Author: Eswar Koneti

Azure AD Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) works by requiring two or more authentication methods for a user to gain access to applications. Multi-factor authenticator in Azure AD can be set using different methods such as Microsoft Authenticator, Phone number, Email etc.One of the easiest MFA methods that doesn't require any user configuration and can be configured in the backend is Phone Number.With phone number as an authentication method, users can choose to receive a text message with a verification code to enter in the sign-in interface or receive a phone call.To read more information about how Azure AD multi-factor authentication works,…

Introduction: As a SCCM Configmgr administrator, one of your key responsibilities is to ensure the health of SCCM clients for tasks like application deployment, software updates, and inventory management. Oftentimes, you may encounter situations where you need to identify computers that haven't contacted the server in a specific number of days or determine the clients with outdated policy requests or communication gaps. This blog post aims to guide you on creating an SSRS report to present this information, allowing for easier troubleshooting and maintenance of SCCM clients. Retrieving Client Activity Information: In the Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) Console, you have the…

SCCM CMPivot query success but returns no data–account smsdbuser_ReadOnly does not exist

I was recently involved in a task to have the Intune deployments targeted to multiple groups (Pre pilot, pilot, and prod). Each phase has a large set of devices from various regions and they all have different naming conventions too. All the devices are hybrid Azure AD joined. The list of devices from each phase is available (static) but how do we add these devices to the Azure AD security groups? Creating the dynamic Azure AD security groups does work when you want to add the devices with specific criteria such as naming, OS or country, or any other set…

There was recently a discussion on twitter on how the bitlocker encryption is being enforced using intune and what the possible ways to bring the device into compliant state post the bitlocker task is done. Read the conversation here Based on the discussion, I thought I would probably write a blog post on how to handle the situation of device reboot for bitlocker compliance check. This is something that I am using it for quite sometime and thought to share it with public. Microsoft Intune allows the creation of compliance policies for Windows, Android and iOS, and Mac OS with…

I was installing the famous SCCM right-click tools from recast software (there are other right-click tools as well)  on the freshly installed SCCM site for a customer, the installation of right-click tools went well,  the console doesn’t seem to get registered with the right-click tools and there is no option when you right-click on a collection for performing tasks such as adding devices to the collection. I have looked at the XMLstorage extensions folder, there are over 6500+ files that exists. I have closed the console and launched it to see if that helps. the issue persists. I recall that…

Few years ago, I have blogged about the client update scan failure due to GPO’s. https://eskonr.com/2014/10/sccm-configmgr-2012-software-update-scan-error-group-policy-settings-were-overwritten-by-a-higher-authority-error-code-0x87d00692/ Introduction: When the software update point is configured for a site, client computers receive a machine policy that provides the active software update point server name (WSUS) and configures the Specify intranet Microsoft update service location local policy on the client device. The windows update agent retrieves the server name (WSUS) specified in the Set the intranet update service for detecting updates setting, and then connects to this server when it scans for software updates compliance. Problem: I was working on an issue to…

Update: Eval site is now restored with improved user experience and is accessible via  Microsoft Evaluation Center  .The new improved eval center does not require any sign-in to download the media files. This is quick post on the recent inquiry on various forums such as Twitter, reddit and Microsoft forums about the download of configuration manager build (Evaluation) from the evalcenter. if you try to download the Configuration Manager current branch or technical preview from the evalcenter using https://www.microsoft.com/evalcenter/evaluate-system-center-configuration-manager-and-endpoint-protection-technical-preview , you will be redirected to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download and end up seeing the following screen. Currently, the evaluation center links for downloading of…