[Amir Bredy (ABMFST)]

Summary

• Make the Machine Configuration guide self-contained for a fresh Windows packaging environment: PowerShell runtime checks, explicit DSC 2.0.7 installation/import, GuestConfiguration command checks, and Microsoft.OSConfig >=1.4.10 verification.
• Include a separate Ubuntu DSC 3.0.0-beta1 setup. Use its numeric manifest version (3.0.0) with Import-Module -RequiredVersion, which does not accept a prerelease suffix.
• Create the user-writable export folder before asking for the MOF. Bind a packaging copy to the exact newest qualifying module, reject existing ZIPs, and print the resulting path/hash.
• Reconstruct the package path and import the toolkit in the new elevated test session. Save resource-level Audit results and fail explicitly on missing/empty results.
• Keep Azure installation/publishing optional, check unfilled Azure input placeholders before login, and require explicit certificate selection for optional signing.
• Add four documentation regression contracts and unreleased changelog entries. No application, dependency, lockfile, release-version, or branch-protection changes.

Validation

• Parsed all 15 PowerShell blocks with the PowerShell AST parser and checked Import-Module -RequiredVersion arguments against its actual System.Version parameter type.
• Executed the actual walkthrough snippets with isolated in-memory command/filesystem mocks: 16 scenarios cover exact minimum/newest module selection, missing/outdated modules, conflicting loaded DSC, wrong platform, missing/already-resolved MOF, ZIP overwrite rejection, packaging failure/missing output, fresh-session path/import restoration, absent/empty audit results, and Azure placeholder rejection.
• Verified all seven local links/anchors and git diff --check.
• All hosted PR checks passed: documentation contracts, application regression suite, lint, Linux desktop build, Node 24 compatibility, Windows Electron smoke, CodeQL, Markdown, and mdBook. No Node.js or npm ran locally.
• Disposable Windows packaging probe passed: executed the actual setup/folder/resolution/packaging blocks against a MOF produced by ConfigForge's real exporter. The resulting Audit ZIP bundled exactly the resolved Microsoft.OSConfig 1.4.11, with GuestConfiguration 4.12.0, DSC 2.0.7, and PowerShell 7.6.7; the original MOF stayed unchanged. The noninteractive runner temporarily preapproved the Gallery trust prompt and restored its policy afterward. Customer instructions still require the user to review that prompt, without permanently trusting the Gallery.

These checks do not attest that every OSConfig baseline or supported platform passes compliance. The real hosted probe stopped at Audit ZIP creation/inspection; fresh-session audit behavior was exercised with mocks, not a live test agent. No module installation, local remediation, Azure deployment, or release publication was performed on the user's machine.

References

• Microsoft Learn: authoring environment
• Microsoft Learn: create a package
• Microsoft Learn: test a package
• Microsoft.OSConfig 1.4.10