Month: March 2015

Troubleshooting Windows Phone 8.1 enrollment – Part 2

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A few months ago I did a blog post about How to troubleshoot Windows Phone 8.1 enrollment via Microsoft Intune. By then that was the only method to get log files from a Windows Phone 8.1 device for troubleshooting, but that has changed. A few days ago Microsoft released a document describing a different and easier method to get log files from a Windows Phone 8.1 device. This method is all around the, recently released, Field Medic app. As I previously wrote about troubleshooting Windows Phone 8.1 enrollment, I thought it would be good to do a short follow up with this easier method. Steps Let’s go through the required steps on a Windows Phone 8.1 device, to get the required logging. It’s pretty straight …

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The MDM distribution point

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This blog post will be about the MDM distribution point. The MDM distribution point is the distribution point that’s added after completing the Microsoft Intune integration. To be honest, I didn’t even know that the distribution point was named MDM distribution point. Also, I don’t know if it’s the official name, but I do know that it’s being referenced like that in every related log file. In the rest of this blog post I’ll describe the high level flow of a package to the MDM distribution point. SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER The SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER is the default component for handling all the content notifications. Once a distribution point is added to a package, the SMS_DATABASE_NOTIFICATION_MONITOR drops a notification file in the distmgr.box and by that triggers the SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER to …

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Updated Configuration Baseline and Hardware Inventory for Windows Phone 8.1

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Microsoft has started with releasing the GDR2 update for Windows Phone 8.1. The good thing from a management perspective is that this update contains new management features. There are seven new additions to the PolicyManager configuration service provider (CSP). As I created the Windows Phone 8.1 configuration baseline and the Windows Phone 8.1 hardware inventory extension, I’ve updated both of them with these latest additions. This blog post will describe the newly added settings and a reminder about the download locations. Note: Another new feature that comes with the GDR2 update is bulk enrollment. Even though it’s not part of this post, I thought it’s definitely worth mentioning. For more information see the Windows Phone 8.1 MDM Protocol document. New settings The newly added settings …

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Installing the Microsoft Intune client directly after a task sequence

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This blog post will be about a bit strange scenario, it will be about deploying a device via a task sequence of ConfigMgr and ending up with the Microsoft Intune client. There are some cases in which the customer elects to manage some devices through Microsoft Intune, instead of ConfigMgr, but still wants to deploy the operating system via ConfigMgr. In those cases creativity is required to get the Microsoft Intune client installed. The ConfigMgr client and the Microsoft Intune client can’t coexist on one device and it’s not possible to remove the ConfigMgr client during the task sequence (without breaking the task sequence).  That’s were the SMSTSPostAction task sequence variable comes in place. This variable can be used to trigger an (unmonitored) action after …

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