In this post, we will be looking at using SCCM dynamic queries to populate collections in our deployments. As an SCCM administrator, you most likely had to plan out mass deployments to all your servers or workstations or even both. How did you go ahead and populate your collections? Queries? Since the introduction of SCCM 2012, we now have a multitude of options, most notably: Direct membership Queries Include a collection Exclude a collection Chances are, if you are deploying new software to be part of a baseline for workstations (for example), you will also add it to your task sequence. In my past life, I must admit, I really did like queries. They can be such a powerful tool to populate your collections. I always was looking for ways to pimp the usual types of queries we use. For example, we developed a fabulous list of operational collections that we … Read More
How to use Desktop Analytics for Windows 10 Feature Update
Desktop Analytics is still a recent product and a small beast that require a bit of time and trial and error to get going. The goal of Desktop analytics is to give data to understand your environment prior to mass roll out a new Windows 10 Feature Update. Desktop Analytics isn’t a product to deploy a Windows 10 Feature Update. ConfigMgr remains the master of the actual deployment. In this blog post, we’ll detail real-world scenarios on how to use Desktop Analytics information to help during a Windows 10 Feature update deployment. Desktop Analytics Windows 10 Update Requirements See our previous post on how to setup Desktop Analytics and connect it to your SCCM/ConfigMgr/MEMCM environment prior to reading this post. Select devices to be evaluated by Desktop Analytics Here are a few questions to help determine which devices should be included. Should Windows 7 devices be included? Assuming you are … Read More
Manage Windows 10 Upgrades using SCCM (Windows as a Service)
Windows as a service provides a new way to think about building, deploying, and servicing the Windows operating system. Microsoft will releases new builds two to three times per year rather than the traditional upgrade cycle. Instead of doing traditional Windows deployment projects, you will need a continuous updating process which will reduce the overall effort required to maintain Windows 10 devices in your environment. SCCM Windows 10 Upgrades Summary This post will look at the available tools in SCCM to manage and deploy Windows 10 upgrades. We have broken down the post in 4 different sections : Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard What’s missing in the Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard Windows 10 reports Windows 10 Collections SCCM Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard The Windows 10 servicing dashboard provides information about Windows 10 computers in your environment, active servicing plans, compliance information, and so on. Let’s get a look at the different dashboard tiles: Windows 10 Usage tile … Read More
Upgrade Windows 10 using SCCM Task Sequence
With the introduction of new Windows 10 service branches, you will need to upgrade your Windows 10 devices at a much faster pace. Hopefully, SCCM Current Branch (1511 and higher) has built-in features to help you fulfill this task. You can choose between Upgrade Task Sequence or the new Windows Servicing feature. This post will describe how to upgrade Windows 10 using SCCM Upgrade Task Sequence. If you are running SCCM 1511 we recommend to use the Upgrade Task Sequence over the new servicing features. There is an issue in SCCM 1511 that make all Windows 10 languages and editions to be downloaded to the device when the ADR runs. This is fixed in SCCM 1602, using a new filter you can exclude unwanted languages and editions. If you are running SCCM 1602 or later, it’s really a matter of preference of which process to use. Each one has their … Read More
How to Strengthen Security for Intune with RBAC in SCCM
The majority of companies use SCCM to manage laptops, computers, servers and some for mobile devices, if they use Microsoft Intune in hybrid mode. In some situations, Intune and SCCM management is done by 2 different teams. Except for the Full Administrator role in SCCM, it’s possible to separate Intune with Configuration Manager infrastructure in the console by using security roles and security groups (RBAC). The goal is to ensure that an Intune administrator does not access Configuration Manager client devices and objects, as you don’t want to end up with people who may wipes or manages mobile devices when they are supposed to be only Configuration Manager admins. This post will explain how to strengthen security and separate Intune with Configuration Manager infrastructure in SCCM console. Create Devices Collection for Intune Client The first thing to do is create a device collection that targets Intune clients. There’s two ways to create … Read More
Windows 10 Deployment | SCCM Task Sequence Upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10
In the fourth post of this blog series about Windows 10 Deployment using SCCM, we will show you how to upgrade a Windows 7 to Windows computer 10 using SCCM task sequence upgrade. The goal of an upgrade task sequence is to upgrade an existing operating system to Windows 10 without loosing any data and installed software. This post assumes that you are running SCCM 1511 or SCCM 1602 and that you completed the preparation of your environment for Windows 10. If you are running SCCM 2012 R2 SP1, the product team has release important information about SCCM task sequence upgrade that you can find in this blog post. In the past, an in-place upgrade scenario was not a reliable and popular option to deploy the latest version of Windows. With Windows 10, it’s now reliable and features an automatic rollback in case something goes wrong. This scenario can also be considered faster than the wipe and reload deployment scenarios, since … Read More
SCCM Windows 10 Deployment | Prepare your Environment
In the first part of this blog series on how to deploy Windows 10 with SCCM, we will prepare our environment for Windows 10. If you’re already deploying other operating systems with SCCM 1511, adding Windows 10 is just a matter of adding a new WIM (which our post covers in part 4). If you’re new to deploying operating system with SCCM, follow this post which will covers all steps needed before you can deploy your first systems. Overview SCCM Windows 10 Deployment Upgrade to SCCM 1511 Enable PXE Support Prepare your boot image Prepare your Operating Systems Create your SUG USMT Packages Upgrade to SCCM 1511 It’s possible to manage Windows 10 with SCCM 2012 but when it comes to deploying Windows 10, if you want to use the full features, you need SCCM 1511 and further. Follow our guide to upgrade your SCCM server and make sure that you … Read More
How to enable the new SCCM 1511 Software Center
SCCM 1511 contains many new features, one of them is the improved Software Center. After installing or upgrading to SCCM 1511, on an updated client you’ll see that the Software Center hasn’t changed. This is because the new Software Center is not enabled by default. This blog post will describe how to enable the new SCCM 1511 Software Center. Some of the main improvements : Possibility to view Users and Device deployments New visual design Device Compliance is now part of Software Center. Don’t get confused, this is not for Compliance Settings (DCM) it’s for Conditional Access scenarios Silverlight is no longer a requirement Enable the new SCCM 1511 Software Center The new Software Center is enabled through SCCM Client Settings. To enable the function and deploy it to your machines : Open the SCCM Console Go to Administration / Client Settings Create a new Client Settings or modify the one your using. For this post … Read More
How to configure and enable SCCM Discovery Methods
After you completed your SCCM installation, you certainly want to start managing some systems. The effective way to add them in SCCM is to configure SCCM discovery methods. This blog article will explain the various discovery methods and will describe how to configure it. In the first parts of these SCCM 2012 and SCCM 1511 blog series, we covered the complete SCCM 2012 R2 and SCCM 1511 installation. In the final parts, we will cover the basic SCCM configurations. What is SCCM Discovery Methods Here’s the official discovery methods definition from Technet : SCCM discovery methods identifies computer and user resources that you can manage by using Configuration Manager. It can also discover the network infrastructure in your environment. Discovery creates a discovery data record (DDR) for each discovered object and stores this information in the Configuration Manager database. When discovery of a resource is successful, discovery puts information about the resource in a file that … Read More
Complete SCCM 1511 Installation Guide
In the first post of this SCCM 1511 Installation Guide blog series, we planned our hierarchy, prepared our server and Active Directory. In part 2, we installed and configured SQL in order to perform SCCM 1511 installation. In part 3, we will run the prerequisite checker and proceed to the complete SCCM 1511 installation. We will install a stand-alone Primary site. If you’re already running SCCM 2012 and want an upgrade to SCCM 1511, do not follow this guide. This guide is for a new SCCM 1511 installation only. See our upgrade guide instead. Prerequisite Check Before launching the SCCM 1511 installation, we recommend to launch the Prereqchk tool in order to verify if all components are configured correctly. The SCCM 1511 installation wizard will also run this check but if you’re missing a requirement, you’ll have to go through the whole installation wizard again after fixing it. We prefer to use the standalone tool before running the setup. To start the prerequisite check … Read More
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