Hi All,

If you have worked with the new App Model in ConfigMgr 2012 you might have noticed the following already.
It can be a pain to delete applications.

Long story short, you cannot delete any application as long that particular App has references to other Apps.

Typical a message you get when ConfigMgr is not able to delete an Application:

Sounds logic, but it might take some time before you figure out some stuff.

The required steps, that you need to take:

- Retire the App

- Delete involved Deployments

- Remove References to other Deployments

- Delete all its revisions

On top of this procedure (and you better respect the order) some tricky scenarios can pop-up.

The following I discovered recently:

IF you rename an application, the revision level of the application increases. If you try to delete later on an app that is depending on it, you will not see the new name of the app that you need to clean up the revision levels on, instead you will see the old name of the app. So pay some attention here.

The story becomes more complicated if there is also bug in the chain like with ConfigMgr SP1 CU1:

For instance,

If you create an App with 2 DT’s making DT1 depending on DT2.

Next you retire the App, Delete DT1 and delete all revisions besides the latest one

Reinstate the App and try to delete DT2, it will pop-up telling you that it refers to DT1 which does not exist anymore.
So currently there is no way to delete an Application in such scenario.

This is already reported so if you encounter this, please be patient.

Till next time!

Nico Sienaert

Hi All,

During the last TechDays in Belgium I have presented a session around Windows RT and how you deal with these devices in an enterprise.

Here you can find the recording. When watching this video you will have a good idea about:

- Positioning of Windows RT between other Windows 8 tablets

- Technical specifics about Windows RT OS

- How do you manage these devices

- How you deploy Applications to these devices and how do you troubleshoot App Deployment

- a lot of tips, gotcha’s,…

After this session WIndows RT has no secrets anymore for you!

Don’t forget to watch the other great sessions as well!

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/video/ff832960?Category=TechDays%20Belgium%202013

Hope you like it!

Hi all,

5, 6 and 7 March another Techdays will be organized in Belgium, Antwerp.

If you ask me, each ambitious IT Pro \ Dev needs to attend this event. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest Microsoft technology, network with your peers, speakers, industry experts and MVPs. And last but not least having a good time of course!

To warm you up a bit up I have made a selection of my Top 5 “Must See” sessions. It was hard to make a selection, but hey, someone has to make it.

Windows Azure: where are we today?

Windows 8 Client Part 1 “The OS internals for IT-Pro’s”

Hyper-V Dynamic Memory in Depth

VDI in Windows Server 2012, with and without Citrix.

What’s new in Windows Server 2012 Active Directory?

Some members of our SCUG team will also host a session talking about System Center SP1.

What’s new and improved in Service Pack 1 for the System Center 2012 suite

I have the honor to host one of the closing session on Thursday evening. In this session I will talk about Windows RT

So if you haven’t done it yet, put your registration on number 1 of your TO DO list.

Register now! https://techdays.onetec.be/techdays/(S(r5ofsz45g2gcxq454qyq5amo))/en/registration.aspx

See you there!

Hi all,

In my previous blog I showed you the user experience regarding iOS management with ConfigMigr\Intune.

So what do you need to manage WP8 and RT?

You need a Subscription ID on the Windows Dev center. With that ID you can request a Mobile Device Signing Certificate a Symantec.

To Enroll WP8, you need to upload the Company Portal that you can download from the Microsoft website.

This Portal you need to sign with the certificate from Symantec and as from now you can upload the App into ConfigMgr.

BTW Signing tools are part of the Windows Phone SDK.

I added an WP8 App (*.XAP) and signed it as well with Cert from Symantec.

Once that is done you need to specify some Intune Settings in ConfigMgr.

As from now you can enroll your devices.

Go to your WP8 device, log on with your Intune or AD credentials (depending if you have AD FS enabled) and install the “Company Hub”.

As from now your device is enrolled and manageable.

When opening the portal the user can access his Apps.

Also, Settings are coming in. Configured Compliancy Settings in ConfigMgr (similar like iOS)

Now let me show the User Experience on Windows RT.

The way to configure is completely the same as with WP8. You need to link the Cert in ConfigMgr and you need to sign your Apps.

On the RT device, search after “Company Applications”, to enroll your device.

Once that’s done you will have your Company Portal installed

As from now you can access your Apps and also devices.

Note that I can see all my devices that are linked to my UserID (in this case iPhone, WP8 and Windows RT).

As from here for instance I can remote wipe a device in the event I lost one.

That’s all for now. Till next time!

Nico Sienaert

Hi All,

As you might have heard since ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 we are able to manage Mobile Device like iOS, WP8, Windows RT and Android via an Intune Connector.

I’m not gonna explain how you have to set up the Intune interopability, colleague v-TSP Steve Beaumont is doing that for you.

Let me just show the experience how you can deploy an iOS App.

First of all we need to add the application in ConfigMgr, the required files are IPA (the app) and PLIST (a manifest file)

Once that is done, it’s time to deploy the Application

It’s important you choose here the collection you selected for enablement in the Windows Intune Subscription Wizard.

Distribute the App to Windows Intune (Azure) DP.

And that’s all!

Let’s go to the device….

Open the Portal, select the device, Approve you want to install and you are done.

Till next time!

Nico Sienaert

Hi All!

One of the new deployment types within Service Pack 1 is deploying a Windows Application from the Windows App Store, also called deep link.

The way how it works is that you have to point to a Windows 8 machine where the App is already installed. When pointing to the App, ConfigMgr can determine the deep link URL of the application.

In fact ConfigMgr just specifies the command line, there are no source files for this deployment type. When deploying such an application ConfigMgr will only point to the URL within the Windows Store.

The issue that I encountered was that I could not connect to my Windows 8 clients. I always received the following error.

After spending some time I was able to solve this by configuring the inbound firewall rules of the Windows Remote Management.

One way to this, is executing following command:

 winrm quickconfig (make sure you have an elevated command prompt)

As from now you can see the list of all Windows 8 Apps that are installed on the machine.

Let’s take the Wiki App for the sake of demo.

As you can see, the content of the Application is just the URL Link to the Windows Store, so no installation files.

So what is the user experience when we deploy such an App?

I made this available to all my Windows 8 machines, so I have to look in Software Center.

Once you hit the “Install” button and the Windows Store will open and redirect you to the correct install page (URL)

Important to realize is that the user will need to hit the Install button within the Windows Store and provide his Live ID.

What happens if you deploy this as a “required” deployment?

Well, as soon the policy arrives, the App Store will open automatically but the user still needs to hit the Install button and enter his Live ID.

So yes, when you want to use this Deployment Type within your environment there is the requirement that all your targeted users have their own Live ID.

If you want to learn more about new stuff in Service Pack 1, don’t forget to register for the following TechNet Livemeeting:

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032533125&Culture=en-us&community=0

Till next time!

Nico Sienaert

Hi All,

As promised some updates regarding the upcoming TechNet LiveMeetings.

Be careful both sessions are scheduled on a new date. So update your agendas!!

Windows 8: Windows To Go

Starts: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 10:00 AM
Time zone: (GMT+01:00) Paris

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032533088&Culture=en-us&community=0

Discover great reasons to move on to Configmgr SP1

Starts: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 4:30 PM
Time zone: (GMT+01:00) Paris

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032533125&Culture=en-us&community=0

See you and hear you all there!

Nico Sienaert

Hi All,

As I described in one of my previous blog posts Client Settings in ConfigMgr12 changed significantly.

One of the new settings that can be applied is the Execution policy of Powershell.

Let’s have a look what the experience is when executing a PS script if Powershell Execution is restricted.

To avoid this just configure the Computer Agent Settings.

That’s all. It doesn’t have to be complicated all the time isn’t it!

Till next time!

Nico Sienaert

Hi all,

The upcoming weeks I will host 3 TechNet LiveMeetings

Migrate from Configuration Manager 2007 to 2012.

If you want to have a complete end-to-end overview how you handle such a migration project then you need to attend this session.

When:  Tuesday, October 02, 2012 2:00 PM
             Time zone: (GMT+01:00) Paris

Register: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032528445&Culture=en-us&community=&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Windows To Go

Let’s dive into this new Windows feature. Why should you use it? How do you create, deploy and maintain? What are the caveats?

When:  Thursday, October 25, 2012 2:00 PM
             Time zone: (GMT+01:00) Paris

Register: The registration link is not available yet. I will communicate it later on.

What’s new in Configuration Manager SP1?

Let’s discover all the new features that SP1 offers.

When:  Tuesday, November 13, 2012 10:00 AM
             Time zone: (GMT+01:00) Paris

Register: The registration link is not available yet. I will communicate it later on.

Put these dates in your agenda!

Till next time!

Nico Sienaert

Hi all,

Next month the sixth edition of Community Day 2012 will take place in Utopolis Mechelen, Belguim on Thursday 21st of June.

17 user groups are working together to bring you a full day of sessions for both the Developer and IT-Pro community!

6 paralles tracks, more than 40 sessions, already over 400 registrations and still counting! 

This is a great opportunity to increase your knowledge and to network with your peers.

I will present a session talking about System Center 2012 and how it deals with challenges like Cloud, BYOD and Windows 8.

As Getronics is Gold Sponsor we will have booth where we will demonstrate some System Center Private Cloud concepts.

Don’t miss it! Register your free spot now.

Click here to download the Outlook Calendar file (*.ics) to save the date in your agenda!

See you there!

Nico Sienaert (twitter: @nsienaert)