Win32 app

Making sure the multi-app kiosk configuration is applied after the installation of the applications

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This week is all about making sure that the multi-app kiosk configuration is actually applied after the required applications are installed. The ordering is important because the multi-app kiosk configuration will not be correctly configured when the required applications where not installed when the configuration was applied. That was also an important subject during the session on the Workplace Ninja Summit about Mastering shared Windows devices in your environment. The basics around creating the multi-app kiosk configuration, using assigned access, has been described on this blog. Often, however, it refers to using a custom device configuration file. And, even though it technically works, it does not provide full control over the end-result. Given the fact that this was also subject of many questions during the …

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Getting started with the PowerShell script installer for Win32 apps

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This week is all about the recently introduced functionality to use PowerShell scripts for installing and uninstalling Win32 apps. That functionality enables IT administrators to use a PowerShell script as the installer type for Win32 apps. To make that a little bit more concrete; it enables the IT administrator to select a PowerShell script that should be used for installing a Win32 app. Before it was already possible to use a PowerShell script within the command line for the installation of a Win32 app, but that always had to be a script that existed within the Win32 app content. The major challenge with that approach was that every adjustment to that PowerShell script would require building a new Win32 app. That was far from ideal, …

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Experiencing the app relationship viewer

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This week is a relatively short blog post, focused on providing awareness for the recently introduced app relationship viewer. The app relationship viewer can be used to see which apps are directly connected to the selected app. Those connected apps are also known as child apps. Child apps can be either dependent apps or superseded apps. A dependent app relationship is an app that is configured as a dependency for the installation of the selected app, and a superseded app relationship is an app that is configured to be superseded by the installation of the selected app. Those relationships are shown within the app relationship viewer. But not just for the selected app, but also for the child apps. This blog post provides a brief …

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Getting started with Enterprise App Management

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This week is sort of a follow-up on the earlier post about new Microsoft Intune Suite add-on capabilities. That time it was around the early capabilities, like Endpoint Privilege Management, the first glimpses of Advanced Analytics, and Microsoft Tunnel for MAM. This time it’s about Enterprise App Management. Enterprise App Management provides organizations with an applications catalog that contains apps that are prepared by Microsoft. Those apps are all Win32 apps that are wrapped and hosted by Microsoft. That can further simplify management and makes sure that the lifecycle of apps is getting better under control. That means more structural updates of apps, which makes sure that the environment gets more secure. This post will start with a further introduction about Enterprise App Management, followed …

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Understanding Win32 app inventory

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This week is another week about apps on Windows devices. The major difference with last week is that this week is all about the discovered apps on Windows devices. In other words, the app inventory on Windows devices. Within Microsoft Intune that inventory always used to be a huge challenge. It was often not complete and simply missing pieces. Nowadays, it’s getting more and more mature. It contains nearly all application types, is structurally inventoried, and is displayed in a (basic) report. Within Microsoft Intune that report is the Discovered apps report. That report contains a aggregated list of the discovered apps on the devices within the tenant. So, it acts as the software inventory within the tenant. This post will look at the process …

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Working with the restart grace period of Win32 apps

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This week is sort of a follow-up on a post of years ago about working with the restart behavior of Win32 apps. That post was focussed on the behavior of Win32 apps, based on the return codes and the configured restart behavior. This post will add the restart grace period in that mix. The restart grace period can be used to determine after which time the device will actually require a restart, when required by the successful installation of a Win32 app. The configuration for the restart grace period has already been available for some time, but since recently it’s now also possible for non-administrator users to snooze that restart. This post will have a closer look at the configuration options for the restart grace …

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Getting started with Azure Monitor agent on Windows client devices

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This week is about something totally different compared to the last weeks and maybe even months. There have been examples before about gathering additional data of Windows devices and using that information for dashboards and more. Those examples were mainly focused on existing data and custom scripting. This time the focus is on the Azure Monitor agent for Windows client devices. A few months ago Microsoft introduced the Windows client installer that can be used to collect data from desktops, workstations and laptops, in addition to the already existing options for servers and virtual machines. It enables the collection of Event Logs, Performance Counters and more. That could be useful with for example the introduction of AppLocker, to gather events about the behavior of apps. …

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Getting started with Remote help for Windows devices

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This week is all about getting started with Remote help for Windows devices. Remote help is recently introduced as a new feature in Microsoft Intune that can be used for providing remote assistance to users on Windows devices. It looks a lot like the existing Quick Assist app on Windows, but it has a few big advantages. It integrates with Microsoft Endpoint Manager for providing remote assistance to managed devices, it integrates with Azure Active Directory for providing authentication and compliance information, and it provides a better administrator experience. There are communication options with the user and there is the ability to work with elevated permissions. This post will go through the steps for configuring Remote help in the tenant and through the steps for …

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Working with supersedence relationships for Win32 apps

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This week is all about Win32 apps in Microsoft Intune. Last year I’ve written a lot about the different features of Win32 apps and now, starting with the 2102 service release of Microsoft Intune, there is a new feature for Win32 apps. That feature is the ability to create supersendence relationships between different Win32 apps. That relationship can be used to update a Win32 app to a newer version of the Win32 app, or to replace a Win32 app with a different version of the Win32 app. Actually, it can even be used to replace a Win32 app with a completely different Win32 app. This post will start with the theory of supersedence relationships for Win32 apps, followed with the steps to configure a supersedence …

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Installing applications by using Windows Package Manager

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This week is all about installing applications via Microsoft Intune by using Windows Package Manager. A few years ago I wrote a post about something similar by using Chocolatey. That time the idea was to simply leverage the PowerShell script functionality that was just introduced. This time the idea is to leverage the Win32 app functionality together with the Windows Package Manager that is just introduced. Leveraging the Win32 app functionality provides me with a few advantages above simply leveraging the PowerShell script functionality. In my opinion the main advantages are the flexibility of the Win32 app model (think about requirements, detection rules, dependencies and notifications) and the ability to use Win32 apps during the Enrollment Status Page (ESP). Creating the Win32 app would cost …

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