How to automatically assign sites to imaged SMS 2003 Advanced Client computers

As documented in Scenarios and Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment Guide, you can install the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) Advanced Client on a client computer master image by installing core SMS client components. You do not have to specify an SMS site code for site assignment. However, to complete deployment of the Advanced Client on computers that have been set up by using a master image, you must specify a site code in Systems Management in Control Panel. This step requires manual intervention on each imaged computer to enable site assignment.

This article discusses how to automatically assign sites to Advanced Client computers without manual intervention.

To automatically assign sites to imaged SMS Advanced Client computers, follow these steps:

1. Designate a master computer. This is the computer that will be duplicated to destination computers.
2. Install the Advanced Client on the master computer by using the Ccmsetup.exe program. Make sure that the SMSSITECODE parameter is not used so that the client remains unassigned.
3. After the Advanced Client is installed, stop the SMS Agent Host service (Ccmexec.exe) on the master computer.
4. On the master computer, run the Ccmdelcert.exe tool from SMS 2003 Toolkit 2. The Ccmdelcert.exe tool deletes any certificates from a previous Advanced Client installation.
   
   To download SMS 2003 Toolkit 2, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=25444 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=25444)
5. Set the EnableAutoAssignment property on the master computer to TRUE. EnableAutoAssignment is a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) property. This property is under the following WMI path:
   Namespace - root\CCM, Class - SMS_Client, Object - SMS_Client =@)
   You can do this manually by using WBEMTEST or by using Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) code that resembles the following.

   set oSMSClient = CreateObject("Microsoft.SMS.Client")
   oSMSClient.EnableAutoAssignment 1

6. Create the image of the master computer by using your imaging software.
7. Restore the image on the destination computers.

Every time that the SMS Agent Host service starts, it checks the EnableAutoAssignment property. If the property is set to TRUE, the SMS Agent Host service tries to autoassign the site and then resets the property to FALSE.

To set the EnableAutoAssignment property, set the SMSSITECODE parameter in the Ccmsetup.exe program to AUTO. This setting causes the client on the master computer to try to autoassign the site when the client is first installed and before it is imaged. Additionally, after the SMS Agent Host service has performed the actions that are designated by the EnableAutoAssignment property, the service resets the property to FALSE. Therefore, the client never tries to autoassign the site when the image is deployed on the destination computers.

The "Appendix C - Client Deployment Planning" section of Scenarios and Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment Guide contains all the command-line parameters that you can use with the Ccmsetup.exe program.