Using the power of ConfigMgr together with Microsoft Intune to determine device compliance

This week is all about device compliance. More specifically, about using the combination of ConfigMgr and Microsoft Intune for device compliance. In a cloud-attached scenario, in which ConfigMgr is attached to Microsoft Intune, it’s possible to use the ConfigMgr client in combination with a MDM enrollment. This is also known as co-management. In that scenario it’s possible to slowly move workloads from ConfigMgr to Microsoft Intune, like the compliance policies workload. In that scenario Microsoft Intune will become responsible for the compliance state of the device. However, switching that workload to Microsoft Intune, also limits the available device compliance checks. In case the organization still needs to verify the availability of certain apps, or updates, there’s a solution. Even when the workload is switched to …

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The different ways of enrolling devices in Windows Analytics

After a week of silence, due to the MVP Summit, this week another new blog post. This week is all about enrolling devices in to Windows Analytics. An updated version, with a slightly different angle, of a post of about two years ago. This time I’ll summarize the different methods to achieve the same goal and the changes since Windows 10, version 1803. I’ll start this post with an overview of the required settings, followed by an overview of the different configuration methods. I’ll end this post by going through my preferred method, for a cloud scenario, and the administrator experience. Settings to configure Now let’s start by looking at the settings that are required to enroll devices in to Windows Analytics. Those settings are …

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The conditional access policy flow

This week is still all about conditional access. However, this week it’s not about a specific configuration. This week it’s about the conditional access policy flow. The flow that will help with determining if a conditional access policy is applicable to the user’s attempt to access a cloud app and if access will be allowed or blocked. The idea is similar to the What if tool. The big difference is that the What if tool does a technical check to see which conditional access policy is applicable and this flow can help with determining why a conditional access policy is applicable, or not. Also, almost as important, this flow will clearly show how many options are available to exclude specific users and devices. This is …

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Conditional access and blocking downloads

This week is all about using conditional access for blocking downloads. I already did something similar before by using app enforced restrictions for Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. This time I’m going to take it one step further by looking at recently adjusted functionality for Conditional Access App Control. Conditional Access App Control enables administrators to control user sessions by redirecting the user through a reverse proxy instead of directly to the app. From then on, user requests and responses go through Cloud App Security rather than directly to the app. This creates an additional layer that can be used to filter actions. In this blog post I’ll start with a short introduction about Conditional Access App Control, followed by the configuration steps and the …

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Configure storage sense via Windows 10 MDM

This blog post uses the Storage node of the Policy CSP, to configure Storage Sense on Windows 10 devices. Most of the policies in that area are added in Windows 10, version 1903, which is currently still in preview. This week a short blog post about a few newly introduced policy settings in Windows 10, version 1903, which is currently still in preview. Those settings are related to Storage Sense and those settings are made available via a newly introduced ADMX-file. That ADMX-file is StorageSense.admx. Storage Sense can automatically clean some of the user’s files to free up disk space. In this post I’ll briefly go through the available settings, followed by the configuration and the end-user experience. Settings Let’s start by having a look …

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Remotely selective wipe WIP without enrollment devices

This week week a relatively short blog post about the ability to remotely selective wipe Windows Information Protection Without Enrollment (WIP-WE) devices. Almost two years ago I already wrote about app protection for Windows 10 (back than referred to as MAM-WE). That was the first piece of the without-enrollment-puzzle for Windows 10 devices. The second piece of that puzzle is just recently introduced, and is the subject of this post, which is the ability to remotely selective wipe those WIP-WE devices. In my opinion the third and yet still missing piece of that puzzle would be conditional access (require a managed app). Hopefully we can complete that puzzle soon. In this post I’ll show the remote action to selectively wipe a WIP-WE device, followed by …

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Block access to all cloud apps for unsupported platforms

This week something different compared to the last couple of weeks. This week is all about conditional access, but not about particular new functionality. This week I want to show a relatively simple method to make conditional access policies as secure and complete as possible. By using device platforms as an example, I want to show how to make sure that only device platforms supported by the IT organization can access company data. And really only those device platforms. In this post I’ll provide a short introduction of this method, followed by the related configurations. I’ll end this post by showing the end-user experience. Introduction Let’s start with a short introduction about this method to make sure that only specific device platforms, supported by the …

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Configuring shared multi-user devices

This week is all about a recently introduced profile in Microsoft Intune to configure shared PC mode on a Windows 10 device. That profile is named Shared multi-user device profile. Something similar has been available already for a while via Intune for Education. The main use case for this profile are school devices that are shared between multiple students. In this post I’ll provide a brief introduction regarding shared PC mode, followed by the configuration (and the configuration options) of the Shared multi-user device profile. I’ll end this post by looking at the end-user experience. Introduction Let’s start with a short introduction about shared PC mode and immediately address the main use case. Shared PC mode s designed to be management- and maintenance-free with high …

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Simply enabling Windows Sandbox

This blog post uses Containers-DisposableClientVM, to enable the Windows Sandbox feature on Windows 10 devices. This is available in Windows 10 Insider build 18305 or later. This week is all about enabling a recently introduced Windows Feature. That Windows Feature is Windows Sandbox. Windows Sandbox is a lightweight desktop environment that is specifically created for safely running applications in isolation. It provides an isolated, temporary, desktop environment where users can run untrusted software without the fear of lasting impact to their device. Any software installed in Windows Sandbox stays in the sandbox and cannot affect the host. The installed software is permanently deleted, once Windows Sandbox is closed. Windows Sandbox is part of Windows 10 (Pro and Enterprise) Insider build 18305 or later. In this …

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Easily controlling the Office update channel by using administrative templates

Let’s start this new year about a specific use case for the recently introduced feature to configure administrative template settings via Microsoft Intune. That specific use case is to easily control and configure the Office update channel by using the Administrative Templates profile type within Microsoft Intune. Before, this configuration would require ingesting a custom ADMX and creating custom OMA-URI settings, for configuring the Office channel, based on the information in the ingested custom ADMX. That’s not necessary anymore, as Microsoft Intune now provides a built-in list of available administrative template policy settings. In this post I’ll show the configuration steps, followed by the configuration results on a Windows 10 device. Configuration Before looking at the actual configuration steps, it might be good to first …

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