Finish All Post-Imaging Apps & Tasks Before Allowing First Login?

[Jason M]

Post-image deployment, is it normal for the login screen to appear before all applications are installed / tasks are completed? If I were to sign in as soon as I see the login screen after an image deployment, majority of the apps would be missing and it'd be another 25 or so minutes before they show up.

If I recall correctly, SCCM had, at the very least, pop-up messages indicating that things were still being worked on in the background, so I knew the machine wasn't finished until that message went away. Is this not something SmartDeploy does? Just curious as I've only recently started using it.

For me, it's super convenient to know when I can pull a laptop off the imaging shelf without having to look at the console.

[Jason M]

FYI - I tried sending a message via PowerShell as the first task, hoping that it'd actually pop-up for me to see at the login screen; unfortunately it did not work.

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for reaching out.

>Post-image deployment, is it normal for the login screen to appear before all applications are installed / tasks are completed?

Yes, this is normal behavior. SmartDeploy has no mechanism to delay the appearance of the Windows login screen. Any "First Boot as System" tasks will be executed behind the Windows login screen under the authority of the LOCALSYSTEM account (they are executed by the SmartDeploy service).

>FYI - I tried sending a message via PowerShell as the first task, hoping that it'd actually pop-up for me to see at the login screen; unfortunately it did not work.

This is also normal - and is due to the execution of these tasks as LOCALSYSTEM. No window will be displayed for the logged-on user, nor would does that user have any ability to interact with any window that does appear as a result of the process. This is why tasks must be silent/unattended, because a user will not have any means to click through to the end of the process.

>If I recall correctly, SCCM had, at the very least, pop-up messages indicating that things were still being worked on in the background, so I knew the machine wasn't finished until that message went away.

It's been a while for me personally, but I believe you're correct about this. If this is a feature you'd find useful in SmartDeploy, please shoot an email to feedback@smartdeploy.com to let us know. I can't make any promises about future product features, but our engineers do read all feedback and feature requests that come to this address.

Please let us know if we can assist with anything else.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support
support@smartdeploy.com

[Jason M]

I found an acceptable workaround using the legalnoticecaption and legalnoticetext registry keys. The goal is to know exactly when it's safe to remove a laptop or PC from the imaging shelf without needing to check the console, and this does it quite well.

This is especially helpful for brand new machines imaged via PXE boot, since it seems the easiest way to tell whether those are done is to keep refreshing the "Installed Software" list until the last application in the answer file you used shows up.

What I did was add the following command to the SPECIALIZE phase in the Answer File under Answer File Wizard > Advanced > Tasks.

cmd.exe /c reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v legalnoticecaption /t REG_SZ /d "SmartDeploy Imaging" /f && reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v legalnoticetext /t REG_SZ /d "Applications are being installed and configured. This computer will restart when the process is complete." /f

Then create a "Run Command" task with the following CMD arguments which removes the Lock Screen notice, add it to the Answer File and move it to the bottom of the "Install Order" list.

/c reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v legalnoticecaption /t REG_SZ /f && reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v legalnoticetext /t REG_SZ /f

I like to reboot my machines at the end of the imaging process, so I added the above step right before my final reboot task; however, a reboot is not required as these registry changes are immediate.

More info on the registry keys used: https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/custom-lock-screen-message-in-windows-10/

[SmartDeploySupport]

That is an excellent option, thanks for sharing!

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support