Powershell

Working with (custom) detection rules for Win32 apps

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After my post of last week about Working with (custom) requirements for Win32 apps only one configuration subject of Win32 apps is left that I’ve discussed in detail, the detection rules for Win32. The format of this week is similar to that post and to previous posts about the different configuration subjects of Win32 apps. Detection rules must be used to determine the presence of a Win32 app. A Win32 app can have multiple detection rules. In that case every detection rule must be met to detect the app. That will help with making sure that the app installation will only be started when the app is not yet installed. In this post I’ll start with going through the different detection rule formats and I’ll …

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Working with (custom) requirements for Win32 apps

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A few months ago I did a post about Working with the restart behavior of Win32 apps and a few months before that I did a post about Working with Win32 app dependencies. This week is similar to those post. This week is also about Win32 apps, but this week it’s about working with requirements for Win32 apps. Requirements can be used to make sure that the Win32 app will only install on a device that meets specific requirements. That means that requirements for Win32 apps, bring a lot of options and capabilities, which enable a lot of scenarios. Think about deploying a Win32 app to a user group and only installing on a specific device brand, type, or model. That can be achieved by …

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Windows 10 MDM (PowerShell) scripting

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A long, long time ago, I wrote about the MDM WMI Bridge provider. Nowadays I notice that the MDM WMI Bridge provider is still an unknown configuration layer for many IT admins. That’s why I’ve decided to do another post about the MDM WMI Bridge provider. A quick reminder: the MDM WMI Bridge provider is used to map the CSPs to WMI. This time my post is more focused on providing some examples and guidance. Besides that it’s also a nice addition on my latest posts about Windows 10 MDM configurations, policy refresh and troubleshooting. I’ll start this post by showing how to configure device settings and I’ll end this post by showing how to trigger device actions. Keep in mind that this post is …

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Simple method for adding notifications to scripted installations

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This week is focused on the end-user experience. More specifically, the end-user experience for scripted actions. Especially when deploying apps, or performing other scripted actions, by using the PowerShell functionality, there could be actions of interest for the end-user.In that case I would like to notify the end-user. The app deployment functionality already provides the option to display notifications to the end-user and in this post I’ll show a simple, but effective method, to also display notifications to scripted installations. That can be a nice addition to this post about combining the powers of the Intune Management Extension and Chocolatey. In this post I’ll provide an updated script, followed by the required configuration steps. I’ll end this post with the end-user experience. Script The first …

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Simply enabling Windows Sandbox

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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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Simply installing the Windows 10 Accounts extension for Google Chrome by using PowerShell

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This week is all about simply automatically installing the Windows 10 Accounts extension for Google Chrome. About a year ago I showed that the extension is required when using conditional access and I also showed earlier that it’s possible to use ADMX ingestion to configure Google Chrome. However, the latter is always the easiest method. It actually might be a bit complicated for a simple configuration. That’s why I’m going a different road this time. This time I’m going for a small PowerShell script that will create a registry key and value. In this post I’ll show how to create the PowerShell script, how to assign it by using Microsoft Intune and the end result in Google Chrome. Create PowerShell script As I’ve decided to …

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Using the Intune Management Extension, on a 64-bit platform, for a very happy New Year!

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Let’s start the New Year with a quick tip about the Intune Management Extension, which is used for running PowerShell scripts, in combination with a 64-bit platform. The Intune Management Extension is 32-bit and will run PowerShell scripts in a 32-bit environment. This is not always the desired behavior. Actually, many activities and/or cmdlets, require a 64-bit environment. In this blog post I’ll provide a simple workaround, to run the PowerShell scripts in a 64-bit environment, and I’ll show the behavior of that simple workaround. The (example) script Now let’s start by looking at that simple workaround. That workaround is actually a simple addition to a script that starts the same script, by using the 64-bit environment of PowerShell. This is achieved by starting with …

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Running scripts on Christmas day (and any other day)

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My last blog post of this year will also be about a new (pre-release) feature of Configuration Manager, version 1710. This post will be all about the ability to create and run scripts from the Configuration Manager administration console. To be correct, the ability to create and run scripts was added in Configuration Manager, version 1706, and Configuration Manager, version 1710, added the ability to use parameters with those scripts. It completed the functionality.  My Christmas day present for the community is a walkthrough through this functionality and how it runs on the client device. After reading this post you should be able to understand how your script can create the output and how you can find the correct GUIDs to follow the activity on …

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Combining the powers of the Intune Management Extension and Chocolatey

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A bit more than a week ago the Intune Management Extension was added to Microsoft Intune to facilitate the ability to run PowerShell scripts on Windows 10 devices that are managed via MDM. That addition opens a whole new world for managing Windows 10 devices via MDM. Looking at app deployment specifically, this enables the administrator to look at something like Chocolatey for deploying packages. That would make the app deployment via Microsoft Intune suddenly flexible. In this blog post I’ll start with a little introduction about the Intune Management Extension and Chocolatey, followed by the configuration of a PowerShell script to install Chocolatey packages. I’ll end this post by looking at the end result. Introduction Let’s start with a short introduction about the awesome …

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Updated tool: Remote Mobile Device Manager

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My early Christmas present, for the community, is an updated version of my Remote Mobile Device Manager tool! This version includes a couple of bug fixes, a couple of added functionalities and a couple of look-and-feel adjustments. In this blog post I’ll provide an overview of those changes, I’ll provide an overview of the new look-and-feel and I’ll show the usage. For an overview of all the previously available features, please refer to my blog post about the previous version of my Remote Mobile Device Manager tool. >> The updated version is now available for download << Changes Now let’s start with a quick overview of the changes to this new release of my Remote Mobile Device Manager tool. This version includes the following changes …

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