Microsoft Intune is a mobile device management tool that supports a variety of operating systems. Obviously, Intune supports the popular operating system Mac OSX. Since November 2015, companies that use standalone version, it’s possible to install the Intune client on MAC OSX devices. With the latest release of SCCM 1602, hybrid environment can enrol MAC OSX. The Microsoft Intune client allows the deployment of policies, SCEP certificates, VPN and WiFi profiles. It’s also a new way to inventory your MAC. Before enrolling a Mac OSX in Intune, a compliance policy must be configured to apply a minimum of security control. This post will explain how to set up a SCCM Mac Compliance Policy for Microsoft Intune client. MAC OS X Pre-Requisite Before you begin, ensure that you configure your Microsoft Intune infrastructure correctly. This post is also part of the complete MDM installation guide blog series. Once, Microsoft Intune is configured, we will check if SCCM is … 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
Windows 10 Deployment | Create SCCM Windows 10 Build and Capture Task Sequence
In the third post of this blog series about Windows 10 Deployment using SCCM, we will show you how to create a SCCM Windows 10 Build and Capture Task Sequence and deploy it. Complete the preparation of your environment before reading this post. You will be able to edit this task sequence later to customize it to your environment. The goal of a build and capture task sequence is to capture a reference machine OS in order to redeploy its configuration multiple time. As a best practice, we recommend not to add too much software and customization to your reference image. Rather, use the task sequence steps to customize your deployment which decrease management operation tasks in the long run. For example, if you want to include Adobe Reader to your reference image because all your users need it, do not install it on your reference machine and do your capture. Instead, … Read More
Managing Office 365 Updates with SCCM
SCCM Office 365 updates management is finally integrated to the standard software update process (since the release of SCCM 1602). Prior to this release it was announced as a new features, but it was not completely managed. It was necessary to add Office 365 updates to WSUS manually in order to manage them trough SCCM software update afterward. It’s now manageable natively with the release of SCCM 1602. The integration of Office 365 Updates to SCCM will ease overall management of updates with these key features : Centralized management Standard Software Update Ability to use Automatic Deployment Rules Easier distribution to branch offices with Software Update packages Applications can run while updating Before this integration, Office 365 Updates needed to : Manually downloaded Manually distributed or to create a package than distribution on Distribution Point Application need to be shut down before the update This post will explain how to natively manage Office 365 desktop client … Read More
Step-by-Step SCCM 1602 Upgrade Guide
The first upgrade for SCCM Current Branch (1511) is now available. This post is a complete step-by-step SCCM 1602 upgrade guide. If you’re looking for a complete SCCM 1511 installation guide, see our blog series which covers it all. Installing SCCM upgrades is very important to your infrastructure. It adds new feature and fixes lots of issues, which some of them are important. New Update and Servicing Since SCCM 1511, Microsoft now release update pack differently than services packs and cumulative updates. Downloading and updating is made directly from the console. If you need to make a new SCCM installation, you can’t install SCCM 1602 directly. You need to install SCCM 1511 first and then apply SCCM 1602 from the console. SCCM 1511 is still the baseline version if you’re starting from scratch. The update process seem quite easy but don’t get confused. Yes, it’s easy to apply, but these updates needs to be planned as … 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
SCCM Windows 10 Deployment | Create SCCM Windows 10 Task Sequence
In the second post of this blog series about Windows 10 Deployment using SCCM, we will show you how to create a SCCM Windows 10 Task Sequence and deploy it. Complete the preparation of your environment before reading this post. This task sequence will help you deploy what we call a “vanilla” Windows 10 using the default Install.wim from the Windows 10 media. This means that you’ll end up with a basic Windows 10 with the SCCM client and nothing else. You will be able to edit this task sequence later to customize it to your environment. Create SCCM Windows 10 Task Sequence Open the SCCM Console Go to Software Library \ Operating Systems \ Task Sequences Right-click Task Sequences and select Create Task Sequence On the Task Sequence wizard, select Install an existing image package On the Task Sequence Information pane, enter the desired Name, Description and Boot Image On the Install … Read More
Pull DP Upgrade Consideration in Large Environment
Many challenges come with managing and maintaining System Center Configuration Manager in large environment. In previous posts, we covered how to limit Pull DP bandwidth and How to manage Pull DP with collections to ease management in large environment. Probably the biggest challenge with large environment, is to keep SCCM up to date. In this post, we will provide in depth details, considerations and useful tips on Pull DP upgrade for large SCCM environment. The goal is to provide ways to prevent upgrades of SCCM to become a nightmare by taking more time than planned and/or heavy hit on the network. We will cover theses subjects : Automatic package update and distribution How to work around automatic package update and distribution Pre-requisite checker Upgrade time lapse Distribution point and PullDP upgrade ratio What happen while Distribution point/ Pull DP upgrade Note that all details and considerations are regarding major upgrade like service pack upgrades and major … Read More
How to perform a Testdbupgrade before SCCM Installation
Before upgrading to SCCM 1511, it’s recommended to perform a test upgrade on a copy of your production database. We briefly cover the topic in our SCCM Upgrade post but we wanted to provide a step-by-step procedure. This procedure is not mandatory but gives you head-ups on installation errors you may encounter before your upgrade. Step 1 | Prepare your environment for SCCM Installation Testdbupgrade To test the database for an upgrade, you must copy the site database to a SQL instance that does not host SCCM. The SQL version must run the same edition and version of your production SQL. Start by creating a new VM or connecting to an existing SQL server that can host your SCCM database. Install the right SQL version. Follow our post on how to install SQL Server if needed. Step 2 | Backup your database Once your SQL server is ready to receive the database copy, browse to … Read More
Upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 with SCCM
Last week, Microsoft announced the end of support for older version of Internet Explorer . Many organisations will need to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 soon. This post will describe how to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 with SCCM. There’s multiple ways to upgrade your Internet Explorer : Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Software Update with SCCM Standard Package with SCCM Task sequence with SCCM All of theses options were tested and the fastest installation is by using Task sequence because of the ability to manage restart and multiple consecutive steps to get everything installed in one deployment. IEAK could also do that, but we never had much success with it. Task sequence are made for OS Deployment, but they can be very useful with complex application deployment. In this post, we will cover : How to update to Internet Explorer 11 with SCCM using a task sequence … Read More