What is GRS in Intune ?

Hello Intune Administrators !!

Those who are new to Intune Win32 app deployment then GRS will be confusing word for you. Wait ! dont worry. I will explain basic of GRS. So, GRS is acronym for Global Retry Schedule. You can see below in IntuneManagementExtension.log during Win32 app troubleshooting. 

[Win32App] Tried in last 24 hours, No need to exec. skip execution 3 IntuneManagementExtension 9/1/2020 7:38:07 AM 26 (0x001A)

[Win32App] app AdobeReader with id 54b889093-9a31-8549-fgd2-27cb141a5g789 is still in GRS. GRS start time is 8/31/2020 9:16:35 AM IntuneManagementExtension 9/1/2020 7:38:07 AM 26 (0x001A)

According to Intune Win32 app deployment, when a Win32 application deployment tried in a particular date and time then next retry will happen exactly after 24 hours. 

In above event, Win32 app "Adobe Reader" retry was skipped execution because during check, it was found that retry was happened < 24 hours and therefore IME (Intune Management Extension for Win32 app deployment) skipped the execution. 

Hope this post is useful. If you have any query, feel free to comment. 

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Windows Terminal Preview for SCCM Administrator

Microsoft announced introduction of Windows Terminal last year. This is now available as preview version on Windows Store. Windows Terminal is one platform to have Windows CMD, Windows PowerShell and Microsoft Azure Cloud Shell so that technology professional gets all these terminals in single platform and use them with ease.



How to get Windows Terminal Preview version-

Open Windows Store(in some company, it may be blocked where you cant install it) and search for Windows Terminal or click the link(https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/windows-terminal-preview/9n0dx20hk701#activetab=pivot:overviewtab) to directly launch installation page.

1. Open Windows Store

2. Search for Windows Terminal

3. Windows Terminal (preview version) look like below. Since I already installed it, page shows the state and suggests to launch it.                               












4. Windows Terminal (preview version) looks like below after installation.

5. Azure Cloud Shell requires Azure login and tenant selection for launching it. Windows CMD and Windows Powershell doesnt require any login or condition to launch.

When you try to open Azure shell, it shows below message. Follow the message for launching it.

To sign in, use a web browser to open the page https://microsoft.com/devicelogin and enter the code H84J5ZDZX to authent
This code will expire in 15 minutes.

6. When you open all three terminals, they look like below

Windows Powershell is default terminal and every time you try to open Windows Terminal by clicking + signm it opens Windows Powershell. However you can click down arrow to open other two terminal or you can go to Settings and modify JSON file to make any of these three terminal a default terminal. You can also change the color of these terminals.

For more detail of settings, you can access document here https://aka.ms/terminal-documentation (Github page)

Hope you have liked the blog post. It helps SCCM administrators or manager to run scripts or command with ease.Kindly do comment and share it. 

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Count of File Created Date Wise - PowerShell

Below Powershell command is must have during your troubleshooting in SCCM site server file backlog like DDR, RDR or state message backlog. Below Powershell command will give your output of count of file created based on date against any file location.

Get-ChildItem "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\auth\ddm.box\regreq" | Where-Object {!$_.PSIsContainer} | Group-Object {$_.CreationTime.ToShortDateString()} -NoElement.

Location of file can be anything based on your requirement. 

Hope this will help you. 

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How to identify SQL Server job owner

I was trying to remove a user from SQL Server database box but while trying to remove the user, I got below error:














Now in order to identify where the user has create a SQL Server job, you can run below query to get the job details owned by the user. Here we go:

Select Name from msdb.dbo.sysjobs
WHERE owner_sid IN 
(
SELECT sid
FROM MASTER.sys.syslogins
WHERE Name = 'kirankr'
)

Once you get the job details, you have to remove the maintenance plan of that job from SQL Server Management Studio > Server Node > Management > Maintenance Plans > Get the plan name> Right click it > Delete . After successful removal of dependent job, you can delete the user from the database.Hope you like this post. If yes, do comment and share the post to those who needs it.

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How to Get Collection Folder Location in SCCM

Your manager rushes to you and asks you to identify the Folder location of a culprit collection. You goes to SCCM console and search for it either with name or collection ID. You get the half detail but your manager asked for folder location and you scratches your head because from console you cant identify the folder location of that collection.

Dont worry!! running below query, you can get the folder detail quickly. Here we go:

Open SQL Server Management Studio > Access SCCM Database(preferably CAS) > New query > Run below query 

select c.SiteID as 'Collection ID',c.CollectionName,f.Name 

as 'Folder Name', f.FolderPath from vCollections c

inner join FolderMembers fm on fm.InstanceKey=c.SiteID

inner join folders f on f.ContainerNodeID=fm.ContainerNodeID

Output looks like below:

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How to corrupt or malfunction WMI manually

During general troubleshooting or SCCM(System Center Configuration Manager) troubleshooting at client side, we may need to intentionally corrupt or malfunction WMI(Windows Management Instrumentation). However its not recommended to modify/malfunction WMI.

As we know that WMI is heart of OS(Operating System) as well as of SCCM. If it gets corrupted, we need to fix it in order to run OS and depended application smoothly. WMI uses the Common Information Model (CIM) industry standard to represent systems, applications, networks, devices, and other managed components. CIM is developed and maintained by the Distributed Management Task Force(DMTF).

We can corrupt WMI by removing a namespace. CIMv2 is not of the critical namespace of WMI. So, it can delete it, we will get success to corrupt WMI. We can use below Powershell command to delete CIMv2 in order to corrupt WMI.

Get-WmiObject -computername localhost  -query "Select * From __Namespace Where Name='CIMV2'" -Namespace "root" | Remove-WmiObject


Hope, this helps those who are looking for intentional corruption of WMI.

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How to disable a SCCM software update deployment using Powershell

How to disable a SCCM software update deployment using Powershell

Since Microsoft added Powershell as integral part of System Center Configuration Manager, SCCM admin has now option to use Powershell to apply automation. As a part of this automation, I will show you how to disable a SCCM software update deployment using Powershell command.

With below Powershell script(three lines of code), you can automate software update deployment status. Create a .PS1 file from below and run it(on demand or make a schedule task to run it as per requirement).

Import-Module "D:\Program Files\Microsoft ConfigurationManager\AdminConsole\bin\ConfigurationManager.psd1"
CD CST:
Set-CMSoftwareUpdateDeployment -SoftwareUpdateGroupName Mar18-2012R2 -DeploymentName Mar18-2012R2 -Enable 0

Please note below:
1) Location of SCCM installation may vary. In my case it was D drive. So please change location as per your requirement to get the .psd1 file.

2) CD CST:  - CST is site code of my CAS site. It may be different in your case. Please change it as per your requirement

3) Set-CMSoftwareUpdateDeployment -SoftwareUpdateGroupName <name of your target SUG> -DeploymentName <name of you target deployment > -Enable 0 

Enable > 0 means to turn off and 1 means to turn on the deployment.

Go back to console and you will find that your target software update deployment has been disabled.

If this post helps you or you like it, kindly leave below your valuable comment. Thanks.

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