Install User-targeted Applications during OS Deployment via PowerShell and ConfigMgr 2012

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Let’s start my first post of this great new year with another nice PowerShell script. This post will be about deploying required user targeted applications, to the device of the primary user, during OS deployment. Yes, I know the setting of Pre-deploy software to the user’s primary device, but that doesn’t give enough control. After deployment, the device has to be completely ready for use. A bit more than a year ago I already did a post about pre-provisioning user applications during OS deployment via Orchestrator and ConfigMgr 2012. This time I wanted to make less assumptions. I also wanted to be sure that a user is a member of a collection and what the application is that is deployed to the collection. I first …

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An Application Request with a lot of System Center Power via Orchestrator, ServiceMgr and ConfigMgr

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As it Christmas, I wanted to do something special. That’s why dove into the world of ServiceMgr and came up with this long blog post about a combination of ConfigMgr, Orchestrator and ServiceMgr. This blog post will describe a configuration for a software request via the ServiceMgr Portal. I’m not going to say that I like the ServiceMgr Portal more than the Application Catalog of ConfigMgr, because I really don’t, but I do think it fits better within the processes of a company. Besides that, if it doesn’t fit, it can be customized. High Level Overview Like I stated the software request can be done via the ServiceMgr Portal. The portal will display applications that are imported, and after that filtered, via the ConfigMgr Connector. …

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Setting a Static IP Address during a Deployment via PowerShell and ConfigMgr 2012

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This week my blog post will be about setting a static IP address during a deployment. I’m going to do this via a combination of a PowerShell script, a computer variable and a task sequence. I know it is possible in the Task Sequence Wizard to supply static IP information, but there are two reason why I did not use that solution: I’ve seen a lot of situations where the IP configuration got applied after the policy requests were done to the Management Point. This would cause the task sequence to fail. I wanted a zero touch experience for the persons performing the deployment. PowerShell Script Let’s start with the most important part of my solution, a PowerShell script. This script sets a static IP …

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Deploying Windows Embedded 8 Standard with Write Filter Enabled via ConfigMgr 2012

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Its been a while since my previous blog post, so I had some time to collect information for a couple of blog posts and this is the first one! I like it when this are being done automatically. So this week I’m not going to write a PowerShell script myself, but I use a tool to generate it for me. In this blog post I will show the global steps that can be used to create a complete deployment of Windows Embedded 8 Standard with the Write Filter enabled and configured. Create Windows Embedded 8 Standard Image The first thing that we have to do is to create a Windows Embedded 8 Standard Image. This can be done by following the next three steps: Create …

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Showing Dependent Applications in ConfigMgr 2012 via PowerShell

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This week I want to devote a blog post to finding dependent applications. Via the ConfigMgr Console it’s very easy to find the configured Dependencies of an Application, but what if I want to know which applications depend on a specific Application? Via the ConfigMgr Console this is not possible (out-of-the-box), but this doesn’t mean that the information is not accessible. In this blog post I will show where to find this information and I will show a complete script which will show the results in a nice form. Solution In WMI there is the class SMS_AppDependenceRelation. This class doesn’t contain any methods, but does contain a few interesting properties. These interesting properties are FromApplicationCIID, FromDeploymentTypeCIID, ToApplicationCIID and ToDeploymentTypeCIID. The properties mainly speak for themselves, …

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Getting the Client Upgrade Settings of ConfigMgr 2012 with PowerShell

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This week, my blog post will be a very short one. It will be a post about my tweet about the client upgrade settings, of a week ago. A big part of this information is also available via the Hierarchy Settings in the console. Script In WMI there is the class SMS_ImportedObject, which contains the method Get-ClientUpgradeSettings. This method can be used to get the client upgrade settings and doesn’t need any input parameters. It will give all the information, about the name, version and IDs and can be used via to the following code snippet: function Get-ClientUpgradeSettings { param ( [string]$SiteCode, [string]$SiteServer ) Invoke-WmiMethod -Namespace root/SMS/site_$($SiteCode) -Class SMS_ImportedObject -Name GetClientUpgradeSettings -ComputerName $SiteServer } Result The code snippet will give a result like under here. …

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Approve, Block, Unapprove, or Unblock a Client in ConfigMgr 2012 via PowerShell

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This blog post will show how to approve, block, unapprove, or unblock clients in ConfigMgr 2012 via PowerShell. Three of these actions, approve, block and unblock, are also accessible via the console, but via PowerShell it is very easy to perform these actions for a whole collections. This creates the possibility to create a custom automatic approval in combination with for example a collection membership. The fourth action, unapprove, is not accessible via the console and only accessible via WMI (with some help of PowerShell). Solution In WMI there is the class SMS_Collection, which has the methods ApproveClients and BlockClients. These methods can be used to (un)approve and (un)block clients and they require both the same two parameters. They both require a boolean and an …

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Update Collection Membership in ConfigMgr 2012 via PowerShell

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A few weeks ago I’ve got the question if it is possible to speed-up the collection membership update after a new device was added to the database via my Import Comport Form. The short answer is, of course, yes! As this answer would make a really short blog post, I decided to put some more time in it. My first answer could have been, why can’t you wait on the incremental update cycle. As by default, the Use incremental updates for this collection is selected (and grayed-out) for the All Systems collection and the default Interval for Collection Membership Evaluation is five minutes (see this post for more information). Solution Now what can we do when either five minutes takes to long, or the default …

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Go to Desktop on Sign In on Windows 8.1 via Compliance Settings in ConfigMgr 2012

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This weeks’ post will be about Going to the desktop, instead of Start, when signing on Windows 8.1 via Compliance Settings. I will write about the scripts for discovering and remediating this setting, either on a user based, or a computer based configuration, via a Configuration Item. Keep in mind that it won’t be a walkthrough. For a complete step-by-step example, about using scripts in Compliance Settings, take a look at my post about Allowing Direct Installation of Windows 8 Apps via Compliance Settings in ConfigMgr 2012. Of course, in the most situations, the preferable way for configuring this settings is via a Group Policy (as described in this great post of Sander Berkouwer). There are a only a few reason not to use a …

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Updated: Import Computer Form v0.8 – Directly adding a User Device Affinity in ConfigMgr 2012

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A few months ago I released the first public version of my Import Computer Form. I’ve had some nice feedback about it and also some good ideas for added functionality. This update will mainly be about three things: Cleaning-up old code, by merging a few lines and adjusting some queries. Adding error catching, by introducing an error provider for faulty input. Adding functionality, by introducing an option to add a User Device Affinity/ Primary User. Overview These additions mean that this version gives the user the possibility to perform the following actions, without the need of access to and/ or a locally installed ConfigMgr console: Fill in a Computer name. Fill in a MAC Address. Select an OS Deployment Collection. Select a Primary User. Import …

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