A Task Sequence Bridging Solution
There are a number of modern type packages that Intune solution
can deliver. From a business and
usability perspective it may not be possible to upgrade legacy packages to APPX
or MSIX packages. In addition, it may
not be financially worth the packaging effort.
There will be many companies with a large repository of SCCM applications
and SCCM packages, as well as SCCM Task Sequenced based
installation.
The following
solution has been tested as a proof of concept and confirmed to address the
following requirements
1)
The ability to
run SCCM task Sequences on mobile devices registered in
Intune.
2)
The ability to
allow SCCM Application based packages in SCCM to be installed using Intune (via
the Task Sequence as a workaround)
3)
The ability to
allow SCCM standard packages in SCCM to be installed using Intune (via the Task
Sequence as a workaround)
4)
The ability to
run advanced system configuration changes (via the Task Sequence
workaround)
5)
The ability to do
the above in Intune standalone or Intune comanaged
environments.
Many companies
have thousands of applications and packages registered in SCCM and these
packages represent a vast investment over the years in which SCCM has been used
for software distribution.
Creating the TS Bridge for Intune.
The process will
be documented using a Task Sequence that does the
following.
1)
Installs the SCCM
client without any site assignment
2)
Puts the
installed client into provisioning mode – using a WMI modification
script
3)
Enables the
client to install packages in standalone mode using a WMI modification
script
4)
Uses USMT to make
a backup of user data
5)
Copies the CMTrace tool to c:\Windows – this demonstrates a Run Command
Line TS action step
6)
Installs Edit
Plus application as a software package
7)
Installs the
Visio viewer application as a software package
At the time of
writing the solution is still in development mode and consists of some manual
steps the need to be scripted. These
will be highlighted accordingly.
The process
relies on the Stand Alone Media feature within
SCCM. The standalone media feature is
based upon the OSD migration task sequence.
You cannot create a stand
alone media file for a task sequence that that only contains
application installations and run command line installations. The workaround to this is to create a
standard Operating System Migration task sequence that contains the required
applications, and then to disable the OSD steps that are not required. This allows us to create a stand alone media file iso file
that will only install the required applications or command line configuration
steps.
The main steps to
the solution are as follows
1)
Creation of the
Task Sequence to install the required applications.
2)
Copy
of the SCCM client source files to the user’s device
3)
Creation of the
Stand alone Task Sequence
media as an ISO file and the creation of a prestart batch file to install the
SCCM client.
4)
Creation of a
virtual disk and copying the stand alone media task
sequence files onto the disk
5)
Copying
the virtual hard drive to the device and connecting the d: drive to this virtual
disk
6)
Creating an
Intune Win32 application that runs a batch file that installs the SCCM client
and runs the stand alone task
sequence.
Steps 2 and 5 can
be automated and actioned by the Intune agent – for now they are manual steps to
prove the feasibility of the concept.
To demonstrate
this process as a proof of concept you will require
1)
A DC and a SCCM
instance
2)
A task sequence
to deploy an operating system and apply the required
packages
3)
A virtual or a
real machine with the Company Portal installed and enrolled into the Intune
tenant (the device does not need to be a member of the on
premise domain.
Creating the Stand Alone Task Sequence
SCCM Client Source Files and Folders
Note: In this scenario we prepare the SCCM client source
files and the installation batch file and copy them to the test client. This
is to be automated in the completed solution
Step
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Display
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Create the following folder
tree on your resource server – c:\SCCMTSClient\client. Copy your SCCM client
source files into this directory.
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In this folder created a batch
file called ccminst2.cmd.
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Add the following lines of code
to this batch file and save it.
cd
c:\
cd
sccmtsclient
cd
client
echo
%time% >> time.txt
ccmsetup.exe
WMIC
/namespace:\\root\ccm path sms_client CALL SetClientProvisioningMode
"True" /NOINTERACTIVE
WMIC
/namespace:\\\root\ccm\policy\machine\requestedconfig path
ccm_SoftwareDistributionClientConfig CREATE ComponentName="Enable
SWDist", Enabled="true", LockSettings="TRUE",
PolicySource="local", PolicyVersion="1.0", SiteSettingsKey="1"
/NOINTERACTIVE
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Copy the above directory to the
root of your test client. Thus on your test client you will have a structure
similar to the one on the right of this table
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On your test client create the following
directory c:\buildtools\VHDPopulated
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Step
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Display
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On your resource server create
the following folders c:\buildtools\StandAloneMedia.
C:buildtools\EmptyVHD
C:\Buildtools\PopulatedVHD
C:\buildtools\Standaloneiso
Copy
c:\SMSTSClient\client\ccminst2.cmd to c:\buildtools
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On your resource server open the
SCCM console and navigate to Software Library\Overview\Operating Systems\Task
Sequences
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Right click and select Create
Task Sequence Media. Select Stand-alone media option.
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Click Next. In the media type
windows click cd/dvd and set the size to unlimited. In the media file part
enter in c:\buildtools\standalone\tsintunebridge.iso
Click on Next
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Deselect protect password media
with a password and click on Next.
Note: If desired you can add a
password however the solution has not been tested with that configuration
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In the select task sequence
windows browse to the SCCM Task sequence created earlier and click on Next
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In our example we are only
installing SCCM packages thus there are no application source files to select
in the Select Application window. Click on Next
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In the Select package content
to add section click on Next
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In the Select Driver package
window click on Next
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In the select distribution
points for media add the required Distribution point and click on Next
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In the Customize Task sequence
media window click on Enable prestart command
In the Command Line box enter
in cmd.exe /c c:\SMSTSClient\client\ccminst2.cmd
Note: The above can be modified
so that the various files for the SCCM client installation can be placed into
a package – the way the Include files for the prestart command option can be
used.
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Click on Next
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The standalone iso is created.
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