How to send an email for completed OS installs from Specops Deploy / OS

Our friends Johan and Mikael over at Deployment Research wrote an article a while back on sending an email from MDT 2010 when an OS Deployment completes.

Some of our customers have asked if this is possible with Specops Deploy / OS ?  Well of course MDT 2010 Update 1 is one of the fundamental building blocks of Specops Deploy / OS so integration of email into our task sequences is a simple task.

Here’s how to do it:

  • Download ZTIMailSend from the Deployment Research Blog and extract to a local Drive for example D:ZTISendMail.
  • On the Specops Deploy / OS Image Server open the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Deployment Workbench.
  • Open a Deployment Share and navigate to the SpecopsDeploymentRespository which resides in DriveLetter:SpecopsDeployDeploymentRespository.
  • Right click on the Applications Section of the Deployment Share and Select New Application and enter the following information:
    1. Working directory: .ApplicationsZTISendmail
    2. Application with source files
    3. Application name: ZTISendmail
    4. Source Directory: D:ZTISendMail
    5. Specify the name of the directory that ZTISendmailshould be created: 
    6. Command Line: cscript.exe ZTISendmail.wsf
  • Right click on the new created Application and Select properties.  On the general tab ensure “Hide this application in the Deployment Wizard” and “Enable this Application” are checked.
  • Select the Task Sequences Folder and select the task sequence you wish to modify.  When  you import an Operating System into Specops Deploy / OS there are two task sequences created by default “Install” and “Capture” only modify the “Install” task sequence.
  • Add ZTISendMail as the last step to the Task Sequence.
  • Open Windows Explorer and navigate to DriveLetter:SpecopsDeployDeploymentRespositoryControl and Edit CustomSettings.ini 
  • Paste and append the following information into the relevant sections of the CustomSettings.ini file changing the settings to match your environment.  Do not replace existing Specops Settings.

[Settings]
Priority=Default, SendMail
Properties=OSDSendMailFrom,OSDSendMailTo,OSDSendMailSubject,OSDSendMailBody,OSDSendMailSMTPServer,OSDSendMailIncludeBDDLog
[Default]
_SMSTSOrgName=%OSDComputername% soon to be in service.
OSInstall=Y
[SendMail]
OSDSendMailFrom=MDT01@specops.net
OSDSendMailTo=Someone@
specops.net 
OSDSendMailSubject=Mail from MDT01
OSDSendMailBody=The computer: %OSDComputerName% was installed at: #Now()#
OSDSendMailSMTPServer=mail.specops.net
OSDSendMailIncludeBDDLog=YES

For Example:

  • Save the CustomSettings.ini file and use the Specops Deploy / OS console to publish the Deployment Repository to the Deployment Share.
  • Start your client builds and watch the emails flowing in.


Note:

  • You will need to ensure that your SMTP Server support anonymous authentication so that Specops Deploy / OS can send emails automatically.

(Last updated on November 5, 2024)

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