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Prajwal Desai

Deploying Configuration Manager 2012 R2 Clients Using Group Policy

In this post we will see the steps for Deploying Configuration Manager 2012 R2 Clients Using Group Policy. This is the post that I wanted to add to when I was working on SCCM 2012 SP1, however the same steps will still work if you want to deploy configuration manager clients using group policy using SCCM 2012 or SCCM 2012 SP1. In my previous post we saw the configuration manager 2012 R2 client installation using automatic site wide client push installation method and client push installation method. In this post we will see the steps for Deploying Configuration Manager 2012 R2 Clients Using Group Policy. At any point of time you can jump to configuration manager 2012 R2 step by step guide for my previous posts.

If you are planning to deploy SCCM 2012 R2 clients using group policy then you must make sure that in the client push installation properties, Enable Automatic site wide client push installation is not checked. If this is checked then the client would get installed on all the systems after its discovery. So first uncheck the option Enable Automatic site wide client push installation and proceed. In this post my domain controller is running on Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter edition, SCCM 2012 R2 running on Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter edition and the client machines are running windows 7 professional SP1 x64 and Windows 8.1.

We will create a new policy first, click on Server Manager, click on Tools, click Group Policy Management. Right click on domain and create a new policy, we will name it as Deploying SCCM 2012 R2 Client. Right click on the policy that is created and click Edit.

Expand Computer Configuration, Policies and right click on Administrative Templates and click on Add/Remove Templates.

You can add the templates by clicking on ADD. The Configuration Manager templates can be found in SourceDVD\SMSSETUP\TOOLS\ConfigMgrADMTemplates or you can also add it from <Drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\tools\ConfigMgrADMTemplates. You need to add 2 templates ConfigMgrAssignment and ConfigMgrInstallation. Click on Close.

Expand Administrative Templates, Classic Administrative Templates, Configuration Manager 2012, Configuration Manager 2012 Client. We see on the right pane that both the templates have been added but they not configured yet.

Right click on Configure Configuration Manager 2012 Site Assignment template and click edit. Click Enabled to enable the policy, under Options specify Assigned Site code, Site Assignment Retry Interval to 5 minutes, Site Assignment Retry Duration to 1 hour (You can also choose to leave the options to default except site code). Click OK.

Right click Configure Configuration Manager 2012 Client Deployment Settings and click on Enabled. Under options specify the installation properties for CCMSetup file. You can specify lots of installation properties for installation of configuration manager client, click the button below for knowing more on CCMSetup command line properties. In our case I have used following installation command CCMSetup.exe SMSSITECODE=IND FSP=SCCM.PRAJWAL.LOCAL MP=CCM.PRAJWAL.LOCAL

CCMSetup Command Line Properties

Click on OK.

Under Computer Configuration expand Policies, Software Settings. Right click Software Installation and click New -> Package.

The ccmsetup.msi can be found in SOURCEDVD\SMSSETUP\BIN\I386 (SourceDVD Is the SCCM 2012 .ISO file). Copy the ccmsetup.msi in a folder (Create a new folder on SCCM Server) and share it with permissions Read-only for Everyone. Browse the file ccmsetup.msi to the folder that you created and Select the deployment method as Assigned. Click OK.

When you click on Software installation you should see the name of the Package, its Version, Deployment Status and Source. You can now close the GPMC.

You can choose to apply this policy at domain level or at OU level. If you apply it at domain level then every computer in you domain will get the SCCM 2012 R2 client installation on next reboot. I have created a OU called Windows Systems which consists of client computers. To link the policy to this OU, right click on OU Windows Systems, click Link an existing GPO, choose the GPO Deploying SCCM 2012 R2 Client and click OK.

You need to perform gpupdate on domain controller first and then on client machines. Reboot the client machine and after you login to client machine the configuration manager 2012 R2 client installation begins. You can see the cmmsetup.exe *32 on one the client machines in the below screenshot.