The Software Center experience is getting better and better

Throughout my blog posts I always think its important to mention the end-user experience. This blog post will be mainly focused on the end-user experience in Software Center. Software Center went, from an end-user experience, through a complete revamp. The best thing is, it’s only getting better and better. Except for a few items, related to the devices of the end-user, Software Center is becoming the one place for the end-user to be. In this post I want to go through the latest changes to Software Center and show the related end-user experience. Changes Now let’s start with the latest changes to Software Center. It all started with a new modern look for Software Center and it quickly evolved to a easy customizable app. Especially …

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Managing Windows Defender via Windows 10 MDM is getting easier and easier

This post is an updated version of a blog post that I did one-and-a-half year ago about managing Windows Defender, of Windows 10, via OMA-DM. As I still get questions about that post and the OMA-URI settings that are used in that post, I thought it would be good to mention that easier methods are available nowadays. Starting with Configuration Manager 1610 and the Microsoft Intune standalone update around March/ April 2016, it’s simply configurable through the console. No need anymore to configure all those OMA-URI settings manually. Within this post I’ll provide a quick overview of the configuration options, followed by an overview of the end result. That end result will show how the configured settings simply translate to the known OMA-URI settings. Configuration …

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Automatic edition upgrade for Windows devices

My first blog post in this new year will be about the feature to automatically upgrade the edition of Windows devices. This is already possible, for a while, for Windows 10 devices managed via the MDM channel. However, starting with Configuration Manager 1610 this is now also possible for Windows 10 devices managed via the Configuration Manager client. In this post I’ll provide the general information and configuration settings that are applicable for Microsoft Intune hybrid and Microsoft Intune standalone. I’ll end this post by showing the details of the end result on a Windows 10 device managed via the Configuration Manager client. Think about details like how this is achieved and the relation to the MDM channel. Information The edition upgrade feature can be …

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Managing browser settings via Windows 10 MDM

This week a short blog post about managing browser settings via Windows 10 MDM. Most of these settings are not very special and are very well documented in the Policy CSP. However, the configuration of the home page is a small exception. Not just because the documentation is slightly off, but also because of an important change with the anniversary update of Windows 10. As most of the settings are very well documented, this post will be focused on managing the home page. I’ll provide basic information, the configuration information and show the end-user experience. Information Before starting about the configuration of home pages, via Windows 10 MDM, it’s good to mention a few important notes: Browser settings for Microsoft Edge can be managed; Browser …

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Predeclaring corporate-owned devices

This week something related to last week. This week will be about predeclaring corporate-owned devices. In other words, making sure that the Device Owner of the specified devices is set to Company after enrollment. It’s also a much easier solution, for a scripted solution that I created more than year ago, for automagically setting the mobile Device Owner to Company. In this blog post I’ll provide some information about this feature, I’ll show the configuration of this feature and I’ll show the administrator experience of this feature. Please note that this functionality is only available for Microsoft Intune hybrid. Information Predeclaring corporate-owned devices allows organizations to identify corporate-owned devices by importing the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, or, for iOS devices, by importing the …

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Categorizing devices

This week something completely different as the last couple of weeks. This week no conditional access and nothing specifically related to Windows 10 devices. This week it’s all about categorizing devices. Within Microsoft Intune hybrid this functionality is named Device Categories and within Microsoft Intune standalone this functionality is named Device Group Mapping. Both of these functionalities can be used to achieve the same goal. In this post I’ll provide some more information, I’ll describe the configuration in Microsoft Intune hybrid and Microsoft Intune standalone and I’ll show the end-user experience. Information Categorizing devices can be useful to differentiate between device categories. For example, to differentiate between devices used by users of the sales department and the users of the human resources department. When categorizing …

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Simplify enrollment for Windows 10 devices

This week a small blog post about simplifying the enrollment experience for Windows 10 devices. When enrolling a Windows 10 device, for mobile device management (MDM), the end-user has to perform a specific enrollment procedure. That enrollment procedure can be simplified by providing the end-user with a deep link. This blog post will provide the configuration for that deep link and the end-user experience. Configuration The configuration is fairly simple, but, to many people, unknown. Providing the configuration, as part of this blog post, is mainly for creating awareness about the available configuration option. Windows 10 devices can be connected to MDM by using a deep link. In that case end-users will be able to click, or open, a link, from anywhere in Windows 10, …

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Bulk enrollment for Windows 10 devices

My first post after my vacation will be about bulk enrollment for Windows 10 devices. Not bulk enrollment for on-premises enrollment, but bulk enrollment for cloud enrollment. In other words, Microsoft Intune is required. This blog post will contain a short introduction about bulk enrollment, the configuration of bulk enrollment and the end-user and administrator experience with bulk enrollment. Introduction Bulk enrollment is a more automated method for enrolling devices, as compared to normal end-user enrollment, which requires end-users to enter their credentials to enroll the device. Bulk enrollment uses an enrollment package to authenticate the device during enrollment. That enrollment package also contains a certificate profile and optionally a Wi-Fi profile. At this moment bulk enrollment for Windows 10 devices is not supported, or …

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Conditional access for Exchange Online to the max

This week I want to show another look at conditional for Exchange Online. I want to do that by providing a scenario. That scenario will cover more than just conditional access. Mainly because conditional access simply blocks access to non-compliant devices, but what if I want to take it one step further? What if I also want to prevent potential data leakage? In that case I can’t just look at conditional access. In that case I also need to add mobile app management to the playing field. This post will address those subjects for Exchange Online. Scenario Now lets start with the scenario that I want to cover. Even though I know that I will use Microsoft Intune and related technologies to do the configuration, …

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Conditional access for browsers

This week I’ll provide an overview about the latest addition to conditional access, which is conditional access for browsers. It’s a feature that many have been waiting for and a feature that is indeed a pretty welcome addition to conditional access. This post will provide the basics about conditional for browses, the configuration of conditional access for browsers and the end-user experience with conditional access for browsers. It will also be the introduction for something much better next week. Introduction Conditional access allows IT organizations to manage access to corporate email, files and other resources based on customizable conditions that ensure security and compliance. The addition of conditional access for browsers addresses the backdoor that still existed for end-users connecting to the Outlook Web App …

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