HP ThinPro - Upgrade the Omnissa Horizon Client

Introduction

We are able to update the HP ThinPro operating system as new releases become available.  And this will generally result in new software updates as well - Mozilla Firefox, Citrix Workspace, FreeRDP, etc.  Organizations who use the great Horizon View VDI solution will be keen keep the Omnissa Horizon Client as close to the latest release as possible.  This will entail provisioning  releases of the Horizon client that are made available in-between ThinPro OS upgrades.  In this blog I show you how to create a Horizon Client template, and how to deploy it to a client.  I will also show you how to overcome the expired certificate issue that may prevent you from upgrading your ThinPro Thin clients to the latest version of the Horizon View client.

Creating the Horizon View Template

As can be seen - currently my T530 ThinPro Thin client has Horizon View client version 2212 installed.

This version of the Horizon client comes with the HP ThinPro 8.1 sp6 Operating system.  We certainly do want to upgrade this to version 2506 because this newer version contains updated libraries, improved certificate handling, addresses various vulnerabilities, and is generally a more stable version of the Horizon Client.  So how do we achieve this?

Firstly, open up the HPDM console and navigate to the Templates & Rules node and click on HP Update Center.

Filter the results so that the desired version for your OS is listed.

Click on Generate Templates.  The Package Description Editor window appears.  

Click on Generate.  You are prompted to select the appropriate OS.  Click on OK

The Generate Templates window appears informing you that the Template was successfully created.  Click on OK and the Close.

After a few minutes your new Horizon Client template will appear in the Templates & Rules\Templates\All Templates section of the HPDM console.

Deploy the Horizon View Client - version 2506

Navigate to Manage Devices and right click on the Device/s to which you want to deploy the new Horizon client v2506.  

Select Send Task and then select File and Registry in the Category column and then select the omnissa horizon client in the Template column.

Click on Next. The Task Editor window appears.  Click on OK.

The job begins.  You can monitor the update progress in the Task & Reports\Device Tasks section of the HPDM console.  Hopefully the progress bar will turn green, indicating the Horizon client has successfully updated.  If it turns red you can proceed with the following workaround.

Workaround for Signature Block Verification: Expired certificate Error.

Your deployment may have failed with error code 14004022 indicating that the template is using an expired certificate.

If this is the case then navigate to Templates & Rules\Templates\All Templates.  Right click on the new Horizon client template and select Properties.  Select Script and then select Edit.

The Script Sub task window appears.  Enter in -k beside the xarinstall command as shown.

Click on OK and then OK.  You can now redeploy the new Horizon client - confident of a successful upgrade.

Conclusion

Our goal always is to provide the user with a secure and up to date digital experience - and this could not be more true than in the world of VDI.  I hope you have enjoyed this little blog and I hope it has armed you with the know-how so that you can update your ThinPro Horizon client agents to a newer, safer and more stable edition.

Create a MECM Query to get Intune Autopilot Device Import Information

Introduction

Intune Autopilot is a great new cloud provisioning feature.  While not as sophisticated as MECM task sequence based provisioning, it is nevertheless much easier to use and to master.  Of course, before we can provision a device using Autopilot, we are required to import the hardware hash into Intune.  One way to get this hardware hash is to run a PowerShell script.  Another way, if the device is in the MECM database,  is to run a canned MECM report called Windows AutoPilot Device Information.

Yes this report gives you the information, and with an export and some manipulation you can import this into Intune.  Many MECM/SCCM administrators, however, prefer to work with MECM queries instead.  They may not be so confident using the Report builder or native Transact SQL.  Mostly queries are there for the administrators only and they can quickly and easily be created as needed - whether that be to supply a manager with required hardware data, or as the underlining query for a collection.  And so I did create the MECM AutoPilot Hash Query.

Creating the AutoPilot Hash Query

In your MECM console navigate to Monitoring\Overview\Queries.  Right Click and select Create Query.  Provide a name for the Query such as AutoPilot Hash and then click on Edit Query Statement and then click Show Query Language.  Paste the following query into the Query Statement box.

select SMS_G_System_PC_BIOS.SerialNumber, SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM_PRODUCT.IdentifyingNumber, SMS_G_System_MDM_DEVDETAIL_EXT01.DeviceHardwareData from  SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_PC_BIOS on SMS_G_System_PC_BIOS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId inner join SMS_G_System_MDM_DEVDETAIL_EXT01 on SMS_G_System_MDM_DEVDETAIL_EXT01.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId left join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM_PRODUCT on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM_PRODUCT.ResourceId = SMS_R_System.ResourceId

Click on OK.   Click on Next and then Next again and then on Close.  If desired you can also Right Click on the newly created Query and select Properties, and then limit the results to a collection of your choice; or indeed have it configured so that you are prompted for a collection when you run the report - a very useful feature that is not included with the canned Autopilot report discussed earlier.

Creating the Intune Import csv file

Open notepad and copy into it the following line.

Device Serial Number,Windows Product ID,Hardware Hash

Run the AutoPilot Hash query in the MECM console.  Click on CTRL and A to select the results.

Once selected click on CTRL and C to copy the data into the clipboard.  Press CTRL and V to copy the data into the notepad instance you have open.  Ensure that Word wrap is off and complete a replacement of the whitespace with two commas as shown.

You can now save this notepad file as a .csv file.  For instance, AutoPilotImport.csv.

Importing the Autopilot Hash data into Intune.

Sign into your Intune Portal and navigate to Devices\Windows\Enrollment\Windows Autopilot and then Devices.

Click on Import and browse to your Autopilot import file.  Intune will assess the file for any formatting issues.

Click on Import to register the hash data into Intune.

Conclusion

Retrieving the hardware hash data for Intune can be a tricky and time consuming task.  The MECM Autopilot report goes some way to make this easier - and I hope the Query detailed in this report makes the task even easier for you to manage.  I hope you enjoyed this little blog and I with you much success in your Intune Autopiloting importing tasks.

Intune - Android Custom Notifications and Play Lost Device Sound

Introduction

Recently I completed my half yearly task of rebuilding my MECM lab.  I do rely on evaluation licenses for most of my Microsoft products, and so it does make sense to rebuild on a regular basis for this reason.  In addition, building a MECM lab is always a great knowledge refresher.  I did enable MECM Cloud Attach, which of course meant I did have an instance of my old friend, Intune.  Now recently I have been working in air gapped environments - and this means no hands on Intune fun for a while.  I thought I would take the opportunity of refreshing my knowledge about this great product.  I did follow Jonathan Edwards great video on how to enable and manage Android enrolments into Intune.

How to Manage Android Devices in Microsoft 365 Using Intune

Having only recently purchased for myself a Lenovo tablet with Android v15 installed - I did ensure this device became enrolled into my Intune instance. Doing some experimentation (playing) I found two features so interesting I really did have to write about them.  Firstly let's look at the Custom Notifications feature.

Custom Notifications

So you would like to send an urgent message out to all your staff members, using their phones or tablets?  Perhaps warning of a security event or a reminder to fill in timesheets!  Intune has the Custom Notifications feature precisely for this sort of requirement.  Firstly, you will need to ensure a few settings are applied to your tablets or phones.  In my case I had to enable Notification permissions for both Intune and the Company Portal Apps.

Secondly, I needed to enable Notifications history.

The next step is to create a group in Intune.  Add into this group the users or their devices or both (I had more success when adding both user and the device).  In this case I created a group called Global Communications.

Next, Navigate to Tenant Administration\Custom Notifications.  Enter in your message and click on Next.

Click on Add Group and then place and tick next to your chosen group and then click on Select.

Click on Next and then Create.

After a few minutes your device will emit an attention chime and you can view the message on the lock screen.

In addition, you can view the message in your Intune Portal under Organization messages.

Play Lost Device Sound

Another fun feature is the ability to send a jingle from the Intune portal to the remote Android device.  A build engineer with dozens of identical tablets on his desk may find this very useful.  Can't find the tablet showing an issue in the portal?  Just send it the Play Lost Device Sound command and it will light up playing the jingle.  Likewise if a user knows the Android is near at hand but cannot find it - then this command may assist with tracking the device down.

In the Intune portal locate the device under the devices node.  Click on Play Lost Device Sound.

When prompted select the number of minutes you would like the jingle to play.

In this case I select one minute.  When clicking on Yes the targeted device will play the Lost Device Jingle.

If you do not chose to stop the sound you are presented with an information method as follows.

Conclusion

Intune is a great product and evolving all the time with great features.  I hope you enjoyed reading about the Custom Notifications and the Play Lost Device Sound features in this little blog.  I wish you similar success with your own experimentations.