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Sideloading Line-of-Business Apps with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

For business who wish to develop Line of Business (LOB) apps for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, Microsoft introduces the concept of sideloading so that companies with private apps can deploy apps without needing to publicly publish to the Windows Store.

Before you can add or run sideloaded LOB apps, your Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 apps must be joined to an Active Directory domain that has the "Allow all trusted applications to install" Group Policy setting enabled. For devices running on Windows 8  Enterprise and Windows 8 Pro that are not joined to a domain, you must activate sideloading with a sideloading product key on the device.

Edit Group Policy settings

1. Open the Group Policy editor from a computer running Windows 8.
2. Under Local Computer Policy in the left pane, click to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and then App Package Deployment.
3. Double-click the Allow all trusted apps to install setting.
4. In the Allow all trusted apps to install window, click Enabled, then click OK.

Activate a sideloading product key

1. Open the command prompt with administrator privileges and type the following:
   • Slmgr /ipk <25 digit sideloading product key>
2. Activate the key by typing:
   • Slmgr /ato ec67814b-30e6-4a50-bf7b-d55daf729d1e

For more information on how to manage sideloaded apps, click here.

Deploying Software using Windows Intune Part 4

Part 4: Software Detection Rules

Deployment

After a software package is uploaded or migrated to Windows Intune, you can deploy it to client computers and mobile devices that are managed by Windows Intune. This topic describes how to deploy software by using the Windows Intune Software Publisher.

For information about how to view the status of deployed software, see Monitoring the Deployment Status.

This topic describes the procedure for deploying software to a target group that you create.

To deploy a managed software package

1. Open the Windows Intune administrator console.
2. Open the Software workspace.
3. In the Software navigation pane, click Managed Software.
4. Select the title of the software that you want to deploy, and then click Manage Deployment or right click to get the option to Manage Deployment.



Note

You can select multiple items to be deployed using the Shift key. If you select both mobile device applications and computer software, you will only be able to deploy the software as an Available Install.

5. On the Select Groups page, select the user and device groups to which you want to deploy the software, by highlighting them in the Available Groups pane and clicking Add to move them to the Selected Groups pane.

If you add a group, and then use the Remove button to remove that group from the deployment, software will not be deployed to the group and all other settings related to this deployment will not be applied to the group.

For more information about creating groups and group considerations, see Device and User Group Considerations.



6. On the Deployment Action page, in the Approval column, click the drop-down menu, and then select one of the following:
   1. Install: Software that is deployed as a required installation will be installed automatically for all members of the group to which it is installed.

   Note

   Only computer software can be deployed as Install. This option is not relevant for mobile device applications.

   2. Available Install: Available installation software is deployed to a user group and will be available for installation in the Windows Intune company portal.
   3. Required Install: Software that is deployed as a required installation will be installed automatically for all members of a device group to which it is installed.

   Note

   Only computer software can be deployed as a Required Install. This option is not relevant for mobile device applications.

   4. Do Not Install: Software that is deployed with do not install parameters will not be available to the members of the group to which the software is deployed.
   5. Uninstall: Setting software to uninstall in the deployment will uninstall the software for all members of the group to which it is deployed.

   Warning

   Only computer software can be uninstalled automatically. This option is not relevant for mobile device applications.

7. To define a timeline for the software package to be deployed, click the drop-down menu in the Deadline column, and select one of the following options:
   1. None: This option deploys the software based on the agent policy settings.
   2. As soon as possible: This option deploys the software after Windows Intune scans the client computers in the targeted computer groups during the next synchronization. For more information about how to schedule synchronization, see Windows Intune Agent Policy.
   3. One week: This option deploys the software package one calendar week from the current day.
   4. Two weeks: This option deploys the software package two calendar weeks from the current day.
   5. One month: This option deploys the software package one calendar month from the current day.
   6. Custom: This option lets you set a specific date and time for the software package to deploy.

Updates

The process of deploying updates of third party software through Windows Intune is very similar to deploying software because it uses the same Windows Intune Software Publisher.

To upload an update, select the Update option on the left side of your Windows Intune administrator panel and select Upload under Tasks. You can also select Non-Microsoft Updates and select Upload. Refer to the Deploying Software Setup section for details on the setup process.

Since not all 3^rd party software follows the same application model, the ability to use this feature will be based on a case by case basis. Different desktop applications will behave differently depending upon the developers.

Deploying Software using Windows Intune Part 3

Part 2: Windows Intune Software Publisher

To specify software detection rules

1. On the Detection rules page, select Detect whether the software is installed by using the following rules (recommended).

Important

Although the option Use the default detection rules appears first on this page, we do not recommend that you use it, as it will automatically overwrite any previously installed versions or customizations of this software that may already exist on a targeted computer.

Instead, we strongly recommend that you select the second option, Detect whether the software is installed by using the following rules (recommended), which is preselected.

2. On the Add Rule list, select one or more detection rule types. The detection rule types are as follows:
   1. File exists
   2. MSI product code exists
   3. Registry key exists

You can create multiple detection rules. For example, you can create a File exists rule to search for an existing file in one file path, and then create another File exists rule to search for an existing file in a different file path. You can also create multiple detection rules of different types. For example, you can add a Registry key exists rule to the previous search criteria. In this case, Windows Intune determines whether the file exists. If it does exist, the software is considered to be detected. If it does not exist, Windows Intune next examines whether the registry key exists.

To detect software by checking whether a file exists

1. On the Add Rule list, select the File exists check box, and then click Add.
2. In the Specify file path box, complete the file path including the file name that you want Windows Intune to find. To change the starting point to %SystemDrive%, click the %ProgramFiles% list, and then click %SystemDrive%.
   1. If you select %ProgramFiles% as the file path starting point, Windows Intune searches for the file in both Program Files\< file path> and Program Files (x86)\ <file path>, where <file path> is the subfolder\file path that you type in the box.
   2. If you select %SystemDrive% as the file path starting point, Windows Intune searches for the file starting at the root of the computer’s system drive (this is usually drive C).

Examples:

Specified path	Search action
Program Files\Microsoft Silverlight\Silverlight.Configuration.exe	Searches for Silverlight.Configuration.exe in the Program Files\Microsoft Silverlight and Program Files X86\Microsoft Silverlight folders and subfolders.
%SystemDrive%\Silverlight.Configuration.exe	Searches for Silverlight.Configuration.exe throughout the whole system drive.
%SystemDrive%\DevTools\Silverlight.Configuration.exe	Searches for Silverlight.Configuration.exe on the system drive, in the \DevTools folder and subfolders.

To detect software by checking whether a Windows Installer (.msi) file exists

1. On the Add Rule list, select the MSI product code exists check box, and then click Add.
2. In the Choose an MSI file box, click Browse to identify the name and location of a Windows Installer (.msi) file.

To detect software by checking whether a registry key exists

1. On the Add Rule list, select the Registry key exists check box, and then click Add.
2. In the Specify registry key path box, complete the registry key name that starts with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\.

Windows Intune checks both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the submitted registry path. If the registry key is found in either version, the software is considered to be detected.

Note

To remove a rule, click the X that is displayed to the right of the rule.

You can add command-line arguments to the software deployment package. See the software documentation for valid command-line arguments.

If you are uploading software that uses an executable setup file (.exe), remember to use any required command-line parameter (such as /q), to force the software to install silently (without user intervention).

If you are uploading software that uses a Windows Installer setup file (.msi) or Windows Installer patch (.msp), you may need to use command-line arguments in Name=Value pairs (such as TRANSFORMS=custom_transform.mst).

Important

Do not use switched parameters (such as /q) when uploading software with a Windows Installer setup file (.msi) or Windows Installer patch (.msp). These arguments will cause the application installation to fail on the targeted computers.

To add command-line arguments

1. On the Command line arguments page, click Yes.
2. In the Command line arguments box, type the command-line arguments.

By default, the Windows Intune Software Publisher uses industry-standard return codes to report a failed or successful installation of a software package. These return codes work with most industry-standard, off-the-shelf software. The supplied return codes are:

Return code	Interpretation
0	Success
3010	Success with restart

Any return code that is not listed is considered a failure.

Some software, especially custom line-of-business applications, uses nonstandard interpretations for return codes. In this case, you can supply your own return code interpretations.

To specify how return codes are interpreted

1. On the Return codes page, click Yes.
2. On the Add return code list, select the return code type on the list by selecting its check box, and then click Add.

The return code types are Success and Success with restart. You can add both types.

1. Type the return codes into the Return code boxes.

Note

You can edit the default return codes in the provided Return code boxes, instead of or in addition to adding new return codes.

To remove a rule, click the X that is displayed to the right of the rule.

After you have entered all of the update information into the Windows Intune Software Publisher, you can review your selections and optionally modify them before you start the upload.

To review the software specifications and upload the software

1. On the Summary page, review the software settings that you specified. You can scroll down to view the complete summary.
2. To change any setting, click the appropriate page in the right pane and then edit the selections.
3. When you are satisfied with the software specifications, click Upload.

The Upload page displays the status of the software as it uploads to Windows Intune.

Note

Uploaded software is stored in the Windows Intune Cloud Storage that your organization purchased. If you have insufficient free space to upload the software package, you are notified of this during the upload process. Windows Intune cannot determine sufficient free space until after the software upload has started, because compressed setup and installation files require more space when they are uncompressed. After upload, the software files are compressed and encrypted and stored in Windows Intune. This package contains all necessary Setup files for the managed software. After the managed software package has been successfully downloaded, the user can extract and install the managed software.

For more information on purchasing additional Cloud Storage space, see Purchasing Additional Storage.

4. The Summary page displays a message when the software is successfully uploaded. To exit the Windows Intune Software Publisher, click Close. To deploy the uploaded software, see Deploying Software Packages.

Part 4: Deployment

Deploying Software using Windows Intune Part 2

Part 1: Preparing for Deployment

Deploying Software Setup

If you upload software that uses a Windows Installer setup file (.msi) or Windows Installer patch (.msp) by using the Windows Intune Software Publisher, you should also refer to the installer documentation. In most cases, these do not require any command-line arguments. If command-line arguments are required, they must be entered as Name=Value pairs (such as TRANSFORMS=custom_transform.mst).

Do not specify any switched parameters (such as /q or /quiet) as command-line arguments when uploading software with a Windows Installer setup file (.msi) or Windows Installer patch (.msp). These arguments will cause the application installation to fail on the managed computers.

To start the Add Software – Windows Intune Software Publisher

1. Open the Windows Intune administrator console.
2. In the workspace shortcuts pane, click the Software icon.
3. You can start the Add Software – Windows Intune Software Publisher in the following ways:
   1. In the navigation pane, click Overview, and then click Add Software.
   2. In the navigation pane, click Managed Software, and then click Add Software.

Note

When you start the Add Software – Windows Intune Software Publisher for the first time, a short delay occurs while the application is installed. You’ll be required to log in every time you wish to add or edit a software setup.

4. The Add Software – Windows Intune Software Publisher opens at the Before you Begin page, which describes the role of the Windows Intune Software Publisher. You can hide this page for future uploads by selecting the Do not show this page again check box.
5. On the Software setup page, select the platform supported by the software. For computer software, select Windows (computer).

To specify the software setup files

1. Click Browse in the Upload software for installation via Windows Intune to locate the setup files that are required to install the software package. By default, the browser opens in the Current User\Documents Library folder.

Important

Please ensure that you have the appropriate licenses to upload, distribute and use this software.

2. Navigate to the appropriate folder and select the executable program file that installs the software. This can be a Windows Installer (.msi), Windows Installer patch (.msp) file, or .exe program file that is required to successfully install the software.
3. Select the Include additional files and subfolders from the same folder check box if you have multiple files to include in the package. The total size of the selected files to upload is displayed. This size does not include the uncompressed or expanded sizes of installation files.
4. For software that is located externally, specify the URL of the software content in the Provide a link to external content field.
5. Click Next.
6. After you specify the setup files, in the Software description page, enter or accept the extracted values for the publisher, name, description, and URL for software information. In addition, you can select a category to label the type of software you are adding. The URL cannot refer to a location on the local computer and must be in the format: http://www.contoso.com. 

Important

If the software is being published to the Windows Intune company portal, you should use this URL to specify the location for the software privacy statement, appropriate licenses to upload, distribute and use this software that the user can view prior to downloading the software.

Note

Windows Intune Software Publisher attempts to extract information to use in the name and description fields from the setup file you provided.

To specify managed computer requirements

1. In the Requirements tab, specify the architecture and the operating system:
   • Any — Select this option to specify that the software can be installed on any architecture.
   • 32-bit — Select this option to specify that the software can be installed on 32-bit computers only.
   • 64-bit — Select this option to specify that the software can be installed on 64-bit computers only.
2. In the Operating system is list, select one of the following options:
   • Any — Select this option to specify that the software can be installed on any client operating system that is supported by Windows Intune.
   • From Windows XP — Select this option to specify that the earliest operating system that the targeted computers can be running is Windows XP.
   • From Windows Vista — Select this option to specify that the earliest operating system that the targeted computers can be running is Windows Vista.
   • From Windows 7 — Select this option to specify that the earliest operating system that the targeted computers can be running is Windows 7.

Note

Windows Intune supports Windows XP Service Pack 3 only. Earlier versions of Windows XP are not supported.

3. On the Operating system is from list, select one of the following options:
   • Any — Select this option to specify that the software can be installed on any client operating system that is supported by Windows Intune.
   • From Windows XP — Select this option to specify that the earliest operating system that the targeted computers can be running is Windows XP.
   • From Windows Vista — Select this option to specify that the earliest operating system that the targeted computers can be running is Windows Vista.
   • From Windows 7 — Select this option to specify that the earliest operating system that the targeted computers can be running is Windows 7.

Note

Windows Intune supports Windows XP Service Pack 3 only. Earlier versions of Windows XP are not supported.

4. After you identify the earliest supported operating system, the Windows Intune Software Publisher displays a To list from which you can select the latest supported operating system. On the To list, select the latest operating system that the software publisher supports for this software title. You can select All newer operating systems, or you can define a specific operating system.

Note

To remove a requirement, click the X that is displayed to the right of the requirement.

Be aware that if the software setup file that you specified earlier is an .msi or .msp file, the Detection rules page does not appear. This is because .msi and .msp files contain their own instructions for detecting previous software installations. In this case, you can proceed directly to To add command-line arguments.

You can use the Detection rules page to specify how Windows Intune determines whether the software exists on targeted computers. This feature ensures that software is not installed more than one time.

 

Part 3: Software Detection Rules

Deploying Software using Windows Intune Part 1

Windows Intune is a PC management tool that offers businesses and individuals the ability to perform security and management tasks from one cloud based tool. Administrators can monitor viruses, computer health, deploy Windows updates, and install and manage third party applications. Third party software is installed through Windows Intune Update as was set up in Intune's update policy. 

A caveat to Windows Intune Software Publisher is that not all third party applications can be deployed and not all deployed softwares can be be updated through Intune seamlessly. 

The application must have the option to be installed silently, otherwise the installation will time out.

The process of uploading updates is very similar to the process of uploading the installation files. However, depending upon how the software is packaged, Windows Intune may not be able to patch in the software's update. 

Since not all 3^rd party softwares follow the the standard application model Microsoft uses, the ability to use this feature will be based on a case by case basis. Different desktop applications will behave differently depending upon the developers.

Preparing for Deployment

There are a few important pieces of information you need to gather in order to successfully deploy your application.

• Software setup files location: The path to the setup files on the Windows Intune administrator’s computer. These are the files that will be compressed and uploaded to create the managed software package that you want to distribute. If your Setup program requires other files or folders to complete a client installation, you must organize those files into a single folder.
• Publisher: The name of the software publisher.
• Name: The title of the software being deployed.
• Description: A description of the software.
• Required architecture: Whether the software is to be deployed on a 32-bit, 64-bit, or any other operating system architecture.
• Required operating system: What operating systems that the application can be installed on. The options are Any, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Selecting an earlier operating system gives you the option to specify whether to include new operating systems.
• Command line arguments: You can specify command line arguments that will be parsed to the setup program when it is launched on the client computer. Typically, this is where you will enter the arguments that enable silent installation of the setup package. For example, if your software is installed by using an MSI package, the /q argument entered here will ensure that no user interface is launched during the installation routine from the client computer, but is typically not required.
• Return codes: These codes are used to determine the status of the installation after the setup routine has completed. The standard MSI return code is 0 for a successful installation and 3010 for a successful installation that requires a restart of the client computer. If your application uses custom return codes, you can add those codes here so that an installation returning the custom code can be reported as a successful installation. If the installation returns any other code that is not listed here, it will be interpreted as a failure and returned as an alert to the Windows Intune console.
• Software’s existence: For EXE installation files, you must determine either the file path of the installed software, a created registry key, or MSI product code so that Windows Intune will be able to determine if the application has already been installed. MSI installations will not ask you to provide this detail during setup.

Part 2: Windows Intune Software Publisher

Missed our webinar? Watch it here!

We had a great time at last week's webinar. Check it out if you missed it! And don't forget to get in touch if you'd like to learn more.

 

 

Exchange Hosted Archive is Transitioning to Office 365

Microsoft is in the process of transitioning all existing Exchange Hosted Archive (EHA) customers to Office 365’s (O365) new advanced archiving service over the next 12 months.

You should be given a 30 day notice and a 10 day confirmation notice prior to your scheduled cutover.

During the transition, you may notice some changes to your O365 Exchange Online Tenant:

• Licenses may be added to support the archive mailbox folders for users who were present within EHA.
• Archive enabled mailboxes for EHA users who do not already have mailboxes in O365 will be created and added to the Global Address List.
• The O365 journal rule which forwarded mail to EHA will be disabled at the start of your message migration. All new internal mail will no longer be captured with EHA.  EHA’s historical mail will be migrated into your O365 archive folders.

At the end of the transition, your EHA archive will be deleted, but your transition contact will be shipped a complimentary copy of your EHA archive the next day.

Please verify and update your company’s contact information. You can do so by logging into the Admin Center.

1. Under Contact Type, select Other.
2. Enter “Office 365 Transition Contact” for Title.
3. Fill out the necessary contact information fields:
   1. First/Last Name
   2. Address
   3. Phone Number (internal corporate number)
   4. Phone Number 2 (external phone that can receive SMS text messages)
   5. Email (your business email address)
   6. Alternative Email (external email address)

To learn more about O365’s advanced archiving features, you can schedule a one hour training session with Microsoft’s archiving specialist by contacting ehasup@microsoft.com. The training sessions are available online on a weekly basis during the following times:

• Mondays at 10:00 AM PT
• Wednesday at 3:00 PM PT
• Thursdays at 8:30 AM PT
• Fridays at 8:00 AM PT

For information and materials such as prerequisite documentation and migration details, GetArchiving.com provides administrators with valuable information for transition from EHA to O365.

If you have any questions that are related to the transition please contact Microsoft Technical Support or info@infinitconsulting.com.

Get Money Back on Office 365 and Windows Intune with Cloud Easy

You can save big and get money back when you sign up for Microsoft Office 365 or Windows Intune right now with Cloud Easy. Enroll before December 31, 2012, and you'll not only gain increased productivity, collaboration, anytime/anywhere access, and security, you'll be eligible for a money-back subsidy, up to 15%! Calculate your possible savings. Your subsidy will automatically be applied to consulting, configuration or training time with InfinIT Consulting. In other words, you'll save money you'd otherwise have to spend out of pocket to implement your Microsoft solution. 

If you're a large organization already using Microsoft solutions, add Office 365 to your existing Enterprise Agreements with an uplift and you'll receive a deployment investment of up to $40 per seat (minimum 250 seats). That's some serious savings.

Contact us to claim your savings!

Windows 8 Update Error Codes 8024A000, 80246003, 80CF401C Fix

I've been having a lot of issues using Windows Update to update my Windows 8 RTM machine. The errors codes I've come across while looking for a fix were 8024A000, 80246003, and 80CF401C among maybe one or two more that I have unfortunately not written down.

I have Windows Intune installed on my computer and both Windows Intune and Windows Update would detect updates to install, but it would fail and return the errors above when I attempted to update. I wasn't even able to install the Windows 8 updates.

Here's what I've done to (finally!) update my computer successfully. I can't say that this will work for you, but this is what worked for me. You'll be required to restart your computer multiple times throughout this process.

1. First, figure out what updates you need to install for Windows 8.
   1. Open the Start Screen by pressing the Windows key or using the hot corner, and type in update. Under Settings, select Install optional updates.  
      
      If your updates do not appear, click Check online for updates from Microsoft Update and select Review important updates. 
   2. If you're using Windows Intune, when the prompt shows up to install or review updates, choose to review the updates.
2. Find the updates required for Windows 8, and search for the update here and download the necessary install files. For my 64-bit machine, I needed to update KB2756872. The file you need to download is Windows8-RT-KB2756872.msu. (You'll see a note about using delmigprov.exe to fix an issue in computers that were upgraded to Windows 8. I upgraded from Windows 7, but this file didn't seem to do anything to fix my issue.)
3. KB2756872 includes audio updates and can cause a conflict with your currently installed sound driver, which results in an update failure. To prevent failure, open the Start Screen and search for Device Manager. Under Settings, open the Device Manager. Under Sound, Video, and Game Controllers, uninstall your sound driver by right clicking it and selecting uninstall. 
4. Open the downloaded update and install it when prompted. You'll be asked to restart your computer.
5. After the update has been installed, open up Windows Update like in Step 1a and check for any other Windows 8 updates that still need to be installed. Uncheck all other updates and install only the Windows 8 ones. You might need to restart your computer again, install them one by one, or download them from online if they fail.
6. Then through Windows Update or Windows Intune, install your remaining updates. They should succeed and you'll be required to restart your computer as needed. Repeat this step until all updates have been installed.
7. Reinstall your sound driver if your sound driver does not get reinstalled during the update process. 

Exchange 2007 to Office 365 mailbox migration: Autodiscover connects Outlook to the Exchange Server instead of O365 mailbox

Issue | Reason | Resolution

Issue:

While migrating an Exchange 2007 (or 2010) mailbox into Office 365 (O365), autodiscover connects Outlook to the Exchange Server rather than connecting to the O365 mailbox.  Although you can't connect via Outlook, Outlook Web Apps (OWA) and mobile devices might correctly connect to the O365 mailbox.

Reason:

This issue occurs because you have an on-premise Exchange Server. Autodiscover for Outlook will always point to the on-premise environment.

When you install an Exchange 2007 or 2010 Client Access Server (CAS) role, a number of service-related configurations are applied. What is causing the issue is the service connection point (SCP). This is an Active Directory (AD) object that gets created on the server that the CAS role gets installed on. The SCP object contains the authoritative list of autodiscover service URLs for the forest. To see this list, you can run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS):

get-ClientAccessServer

This will return the list of autodiscover service URLs that the SCP contains. In an Exchange 2003 to O365 migration, autodiscover does not exist so this issue should not occur. However, for 2007 and 2010, it's a key component in both Outlook Anywhere and auto configuration of Outlook.

Normally, you would simply create a DNS CNAME record in your internal DNS server to point to 'autodiscover.yourcompany.com' to the given O365 server ('autodiscover.outlook.com'). However, servers on the domain will query the AD regardless, and AD refers to the SCP for the autodiscovery service URL. The DNS record never gets looked at.

Resolution:

In order to fix this problem, you need to clear out the SCP list so that when it is queried by the AD, nothing is returned and AD moves on to the DNS, where it finds the CNAME pointing to the O365 autodiscover record. To do this, simply NULL the SCP list by running the following command:

Set-ClientAccessServer -Identity "CAS01" -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri $NULL 

where ‘CAS01’ is the CAS server

Note

Doing this will require you to setup Outlook manually for each user until the migration is complete. You may also need to restore or add autodiscover entries in your internal DNS after migration is completed.