Quick tip: Easy method for constructing settings of ingested ADMX-files

This week a quick extra blog post, just before the start of my vacation, about an easy method for construction settings of ingested ADMX-files. A few years ago I did a post about a deep dive for ingesting third-party ADMX-files and until today I still receive questions on that post that are related to constructing settings of ingested ADMX-files. Even though the described method is still available, there is an easier method for constructing the settings of ingested ADMX-files. A method that is less sensitive to errors. The following four steps walk through that easy method by again using chrome.admx as an example. The first step is ingesting the ADMX-file. That can be achieved by following the same steps as provided in my earlier post. …

Read more

Working with Attack Surface Reduction rules to reduce the attack surface of applications

This week is al about Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules. ASR rules are originally introduced as one of the four main features of Windows Defender Exploit Guard. Windows Defender Exploit Guard was introduced as a major update to Microsoft Defender Antivirus, in Windows 10 version 1709, and was the successor of Enhance Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET). Nowadays ASR rules are just part of the attack surface reduction controls of Microsoft Defender, but many configuration paths will still refer to Windows Defender Exploit Guard. In this post I’ll have a closer look at configuring ASR rules by using Microsoft Intune. I’ll start with a short introduction about licensing and the different configuration options, followed by the steps for configuring ASR rules and showing the actual configuration. …

Read more

Configuring the usage of Bluetooth encryption via Windows 10 MDM

This week a short blog post about configuring Bluetooth on Windows 10 devices that are managed via Microsoft Intune. More specifically, about configuring the Bluetooth encryption strength that is required for pairing Bluetooth devices. Last year there was a vulnerability regarding the Bluetooth encryption key negotiation that was addressed with an update to Windows and a specific configuration that should be performed to required a specific encryption strength. By default Windows allows all Bluetooth traffic, but with this vulnerability in mind some organizations might want to enforce a minimal encryption key size to be required for Bluetooth traffic. Even if that means that some Bluetooth devices won’t work, or stop working. In this post I’ll start with showing how to configure the Bluetooth encryption key …

Read more

Creating a custom look-and-feel across Android Enterprise fully managed devices

This week is all about Android Enterprise fully managed devices. More specifically, this week is all about creating a single look-and-feel across all Android Enterprise fully managed devices by using the Microsoft Launcher app. Similar to working with Android Enterprise dedicated devices and using the Managed Home Screen app. The Microsoft Launcher app provides many configuration options that can be configured by using an app configuration policy. That in combination with the recently introduced feature to configure the Microsoft Launcher app as the default launcher, enables the administrator to create a custom look-and-feel across all Android Enterprise fully managed devices. In this post I’ll show how to add the Microsoft Launcher app, how to configure the Microsoft Launcher app and how to configure the default …

Read more

Customizing the Microsoft Intune Company Portal app and website

This week is all about customizing the Microsoft Intune Company Portal app and website. The main trigger for this subject are the recently introduced additional customization options. Besides configuring default branding and support information, the list of actual specific customization configurations is growing and providing more and more options for an organization specific look-and-feel. That includes the option for creating multiple different customization policies. In this post I’ll go through the different customization options and policies. I’ll end this post by having a quick look at the end-user experience. Company Portal app and website customization options Now let’s have a look at the Company Portal app and website customization options. To do that, I want to walk through the different customization options and explain the …

Read more

Installing applications by using Windows Package Manager

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 …

Read more

Quick tip: Allow access to unlicensed admins

This week a quick extra blog post about a small nice new feature that became available in Microsoft Intune. That feature is the setting to allow access to Microsoft Intune for unlicensed admins. That setting enables an organization to toggle a tenant-wide setting that removes the Intune license requirement for administrators when accessing the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin console (and Microsoft Graph). Once toggled it can never be reinstated. The following two steps walk through the process of allowing access to unlicensed admins Open the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center portal and navigate to Tenant administration > Roles > Administrator Licensing to open the Intune roles | Administrator Licensing page On the Intune roles | Administrator Licensing page, click Allow access to unlicensed admins On the Allow access to unlicensed admins verification window, click Yes After following …

Read more

Configuring eSIM profiles on Windows devices

This week is all about configuring eSIM profiles on Windows 10 devices by using Microsoft Intune. An eSIM is an embedded digital version of a SIM card that enables the user to connect to the mobile network provider, without an actual physical SIM card. It can be programmed to the mobile network provider and data plan of choice. That can provide an Internet connection over a cellular data connection on an eSIM-capable device. Even though the eSIM functionality is available for most platforms, Microsoft Intune currently only supports the configuration of eSIM profiles on Windows 10 devices. In this post I’ll start with a short introduction, followed by the steps to import and assign eSIM profiles. I’ll end this post by having a look at …

Read more

Using sensitivity labels to manage access to SharePoint sites on unmanaged devices

This week is a follow-up on my post of a few weeks ago about accessing SharePoint and OneDrive content on unmanaged devices. That post showed how to use the SharePoint admin center to manage the organiztion-wide access control for unmanaged devices and showed how to use PowerShell to manage the site-level access control for unmanaged devices. This post will show something similar to that PowerShell configuration, in a way that this will also provide a method for managing access for unmanaged devices on a site-level. The main difference is that this post will look at a new (currently in public preview) feature that is added to sensitivity labels. That feature enables the administrator to configure Site and group settings for sensitivity labels. Within that configuration …

Read more

Pushing notifications to users on iOS and Android devices

This week is all about the different options in Microsoft Intune to send push notifications to users on iOS (and iPadOS) and Android devices. The trigger of this post is the option to send push notifications as an action for noncompliance, which was introduced with the 2005 service release of Microsoft Intune. Besides that, it was already possible to send custom notifications to a single device, to the devices of a group of users, or as a bulk action to multiple devices. In this post I want to go through the different options for sending push notifications, followed by showing the end-user experience. Send custom notifications Custom notifications can be used to push a notification to the users of managed iOS (including iPadOS) and Android …

Read more