How to Enable Unknown Computer Support for a PXE Service Point

 

Updated: November 1, 2013

Applies To: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

In System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, you set the operating system deployment PXE service point response to incoming PXE requests from unknown computers by setting the SupportUnknownMachines embedded property.

SupportUnknownMachines has the following possible values.

Value

Description

0

The PXE service point does not respond to PXE requests from unknown computers.

1

The PXE service point responds to requests from unknown computers.

To set the PXE service point response to PXE requests from unknown computers

  1. Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see About the SMS Provider in Configuration Manager.

  2. Make a connection to the distribution point instance with PXE enabled.

  3. Get the embedded properties.

  4. Update the SupportUnknownMachines embedded property.

  5. Commit the changes to the site control file.

Example

The following example method sets the response for a PXE request based on the supplied String value (allowResponse).

For information about calling the sample code, see Calling Configuration Manager Code Snippets.

public void EnablePXE(WqlConnectionManager connection,                      string siteCode,                      string serverName,                      string allowResponse){    try    {        //Connect to distribution point instance.                        IResultObject siteRole = connection.GetInstance("SMS_SCI_SysResUse.FileType=2,ItemName=\"[\\\"Display=\\\\\\\\" + serverName + "\\\\\\\"]MSWNET:[\\\"SMS_SITE=" + siteCode + "\\\"]\\\\\\\\" + serverName + "\\\\,SMS Distribution Point\",ItemType=\"System Resource Usage\",SiteCode=" + "\"" + siteCode + "\"");        // Create temporary copy of the embedded properties.        Dictionary<string, IResultObject> embeddedProperties = siteRole.EmbeddedProperties;        // Enumerate through the embedded properties and makes changes as needed.        foreach (KeyValuePair<string, IResultObject> kvp in siteRole.EmbeddedProperties)        {            // Setting: SupportUnknownMachines            if (kvp.Value.PropertyList["PropertyName"] == "SupportUnknownMachines")            {                // Get current property value.                Console.WriteLine();                Console.WriteLine("Property: {0}", kvp.Value.PropertyList["PropertyName"]);                Console.WriteLine("Current value: {0}", kvp.Value.PropertyList["Value"]);                // Change value.                embeddedProperties["SupportUnknownMachines"]["Value"].StringValue = allowResponse;                Console.WriteLine("Setting the {0} value to {1}.", kvp.Value.PropertyList["PropertyName"], allowResponse);            }        }        // Store the settings that have changed.        siteRole.EmbeddedProperties = embeddedProperties;        // Save the settings.         siteRole.Put();    }    catch (SmsException ex)    {        Console.WriteLine();        Console.WriteLine("Failed. Error: " + ex.InnerException.Message);    }}

The example method has the following parameters:

Parameter

Type

Description

connection

Managed: WqlConnectionManager

A valid connection to the SMS Provider.

siteCode

Managed: String

The Configuration Manager site code.

serverName

Managed: String

The server name. For example, “SERVER1.DOMAIN1.COM”.

allowResponse

Managed: String

The value to set whether the PXE service point will respond to unknown computers.

  • 0 - The PXE service point does not respond to PXE requests from unknown computers.

  • 1 - The PXE service point responds to requests from unknown computers.

Compiling the Code

The C# example has the following compilation requirements:

System

System.Collections.Generic

System.Text

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine

microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider

adminui.wqlqueryengine

Robust Programming

For more information about error handling, see About Configuration Manager Errors.

.NET Framework Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see Securing Configuration Manager Applications.

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