While managing the CM push client in SCCM is relatively easy for domain computers, extra work has to be done to get workgroup computers reporting in.
To open up the lines of communication between the workgroup computer and SCCM, six main tasks need to be completed:
- Set up Client Push Installation Properties
- Set up Client Push Account
- Set up Network Access Account
- Set up Name Resolution for the workgroup computer
- Enable Network Discovery
- Set up Subnets
1 of 6 – Set up the Client Push Installation Properties
- In SCCM, Administration > Overview > Site Configuration > Sites and select the site.
- In the Home tab, click Settings > Client Installation Settings > Client Push Installation and the Client Push Installation Properties will show.
- On the Installation Properties tab, fill in as Installation Properties: SMSSITECODE=001 SMSMP=sccm.DOMAIN.com.
2 of 6 – Set up the Client Push Access Account
The client push account permits the installation of the CM client when deployed from the server. Normally the server account is fine for domain machines, but when performing installations to out-of-band machines, the installation account needs to be localized. So, we’ll use the environmental variable account.
- Click the Accounts tab.
- Click the YellowStar > New Account and the Windows user Account popup will show.
- Fill in with Username %COMPUTERNAME%\Administrator and the Password in the appropriate fields and click OK.
3 of 6 – Set up the Network Access Account
Next, set up the network access account which permits software deployment to workgroup computers, i.e., untrusted domains. Notice, we’re using the environmental variable account again.
- Administration > Overview > Site Configuration > Sites, right-click on site, Configure Site Components > Software Distribution > Network Access Account
- Select the Specify the account that accesses network locations, click the YellowStar > New Account and the Windows user Account popup will show.
- Fill in with Username %COMPUTERNAME%\Administrator and the Password in the appropriate fields and click OK.
4 of 6 – Set up the Client Computer to Resolve to SCCM
On the client computer…we need to provide a manual method for name resolution, as there will be no DNS server.
Open a command prompt on the workgroup computer and run the following commands, or just open lmhosts.sam in notepad and save as lmhosts to the etc location.
cd windows\system32\drivers\etc
copy lmhosts.sam lmhosts
lmhosts file
Open the newly created lmhosts file in notepad and add the following information (with your specific site information):
10.0.0.99 YOURSCCMServer #PRE
10.0.0.99 “SMS_SLP \0x1A” #PRE
10.0.0.99 “MP_YOURSITECODE \0x1A” #PRE
* make sure you adhere to the 15 character requirement between the quotation mark and the forward slash. Meaning, from beginning to end, there should be a total of 15 places.
hosts file
Open the hosts file located in C:\Windows\System32\driver\etc using notepad and add the IP address and fully qualified domain name of the SCCM server.
10.0.0.99 SCCM.DOMAIN.com
Just for the sake of it, open an admin command prompt, run these commands to purge and reload the remote cache table
nbtstat –R
nbtstat -c
5 of 6 – Set up Network Discovery
- In SCCM, Administration > Overview > Hierarchy Configuration > Discovery Methods, select Network Discovery.
- Right-click on Network Discovery and click Properties.
- On the General tab, check the Enable network discovery and click the radio button Topology, client, and client operating system.
6 of 6 – Set up Subnets
- Move to the Subnets tab.
- Click YellowStar, and enter the Subnet and Mask into New Subnet Assignment and click OK.
Finish
Okay, if everything went as planned, the end result should look something like this, a WORKGROUP computer reporting in:
* I did have to Approve LAB111 before the green check mark appeared.
Notes
More to come about building a PKI to manage off site computers…
Running the cm setup locally
Copy the ccmsetup folder from the server…or from a working client ccmsetup folder to the new client
From an admin prompt:
ccmsetup.exe /SOURCE:C:\client SMSSITECODE=001 /MP:sccm.DOMAIN.com