System Center Configuration Manager with Endpoint Protection
The name “Microsoft Defender” has gone from relating to an mediocre integrated antivirus program to being a brand for a large suite of security products. In this article we focus on Microsoft Defender products that keep computers safe (as opposed to applications like Defender for O365) While Defender makes sense Read more…
If you see: The Microsoft Operations Manager Expression Filter Module could not convert the received value to the requested type. EVENT ID 11903 the problem might be that your SCCM agent can not talk to the SCCM server. I my case, the problem was that the SCCM server has been Read more…
In recent versions of Windows 10, Microsoft has made notable strides in what they call Delivery Optimization. It is to the point now that, if you configure Delivery Optimization correctly, there is little need to have your Window Server Update Services (aka WSUS) store the patches locally. The question is, Read more…
If you dig out your old Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) you might be worried about how to connect it to your modern TV screen. This video explains: all the SNES connectors which TV connector to use how to adjust the screen resolution to 4×3 why images will still look Read more…
If you need to track which specific version of Windows 10 you desktops are running, SystemCenter would seem to be a great place to start looking. However, the default reports in SCCM do not provide the level of detail most IT administrators require. This granular detail was not available in Read more…
If you are seeing your Windows Deployment Services WDS operating system installs stall on the WINDOWS IS LOADING FILES screen and then errors out with: Windows Failed To Start … Status 0xc0000001 Required Device Isn’t Connected or Can’t Be Accessed then have we got a fix for you! To get Read more…
If you have a Group Policy Object or System Center Configuration Manager setting some parameter on your PC and you also have the setting configured in Microsoft Intune, Intune will win. Put simply, Intune overrides GPO and SCCM. It is also notable that Microsoft has dropped SCCM – Intune Hybrid Read more…
UPDATE OCT 18 2018 – You CAN now use a GPO to block the public Microsoft Store but keep your private corporate Store. See our short explanation HERE. After working on setting up a private Microsoft Business Store (businessstore.microsoft.com) I was shocked to find that I could not disable the Read more…
As you likely already know, because you have found this page, the GPO to disable the MICROSOFT STORE app was set to be ineffective on Windows 10 Pro after build 1511. This annoying change meant that you could only block the store using a GPO if you were running Windows Read more…
If you have recently upgraded your HyperV Servers or Cluster to Server 2016 and you are running Veeam, you may see the following error: Changed Block Tracking Will Not Be Used For This VM Until You Upgrade the VM Hardware to Version 8.0 or Later What this means is that Read more…
Windows Server 2016 introduces native Virtual Machine load balancing. The idea being that Server 2016 Cluster Manager will now migrate VM’s to other Hosts in the cluster to level out the work load. This is roughly the same as “Dynamic Optimization” in System Center Virtual Machine Manager but this is free. By Read more…
If you have Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) you can easily change the PRODUCTS AND CLASSIFICATIONS by clicking OPTIONS > PRODUCTS AND CLASSIFICATIONS. If you are using System Center to rollout Windows Updates, it is much more complex to change what products and categories SCCM is downloading from Microsoft and Read more…
If you have deployed Windows 10 Anniversary 1607 and are using Windows Defender you should be very interested in the new BLOCK ON FIRST SIGHT feature. When a user runs a program that Defender has never seen before, BLOCK ON FIRST SIGHT, sends a metadata about the file to a Microsoft cloud service. Read more…
If you have ever worked with System Center Configuration Manager to manage PC’s, you will know that changes do not take place quickly, and that can be frustrating. To have your PC’s take instruction from SCCM immediately, you need to manually kick off the ‘cycle’: Install the SCCM agent Go Read more…
Below is a the quick version of how to push software packages based on MSI’s, including any Transforms (.MST’s) using System Center Configuration Manager Before we get started I you should understand that the difference between an APPLICATION and a PACKAGE in SCCM is Packages are 2007 logic that you should Read more…
In System Center 2007 and older deploying software was handled through PACKAGES and as such a category named PACKAGES in SCCM > SOFTWARE LIBRARY > OVERVIEW still exists for backwards compatibility. System Center now uses APPLICATIONS to deploy software and that is what you should move to (or start with, Read more…