I’ve been a huge fan of MDT over the years and still use it to create my Windows Reference images to this day as it’s so straightforward for me to make tweaks to a WIM file if I need to.

Historically I have always recommended and implemented MDT-Integrated Task Sequences in Configuration Manager to take advantage of all the additional capabilities that MDT provides.

Recently though I have started to move to using a standard MCM OSD Task Sequence as they are so much more simple and require less maintenance.

The most useful thing from MDT Integration that I use day-to-day for OSD is the ‘MDT Gather’ step to collect information about the device and deployment at various points in the Task Sequence. This allows various aspects of a deployment to be controlled dynamically based on numerous pre-defined variables such as the classic IsDesktop/IsLaptop scenarios etc.

The downside to this is the steps require a MCM Package to be created and maintained plus it adds unnecessary time to the deployment when downloading the Toolkit Package.

It is possible to retain this useful capability by replacing the MDT Toolkit/Gather steps with a PowerShell script which can be added directly into the ‘Run PowerShell Script’ Task Sequence step and that’s why I’m here writing this post 🙂

I found a script which was created by Johan Schrewelius (with contributions from various others) which did the majority of what I wanted. His script can be accessed on the Technet PowerShell Gallery (Link).

By reworking this script and adding functionality that I specifically needed, I now have a lightweight and solid ‘Gather’ solution which can be easily added to any MCM Task Sequence.

v1.0 of the script collects the following information. The example is one of my lab devices so you can see what the info looks like. I expect this list to expand over time as new requirements crop up:

Architecture = X64
AssetTag = CZCXXXXXXX
BIOSReleaseDate = 12/25/2019 00:00:00 -BIOSVersion = N01 Ver. 02.45
BitlockerEncryptionMethod = AES_256
DefaultGateway = 192.168.1.1
IPAddress = 192.168.1.201
IsBDE = True
IsCoffeeLakeOrLater = False
IsDesktop = True
IsLaptop = False
IsOnBattery = False
IsOnEthernet = True
IsServer = False
IsTablet = False
IsVM = False
MacAddress = 48:0F:CF:46:09:F5
Make = HP
Memory = 49031.58203125
Model = HP EliteDesk 800 G2 SFF
OSBuildNumber = 17763.1158
OSCurrentBuild = 17763
OSCurrentVersion = 10.0.17763
ProcessorFamily = 6700
ProcessorManufacturer = GenuineIntel
ProcessorName = Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
ProcessorSpeed = 3408
Product = 8054
SerialNumber = CZCXXXXXXX
UUID = D41CCC6A-E086-13G5-9C43-BC0000EE0000
Vendor = HP
VMPlatform = N/A

I’ve been using it with customers for a while and am happy now that it’s robust/mature enough to be shared on GitHub for others to use as well if they want to:

https://github.com/jonconwayuk/PowerShell_Gather

It can be added into a Task Sequence as per the image below using the ‘Run PowerShell Script’ step with the Execution Policy set to ‘Bypass’. Each time it runs, it will add the collected variables into the running Task Sequence environment and can be used throughout the Task Sequence:

Below is an example of how variables can be utilised – in this example the condition is to control some BitLocker tasks which I only wanted to run on physical devices which are also laptops:

It also creates a log file (Pwsh-Gather.log) in the standard Task Sequence logging directory defined as the built in variable “_SMSTSLogPath” which can be reviewed using cmtrace.exe.

For testing, the script can be run locally on a device by using the ‘-Debug’ parameter as per the example below from an ‘Administrator’ PowerShell prompt:

PS C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\PowerShell_Gather> .\Pwsh-Gather.ps1 -Debug

Feel free to start using the script and let me know if there are any improvements or additions that you’d like to see and I’ll try and accommodate them when time permits. Hopefully people find it useful!

/ JC