Specops Deploy / End Point Protection

7.1.23077.1

Other changes

• Removed the WinPEType parameter from the Reinstall-SDComputer CmdLet since x64 is the only alternative.

Released March 20, 2023

7.1.23059.2

New/updated functionality

• /OS: Added support for ADK for Windows 11, version 22H2.
• /OS: Creating share could fail with an error message.
• /App: Added support to target Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022.
• /App: Added option to enable MSI logging. In a GPO extended with Specops Deploy /App settings, MSI client logging can be enabled when editing advanced options in a package. When the client side extension installs, a log file will be generated under "%windir%\debug\usermode" on the client computer.
• /App: List of deployments were not sorted.
• /App: Added single click button to move a package to the top or bottom.

Additional information

• If deployment of captured Windows 11 images get stuck: https://specopssoft.com/knowledge-base/specops-deploy-os/windows-11-22h2-capture-image-deployment-gets-stuck-on-getting-ready/

Breaking changes

• Support for x86 has been deprecated with this release. Organizations with x86 computers used for app or os deployment should not upgrade to this version.

Released March 08, 2023

7.0.19283.1

New Features

• Specops Deploy/OS: added support for Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) 1903.
• Specops Deploy/OS: added support for Windows 10 in-place upgrades.
• Specops Deploy/OS: added option to select WinPE platform x86/x64 when pre-staging, to allow installation of pure x64 computers via UEFI boot.
• Specops Deploy/App: added support for advanced targets (support for the OR-operator and grouping constructs; e.g. to target installation of a computer in a specific organizational unit OR a member of a specific security group).
• Specops Deploy/App: added support to target Windows Server 2019 when deploying.
• Specops Deploy/App: added support for automatic registry update on client computer if a deployment was updated.

Released October 10, 2019

6.2.19245.1

Fixed Issues

• Specops Deploy /OS Admin Tool: Additional improvements to prevent error message Recursive call to Automation Peer API is not valid when clicking grid views.
• Specops Endpoint Protection: Disabled configuration of some Endpoint Protection settings due to Windows Security Tamper Protection interpreting these as tampering attempts.

Released October 07, 2019

6.2.19171.1

Fixed Issues

• Clicking grid views from the Specops Deploy /OS Admin Tool could result in a Recursive call to Automation Peer API is not valid error message.

Released June 24, 2019

6.2.19156.1

Fixed Issues

• Upgrading MSIs from previous versions could fail with a message that services failed to start.

Released June 10, 2019

6.2.19133.1

New Features

• Support for the Windows 10 May 2019 update (version 1903).
• Added support to target Windows server 2019.

Fixed Issues

• Windows Store apps sometimes failed to install on Windows 10.

Known Issues

• The latest ADK (version 1903) is not supported in Specops Deploy OS. Microsoft has introduced an issue in the latest ADK, resulting in 64-bit installations not being supported. For more information, see here. Until Microsoft has released a fixed version, ADK version 1809 must be used.

Released May 22, 2019

6.2.18282.1

New Features

• Support for the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809).
• Support for the WinPE ADK add-on.

Released October 17, 2018

6.2.18129.1

New Features

• Windows ADK for Windows 10, version 1803 support.

Released May 14, 2018

6.2.17318.1

• Continued support for ADK 1703, while still maintaining support for ADK 1709. Customers affected by driver issues with 1709, can roll back to 1703.

Released November 16, 2017

6.2.17299.1

New Features

• Support for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Build 1709)

Released October 26, 2017

6.2.17129.1

New Features

• Support for Windows 10 Creators Update (Build 1703)

Released May 11, 2017

Version 6.1.60921.1

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/App

• Windows x86 clients with the latest Windows updates, can fail to process group policy, leaving an eventlog error similar to “The requested operation requires elevation.”
• Published applications were not displayed if the client computer was missing Microsoft .Net 2 runtime.

Released September 22, 2016

Version 6.1

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Windows 10 Anniversary Update support
• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 10 (version 1607) support.

Released August 16, 2016| 6.1.60811.1

Version 6.0 Maintenance Release 2

Released May 30, 2016 | 6.0.60329.1

Version 6.0 Maintenance Release 1

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 Update 2 support.
• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 10 (10.1.10586.0) support.

Released January 25, 2016 | 6.0.60113.2

Version 6.0

New Features

• Windows 10 support.

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 Update 1 support.
• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 10 support.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/OS

• If the MDT Task Sequence was edited in the workbench, MDT’s ts.xml unexpectedly contained duplicate Operating System references.

New Features: Specops Deploy Endpoint Protection

• Windows Defender in Windows 10 support.

Released October 20, 2015 | Build number: 6.0.51119.1

Version 5.0 Maintenance Release 3

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Added support for the latest Windows ADK for Windows 8.1 update.

Released October 28, 2014 | Build number: 5.0.40918

Version 5.0 Maintenance Release 2

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Added support for Windows ADK for Windows 8.1 Update.
• Added support for adding and removing Windows Features during OS install.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/OS

• When an administrator tried to reinstall a computer with CSE, the reinstall failed if the name of the local administrator group exceeded 16 characters.
• Multicast was always disabled.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/App

• Updated the Software target criterion with error handling to prevent the entire Deploy GP processing from being stopped as a result of a corrupt Windows installer package.

Released May 5, 2014 | Build number: 5.0.40429

Version 5.0 Maintenance Release 1

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• New prerequisite for the Image Server; the Image Server now requires PowerShell 3.0 or later.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/OS

• When a computer was prestaged or set to reinstall, and the installation was not started within 4 hours, the computer state was displayed as a failed installation in the UI.
• When an administrator tried to perform a reinstallation on Windows XP, the CSE failed to start the OS installation.
• When UAC was disabled on Windows Vista and above, the CSE failed to start the OS installation.

Released March 26, 2014 | 5.0.40307

Version 5.0

New Features

• UEFI and Windows 8.1: Specops Deploy has introduced support for Windows 8 and the UEFI platform enabling operating system and application deployment to Windows-based tablets.

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Increased complexity of temporary passwords set for local administrators when initiating a capture.
• Support to ignore BannedGuids, and use mac address instead, when determining the task sequence.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/App

• When an administrator moved or copied deployment packages, the migration tool would delete the packages in the target GPO.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/OS

• When an administrator created a new deployment group, they received an error when trying to move the GPOs created for the old deployment group to the new deployment group.
• When an administrator refreshed (F5) the grid view pane in the Servers tab, the information was not updated correctly.
• When an installation failed, reporting back from the client to the DS failed.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy Endpoint Protection

• When an administrator changed the value for the Ignore setting in the Default Threat Action, the incorrect value was displayed.

Released February 4, 2014

Version 4.9 Maintenance Release 1

New Features: Specops Deploy/OS

• Better default registry values that decrease how often Specops Deploy/OS writes and reads information to Active Directory. Using the default settings will use less network resources.
• When a computer has completed installing an Operating System an event log is created, and the Administration Tool displays the progress and completion of the installation. The event log is useful when troubleshooting the product.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/App

• Migration: When an administrator created two GPOs and created a MSI deployment in one of them using the administration tools, they received an unknown error when copying or moving the GPO to the empty GPO.
• Migration: When an administrator moved a configuration from one GPO to another GPO, the selected package or target, which could also belong to one or more deployment, would be moved to the target GPO and be deleted from the source GPO.
• Migration: When an administrator copied or moved GPOs, they would receive an error when attempting to rearrange the list of OU’s using the default tabs.
• Migration: When an administration copied or moved configuration from one GPO to another, and configured it to not copy the installation files of the package from one server to another, the AAS files were still created resulting in an error.

Fixed Issues: Specops Deploy/OS

• Administration Tools: When an administrator installed a Deployment Server in the Administration Tools, an error message appeared stating that the WDS and DFSR are offline.
• Administration Tools: The administrator would receive feedback stating that deployment had started before the client had started and sent feedback to the deployment server.
• Administration Tools: When an administrator started the Administration Tools before the Image Server had completed its post installation startup, the administrator would receive a misleading error message.
• Administration Tools: When an administrator installed a client, an inaccurate status of the installation appeared in the Administration Tool UI
• Deployment Server: When an administrator performed F12 reinstall, the deployment policy settings were ignored.

Released November 21, 2013

Version 4.9

New Features

• Support for using Specops Deploy/OS across multiple domains.
• New Deployment Group concept in Specops Deploy/OS allows multiple Image Servers in the same domain.
• Further improvements to the capture procedure in Specops Deploy/OS.
• New administration tool for Specops Deploy/App can be used to trigger re-installations of specific deployments on target computer(s).
• New migration tool for Specops Deploy/App allows migrating settings between GPOs, even across domains.
• Improved configuration settings for rebooting a computer after a software deployment.
• Added detection for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.
• Added local security groups to control access to the database for Specops Deploy Endpoint Protection.
• Updated and clarified many registry settings.

Fixed Issues

• Improved logic when dealing with extremely long file paths in the Deployment Repository.
• Fixed ANSI encoding problem in Specops Log Viewer

Released September 19, 2013

Version 4.8

New Features

• New component Specops Deploy Endpoint Protection enables management of the Forefront/System Center Endpoint Protection client through Specops Deploy and Group Policy.
• Support for App-V 5.0.
• New Specops Configuration tool unifies configuration options and license monitoring for Specops Deploy, Specops Inventory and Specops Command.
• Improved Deployment Server installation process in Windows Server 2012.
• Improved Deployment Server selection algorithm in Deploy/OS.
• Support for exporting Deployment Server and deployment data to csv files.
• Support for deleting multiple items in Deploy/App GPO settings.
• Improvement management of available .Net Framework Performance Counter memory for Deploy/App real-time monitoring.
• Supported process for starting OS installations from removable media.
• Support for using other locations than deployment servers as the source for OS installation files.

Fixed Issues

• Fixed a bug that made Deployment Server installations fail on computers where the AppV client is installed.
• Fixed some bugs when displaying filtered objects in the Deploy/OS admin tool.
• Fixed a bug which caused the automatic logon during OS capture to fail if the capture was started from an x86 OS and targeted an x64 OS.
• Fixed some bugs that caused excessive CPU usage in certain tabs in the Deploy/OS admin tool.

Released April 25, 2013

Version 4.7

New Features

• Support for running Specops Deploy on Windows Server 2012.
• Support for deploying Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
• Support for deploying Modern UI style applications to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
• New PowerShell cmdlets for Specops Deploy/App makes it possible to manage Specops Deploy/App through PowerShell.
• Added search filtering capabilities to the Specops Deploy/App admin user interface.
• Added new sorting and search filtering options to the Specops Deploy / OS administration tool.
• Added detailed DFS-R replication progress monitoring to the Specops Deploy/OS administration tool.
• Added version control mechanism to Specops Deploy/App to warn admins if a GPO is currently edited by someone else.

Fixed Issues

• Fixed bug that made the CSE crash if told to run a wmi-query with a class that didn’t exist on the local machine.
• Fixed a bug where Deployment Servers were a bit overzealous in querying domain controllers when updating their status.

Released October 23, 2012

Version 4.6

New Features

• New PowerShell Cmdlets. Two new PowerShell Cmdlets for initializing OS capture and Importing captured images has been added. It is now possible to fully automate an OS capture and import.
• Enhanced support for user initiated OS installations. It is now enough that a computer has a MAC or GUID registered in ad in the property netBootGuid to allow installations with F12, this means that for example if a computer is previously installed with WDS or RIS the user can simply press F12 and the computer will be managed by F12 (If allowed by policy).
• HP UEFI support for Specops Deploy BIOS config. New HP computers with UEFI can now be set to boot on PWX and enable WOL with the Specops Deploy BIOS Config tool that ships with the Specops Deploy /OS admin tools.

Fixed Issues

• Specops Deploy /App and /OS Guids has been separated. Depending on how link order was set and settings separated in different GPOs for /App and /OS there the PXE filter could select the wrong GPO. These settings are now filtered separately.
• CSE based upgrades from x86 to x64 could select a x86 OS if available. The CSE now always uses the physical processor architecture and not that of the current operating system.
• CSE based installations failed when no subnet was available in any site in AD. The call to the underlying Site API is no modified to fall back to the default site if no subnets are defined.
• PXE installations randomly fails to force x86. Due to the way WDS can use another DC than the computer it is installed to the PXE filter has been updated to account for replication latency.
• The Specops Deploy Configuration Tool does not remove all items. When selecting computers to remove reported heartbeats, computers that are selected and not onscreen is not removed. This is now fixed so that all items are removed, regardless if they are on screen or not.
• App-v Applications that are not specifically designed for Global publishing does not appear when deploying to users. The Specops Deploy CSE now manages App-V applications regardless of targeted to user or computers

Released April 2, 2012

Version 4.5

New Features

• Specops Deploy Group Policy Extension initiated Operating System reinstallation.
• Greatly Enhanced Driver Management model. Specops Deploy 4.5 introduces a new way of managing drivers where it possible to customize the make, model, operating systems in any order.
• Deployment Feedback UI improvements. All options available in the Live View are now also available in the grid view.
• Advanced Image Management.
• Export of Feedback in the Specops Deploy/App admin tools. It is now possible to export both the overview of all Deployments in a GPO as well as the drill down of a single Deployment to files.
• Specops Deploy License Management.
• Microsoft App-V 4.6 support. Microsoft App-V 4.6, both x86 and x64, is now fully supported

Specops Deploy App Fixed Issues

• Specops Deploy/App service account get proper permissions for SCP during installation. The account selected to be used as the service account for Specops Deploy will now automatically get the proper permission in AD to manage its own Service Connection Point sub-object. If this was not properly configured the service would not start.
• The SpecopsSoft folder in the root of C: is now longer created when Tracing is enabled. All logging is now either to %windir%\debug\usermode or the users profile depending on the component.
• Max log size for the Specops Deploy trace file. Tracing can now be enabled without the trace file ever becoming larger than 10 MB with a rotating backup file of the same size.
• Environment variable Targets Fail Group Policy processing when the variable does not exist. Testing for system variables that do not exist will now return false and not stop deployment.

Specops Deploy OS Fixed Issues

• Recreate the Multicast Stream. In case the Deployment Server Multicast stream is removed, it can now be recreated using a new PowerShell Cmdlet AddSDMulticastStream.
• Allow user to initiate reinstallation using F12 during boot. Due to a bug, this feature was not working properly consistently.
• Lock screen during installation. A new option in the Group Policy Objects now allow for the screen to be locked during the last phase of the operating system installation. This will keep the screen locked when the computer is rebooting the last time with the operating system installed to prevent tampering.
• Multiple languages supported on the operating system of the Specops Deploy Deployment Server. It is now possible to install the Deployment Servers on computers running operating system with languages other than English.
• Pre-staging of computers with names longer than 15 chars prevented. Only computer names that are shorter are maximum 15 chars will be allowed, this include presaging from a file.
• Pre-staging and reinstalling will add permission to join the computer to the domain if not already granted. A check will be performed to see if the install account has permissions to join the computer to the domain and if it does not if will try to add these permissions automatically.
• The DoNotCreateExtraPartition variable can now be overridden. The variable is no longer prevented from being overwritten so that it is possible to prepare for BitLocker already during installation.
• Windows Update Configuration improvements. The Group Policy Settings are now improved with an option to either turn off patching during installation download the patches from Windows Update or a specific internal WSUS server.

Released November 22, 2011

Version 4.2

New Features

• Specops Log Viewer – A new tool named Specops Log Viewer is now included with Specops Deploy. Specops Log Viewer can read log files from for example computers that are being installed by Specops Deploy /OS. Specops Log Viewer has a number of features such as the ability to read new lines as they are written to the log file live, filter out errors and warnings, a tab based interface to display multiple log files and much more.
• Combined Setup Assistant – Specops Deploy /Application, Specops Deploy /OS and Specops Log Viewer are now all part of the same Setup Assistant and download. Previously Specops Deploy /OS and Specops Deploy /Application were separate downloads.
• MDT 2010 Update 1 – Specops Deploy now has full support for Microsoft MDT 2010 Update 1 and the enhancements included. When installing or upgrading to Specops Deploy 4.2 or later the Setup Assistant will automatically detect if Update 1 is installed. If Update 1 is not installed, the Setup Assistant will assist in downloading Microsoft MDT 2010 Update 1.
• Pre-stage improvements – When pre-staging a computer, Specops Deploy now supports not only MAC address and Computer GUID, but also computer GUIDs that are in the reversed byte order. Computer GUIDs can be shown in two different formats, the actual bits are the same but sometimes the GUID is displayed with the first 12 characters reversed. Any system administrator that is familiar with pre-staging in AD for Windows Deployment Servers will recognize the so called Pretty Print Format, but when for example a computer is booted another format called the Wire Format is shown. Specops Deploy now handles both formats when pre-staging computers.
• Improved Error Reporting – Errors that occur during the installation of Operating systems will now be reported back to the administrator with the same detailed text that is shown in the error dialog on the computer.
• Upgrade Deployment Server Wizard – The Admin Tools now have a context menu that allows for a direct upgrade of a Deployment Server. The Admin Tools will also notify the administrator if there are Deployment Servers running an outdated version of Specops Deploy. The same context menu also allows for uninstallation of Deployment Servers.
• Pending Installations – Pending installations are now added directly when they are prestaged to the Live and Grid view in the Admin Tools. They are represented by a grey computer icon that is not attached to any Deployment Server and when the installation starts they will automatically attach to the Deployment Server from where they are installed and progress will update accordingly.
• New configuration for Stale server and installation detection – Registry settings have been added that control the behavior for the Admin UI to allow for a longer latency when it determines if a Deployment Server or installation is stale. The main reason to change the behavior is in larger AD configurations with multiple sites that have slow replication.
• Persisted zoom level – The Live View and Server Management Tab now remembers changes to the zoom level even when the Admin Tools is closed and reopened.
• Improved notification for Windows XP Captures – The Capture Dialog will give the administrator a hint to make sure blank passwords are allowed when performing a capture on a Windows XP computer. When capturing Windows XP computers and the local Password Policy does not allow blank passwords the capture still succeeds but when the image is deployed the new password cannot be set.
• Faster server boot – The Deployment Server Service is now configured to start with the Delayed option on Server 2008 R2 and later, thus the overall time to boot a server is decreased.
• Database Cleaner – The Admin Tools setup now also adds the Database Cleaner tool during installation. The Database Cleaner is a utility that that finds old computers etc. in the Specops3 database used by most Specops Products. The Database Cleaner can be found in the same directory as the Admin tools are installed to.
• Improved Operating System Target – The performance for evaluating targets with the Operating System criterion on client computers has been greatly improved.
• New look and feel – The new Specops color scheme and icons are now used for the Specops Deploy admin tools.

Fixed Issues

• Create Manufacturer dialog error – In the Create Manufacturer dialog for drivers, clicking the Cancel button will no longer show an error.
• Deployment Server upgrade problems with WDS – During upgrade of the Deployment Server a problem with locked files that prevented Windows Deployment Services from starting automatically is now fixed.
• Drivers are no longer duplicated during import – Changed the way Drivers are added and removed to not store the same drivers multiple times in the Repository when for example adding the same drivers for different models or operating systems.
• Configurations preserved during upgrade – During upgrade the settings in the Registry that have been changed are preserved instead of replaced with the ones in the setup package.
• Windows XP installations failing due to missing settings – Windows XP installations will no longer fail when no settings have been configured in the Environment Settings Tab in the policy that affects the computer.
• Deployment Server not booting properly on Server 2008 R2 – In Server 2008 R2 the Deployment Server could fail to start during boot if the Server Service was not completely started. The Deployment Server now has a dependency on the Server Service to make sure that the Server Service is always is available when the Deployment Server is started.

Released December 15, 2010

Version 3.6

New Features

• The Specops Database Installer is bundled with the Specops Deploy Admin tools. The Specops Database Installer can be used if the database needs to be reinstalled or reset, it also contains functionality to run custom SQL queries against the database.
• .Net remoting is now used to read information from the Specops Deploy database. This removes the need for the old COM+ components on the server since that functionality is now built into the Specops Deploy Server service.
• You can now use the the Specops Deploy Setup Assistant to set a service account for the Specops Deploy Server Service.
• Access to the detailed feedback is now managed through a group called “Specops Deploy Feedback Users”. Members of this group will have access to detailed feedback.
• The Specops Deploy Control Center is now UAC aware and will prompt for credentials or consent on any computer configured to use UAC.

Released May 27, 2009