After adding an OS installer with PowerShell, you cannot distribute the GUI option 'Distribute Content' is greyed out:

New-CMOperatingSystemInstaller -Name W8 -Path "\\cm01\e$\Source\OS\W8"

The issue occurs with ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 and ConfigMgr R2.

The underlying server OS doesn't matter either (tested with Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2).

The OS installer doesn't seem to matter either (tested with W7SP1, W8 and W8.1).

If I add the OS installer through the GUI, then the 'Distribute Content' button is available.

Additional: There are subtle differences between the properties of the OS installers:

Installer added by PowerShell:

Name                           : W8
NumOfPrograms                  : 0
PackageID                      : ABC00035
PackageType                    : 259
PkgFlags                       : 0
PkgSourceFlag                  : 1
PkgSourcePath                  : \\cm01\d$\Source\Operating System Installers\W8-ENT-X64-EN

Installer added by GUI:

Hi!

I just installed a Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL 2012 SP1 and SCCM 2012 R2 to try to recreate your problem.

But when I import a Windows 8.1 installer via the New-CMOperatingSystemInstaller powershell command, this acctually works in my environment, the "Distribute Content" option is availabe to me for the powershell imported installers.

So this should work for you.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

Our developers took a look at the code, and as you've indicated, the properties are not set properly using PowerShell.  We've logged an internal issue on this, and are looking at fixing this in a future release. 

In the meantime, the only workaround would be to use the UI, or to use WMI to create or modify the properties of that object.

Thanks again for posting this feedback.

Sincerely,

Dave Randall [MSFT]

Sorry, you are correct!
I was testing New-CMOperatingSystemImage but now when I took a second look I see that you had problem with New-CMOperatingSystemInstaller.
And you are correct, I get the same grayed-out options as you do.

Best regards

Henrik

• Edited by Henrik Ericsson Wednesday, January 15, 2014 9:39 PM

It looks like these properties aren't allowed to be changed by using WMI.