Systems

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM)

Intended Audience

University of Illinois IT Pros leveraging MECM, hosted by Technology Services' Endpoint Services team

General information and implementation

Use software inventory in MECM to collect information about files on client devices. IT Pros can then leverage the discovered devices to make targeted deployments. Click here for Microsoft's documentation of the feature. Follow these steps to get started:

• In the MECM console, navigate to Administration --> Client Settings
  
  
• If your unit does not have client settings, select 'Create Custom Client Device Settings' in the top-left and use UIUC-YourUnit Client Settings as the name
  
  
• Check 'Software Inventory' and select 'Software Inventory' in the left column
  
  
• Modify the schedule if necessary
  
  
• Select 'Set Types' and select the sun icon to add criteria for MECM to search for
  
  
• Be as specific as possible - the narrower the search criteria is, the faster MECM will find the file
  • For example, if you are searching for PCs with a Word document in C:\Temp, specify C:\Temp in the 'Location' field and '*.docx' in the Name field
  • Wildcard searches on the entire hard drive are strongly discouraged (*.exe on C:\) as MECM will time out searching hundreds of thousands of files
  • Targeted searches work well, and IT Pros can create several software inventory rules as long as specific criteria is provided
    
    
• Select OK to save the client settings
  
  
• Select Deploy at the top to deploy the settings to the appropriate collection in your unit
  
  
• Build a collection of the PCs MECM has discovered based on the software inventory rule:
  • Navigate to the appropriate folder under Assets and Compliance --> Device Collections --> UIUC-YourUnit
    
    
  • Select 'Create Device Collection' and specify a name using UIUC-YourUnit as a prefix and a limiting collection (scope of collections that MECM should search)
    
    
  • Select 'Add Rule' and 'Query Rule' and provide a name for the query using UIUC-YourUnit as a prefix
    
    
  • Select 'Edit Query Statement' and select the 'Criteria' tab
    
    
  • Select the sun icon to open the 'Criterion Properties' dialog box
    
    
  • Click 'Select', select 'Software Files' for attribute class and 'File Name' for attribute
    
    
  • Input the criteria that was used in the software inventory rule.  Using the previous example, *.docx would be the value.
    • If a directory was specified in the software inventory rule, add criteria again and select the same attribute class, but select 'File Path' as the attribute and input the directory path as the value
      
      
  • Select OK through the dialog boxes to save the query and create the collection

Click here to contact EPS.