SCCM CMPivot has been introduced in SCCM 1806 and it’s making its way to being a pretty useful addition. If you are not familiar with this new feature, you can read about it in our previous post which describes how to use it. The goal of this post is to give you a list of SCCM CMPivot Query Examples. From there you can get creative to create more complex CMPivot queries. When we began using CMPivot, we were a bit lost. We are pretty comfortable with various programming languages but CMPivot uses the Kusto Query language. data flow model for the tabular expression statement which was new for us. The official Microsoft documentation states : The typical structure of a tabular expression statement is a composition of client entities and tabular data operators (such as filters and projections). The composition is represented by the pipe character (|), giving the statement a … Read More
SCCM Office 2021 Deployment guide
This blog post will describe how to Deploy Office 2021 using SCCM (using Click-to-run version). Beginning in Office 2019, Office client applications will no longer be available in MSI format. You can download an ISO on your volume licensing download center or use the Office Deployment Tool. We suggest using the Office deployment tool to have the latest available version. If you’re still confused about the differences between Office 2021 vs Office 365: Office 365 is a subscription that comes with premium apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access (Publisher and Access available on PC only). The apps can be installed on multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, and Android phones. With a subscription, you get the latest versions of the apps and automatically receive updates when they happen. Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that comes with classic apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for … Read More
Import Windows Devices for AutoPilot in Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Windows Autopilot is a solution designed that allows you to set up and pre-configure Windows devices for your environment using Azure and Endpoint Manager. The goal of Autopilot is to reduce the OS deployment complexity. If done correctly, a user logs to an out-of-box computer, logs on his computer with his ADD user account, and applications and configurations get deployed. All that with minimum infrastructure requirements. If you are new to Autopilot, we have a post that describes every step you need to do to get started. Autopilot has its flaws but it’s improving very fast. One of those flaws was that device importation was made from the Windows Store for Business or the Microsoft Partner Center. Those days are over since you can now import your device directly from Endpoint Manager. Endpoint Manager Autopilot device import Launch Endpoint Manager Select Device / Enroll Devices / Windows enrollment In the Windows Autopilot … Read More
How to use SCCM Content Library Cleanup Tool
Starting with SCCM 1702, a new command line tool is available to remove content that is no longer associated with any package or application from a distribution point. The SCCM Content library cleanup tool (ContentLibraryCleanup.exe) can help you save up valuable space in a specific distribution point content library. The tool will delete content from the library based on the specified distribution point when the tool is run. SCCM Content Library Cleanup Tool Requirements You can run the content library cleanup tool directly on the computer that hosts the distribution point or remotely from another server You can run the tool from a single distribution point at a time You will need to have Full Administrator RBAC Role and the “All” Security scope in the Configuration Manager hierarchy Running the Tool You can find ContentLibraryCleanup.exe in the SCCMInstallationDir\cd.latest\SMSSETUP\TOOLS\ContentLibraryCleanup\ folder on the primary site or central administration site. You can run the tool … Read More
How to Manage SCCM IIS Log Files
After a couple of weeks of running an SCCM server, you may get the C:\ drive full. What are the best practices to save disk space on an SCCM server? The first thing we check is how much space is filled by SCCM IIS log files. Usually, it takes a couple of GB on the drive. It’s an absolute must to implement solutions to delete SCCM IIS logs files from your primary server. The SCCM IIS logs files are usually in C:\Inetpub\Logs\LogFiles and are increasing at a rapid pace. In my lab environment with 50 clients, it’s growing at about 1MB per day. Not much… but on an SCCM site, I’m actually managing with a couple of thousand clients, it grows 150 MB a day. It could fill up a drive pretty quickly. There are numerous ways to manage SCCM IIS log files : Delete the logs manually or use a scheduled task Use … Read More
Deploy SCCM Wifi Profiles with Password to Windows 10 Devices
Introduced since SCCM 2012 R2, SCCM Wifi profiles are used to send Wifi configurations to clients. It can be useful if your company is not using certificates or any automated authentication methods. A smaller organization that uses a simple WPA2 setup can use SCCM Wifi profiles to send Wifi SSID and password so that the computers connect automatically to that network. You can also use Wifi profile to manage mobile devices with Intune but we won’t cover this scenario in this post. The major drawback of the SCCM Wifi Profile is that it’s impossible to enter the Wifi password using the console UI. (Even in the newest versions). We will show you how to deploy Wifi profiles on a Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 computer, including the Wifi password using an XML file. How to deploy SCCM Wifi Profiles with password to Windows 10 devices Since it’s not possible to enter a password in … Read More
Deploy Windows 11 using SCCM / MEMCM
Windows 11 has been released by Microsoft on October 5th, 2021. If you are planning to deploy and manage Windows 11 using SCCM or Configuration Manager, this post has you covered. Like any other Windows version, you need to do a couple of tasks before you can do an SCCM Windows 11 Deployment. In a previous blog post, we listed everything you need to know about SCCM and Windows 11. You can read the whole post but here’s the important part: SCCM is ready to support Windows 11 starting with SCCM version 2107. You need to run at least SCCM 2107 and your device needs specific requirements. Let’s get started to Deploy Windows 11 using SCCM / MEMCM ! Table of Content Prerequisites Check if you have an SCCM Supported version Upgrade your Windows ADK Download Windows 11 ISO Mount and extract the ISO file Import the Windows 11 WIM … Read More
How to use Microsoft Defender for Endpoint antivirus security with Intune
Microsoft Defender has come a long way since the first few releases to become a leader in all all-things security-related. What was originally a standard antivirus solution has evolved into a full product suite. If you are looking to configure Microsoft Defender(Endpoint protection) with Configuration Manager, see our guide that is available in our shop This post will focus on configuring Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Security Antivirus by using Intune. Prerequisites Windows 10 or Windows 11 Aside from the Intune various licensing option you’ll need to manage your devices, there are no other requirements to use this feature. Create Microsoft Defender for Endpoint antivirus security profiles Connect to the Endpoint portal Browse to Endpoint Security/ Antivirus Click Create Policy. At this point, the Antivirus policies are split into 3 distinct sections. Microsoft Defender Antivirus This will essentially manage the core features. Microsoft Defender Antivirus Exclusions This will be the various … Read More
SCCM Report Builder Error – The Certificate Chain was issued by an Authority that is not Trusted
If you’re like us and love to create and build awesome reports, you may get an error when running report builder on a remote computer. When editing an SCCM report in Report Builder you may receive the following error: A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the login process. (provider: SSL Provider, error: 0 – The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted.) SCCM Report Builder error – Cause This error occurs because you don’t have the required SCCM SQL certificate on the computer running Report Builder. Follow the following steps in order to resolve the issue. Export the certificate from your SQL server On the SQL Server Click the Start menu, click Run, and then type mmc. Click Enter. This starts the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) In the console, click the File menu and then click Add/Remove Snap-in On the … Read More
Extend your inventory with SCCM Active Directory Attributes
SCCM Active Directory System Discovery is a discovery method to bring discovered devices into your SCCM server. It’s one of the most used discovery methods for its simplicity. Many organization extends their Active directory to include custom attributes to their records. By default, SCCM brings a couple of default Active Directory attributes but it’s also possible to bring any custom attribute that you may have. The good news is that it’s quite simple to add these custom Active Directory Attributes to your SCCM Discovery methods. What is more complicated is how to fetch this data once it’s discovered. Over the years, we’ve seen much different information stored in AD Attributes. For this post, we’ll add the Description attribute from a computer account to SCCM and describe how to query this information to create collections or reports. SCCM Custom Active Directory attributes Configuration The first step is to find the name of … Read More