Maybe in the last year, for different reasons you decided to stop in your organization the deployment of Service Pack updates through Windows Update.
An official Microsoft tool for this task is the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit,  or a different way is described in my previous post  Block Installation of Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP1.

The Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit allows to temporarly disable this automatic update, but remember only for a limited time.

Now the time could be expires soon, in fact in the Microsoft note release there is the Service Pack update list disabled and the date:

- Windows XP Service Pack 3 (valid until May 19th, 2009)
- Windows Vista Service Pack 1...

Symantec User Migration (SUM) is a great tool to pull a users files, icons, registry settings and Windows settings and put them in a nice and neat little file. They can either then be saved as a backup or installed onto another PC.

The Following back files are what I use to capture and restore a users settings. I keep them out on the network for easy access. Also please note I have SUM installed on the network server and a custom SCMMigrationOptions.xml is being used.

To Capture I use:

@echo off
echo "This will use SUM Wizard to capture a users data for Desktops"
echo "Enter name "
set /p UserName=

echo "Saving to \\Server\share\User_Migration\%UserName%.ump
pause
"\\Server\share\SUM\User Migration Wizard\SUMWizard.exe" /action:create /pkg:\\Server\...

This is for the Windows (and WinPE) drivers for any PC that uses Intel network drivers 825XX (Such as 82567LM for example) and how to put them into WinPE.

First you will need to download the drivers from Intel, NOT Dell or HP or whatever brand you have.

You can find the site http://downloadcenter.intel.com/

On the search, type in the network card type (example, 82567LM). Follow the instructions, make sure you get the Vista drivers and not the ones for Windows 64.

The file you should be downloaded should be called "PROVISTA32_v13_5.exe"

Next, you can either use WinZip or WinRAR to extract the files by following this Blog: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs...

Sometimes it happens. Scenario: During a Windows Office 2007 installation someone thought to shutdown the computer. In this case when you start again the Office 2007 installation, you will see a generic error and the setup will not continue.

I found an article that mentioned a Microsoft Knowledge Base with explained the error and the simple resolution. You have only to delete the rgstrtn.lck file!

In the Knowledge Base article, The 2007 Office suite Setup program will not restart after an initial installation is interrupted there is a detaileddescription with the cause and the workaround about this issue.

In case of some kind of issue and before send a new installation package on the computer, better read this KB srticle, delete the file and go ahead with the ususal installation.

Paolo