopefully Microsoft can issue a fix for the recovery image. If you’re interested, more information on using DISM to repair Windows 10 and recovery images can be found here. When I upgraded my PC from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, my Logitech G430 USB gaming headset continued to work just fine. But recently I decided to reinstall Windows 10 fresh and found my  headset would no longer be recognized within the Device Manager as the device appeared under “Other Devices” with an exclamation point. I searched and searched and all I could find was people advising to use the 3.5mm jacks instead. This isn’t a solution. But I eventually found one.
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