Windows OS Deployment : Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware.

I got this error while deploying Windows OS to my environment. It should be straightforward process, but somehow I got stuck with this. Clicking OK will restart the machine, and it still won't resolve the issue. Workaround? run msoobe.exe manually.


Issue : 
Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware.




Workaround :

1.  Press Shift + F10, command prompt window will opened
   
   
   
2.  Change the directory to C:\Windows\System32\oobe
   CMD : cd C:\Windows\System32\oobe
   
   
   
3.  execute msoobe.exe
   CMD : msoobe or msoobe.exe
   
   
   
   
4.  This screen appeared. Proceed with deployment.
   
   
   
   
5.   Once all done, we'll be back to this screen, restart the machine by using command prompt or just click OK at the message box.
   
   
   
   

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Power Shell : Check Microsoft Service Name / Display Name

One line script - a quick note for myself.


To find the service display name based on service name

get-service -Name "<serviceName">

To find the service name based on service display name

get-service -DisplayName "<serviceDisplayName">

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How To : Group Policy Processing ( GPP ) : Add / Edit / Remove INI FIle

It is a common practice for applications to have configurations set in INI file. It may contain information such as language, key, connection setting, version, and so forth. Updating INI file might not affect the application coding, but it may affect on how the application behave. There are multiple ways to update the file, one of it is by using Group Policy Preference ( GPP ). 

In this example, I want to update a key file at a specific location with a specific information.

Information : 

• File Location : C:\Temp\key\keyfile.key
• Content of AppsKey.key :

          [Setup]
          Key=XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX


As mentioned by Microsoft here, below format must be followed :

[SectionName]
PropertyName1=PropertyValue1
PropertyName2=PropertyValue2

How To Do :

1.  Edit the policy. Navigate to Preference | Windows Settings
   
   
   
   
2.  Right click INI Files | New | Ini File
   
   
   
   


3.  This screen will appear...
   
   
   Action = Different action will do different thing. Refer to the table below
   
   
   File Path = where to put the file. If the folder does not exist, the folder will be created. If the file does not exist, the file will be created. If the file exists, the action will affect the INI file content.
   SectionName = In which section the key will resides
   PropertyName = the property of the key
   PropertyValue = value of the key


4. Therefore...
   Action = Replace
   File Path = C:\Temp\key\keyfile.key
   SectionName = Setup
   PropertyName = ApplicationKey
   PropertyValue = XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX





5.  If there are more keys needed, create more entries. Note that, Update and Replace will give the same result.
   
   
   

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GPO : Failed to Open Group Policy Object

This happened to my environment anew days ago, where I was not able to edit my group policy with below error. The GPO is working fine, just that I could not make any changes on it.

Issues :

Failed to open the Group Policy Object. You might not have the appropriate rights.

Details :

The system cannot find the path specified.

Troubleshooting :

1. Manually assigned delegated permission (with Edit settings, delete & modify security) - not working
2. Tried to edit the policy from PDC Emulator server - not working
3. Checked the availability of the GPO folder in SYSVOL, the GPO folder is available.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Resolution :

A bit of Googling, I got this :

This is the issue, I executed the Procmon & found that process is trying to access the Registry.pol file under User folder under the policy path & it is failing to access, even though user configuration are not configured.

It turned out, a folder named 'User' was missing from the GPO folder, which causing GPO Editor unable to read the content, thus throwing the error. 

An empty folder created with the name of User, and it resolved the issue.

Reference 

• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/b91f3726-3a8c-42c4-9ac9-0fce356cc29d/failed-to-open-the-group-policy-object-you-may-not-have-the-appropriate-rights-the-system-cannot?forum=winserverDS

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