How To Install SCCM Client On Workgroup Computers

In this post, we will detail how to install the SCCM client on workgroup computers.

PREREQUISITES

The client must be able to resolve the FQDN of the management point.
- Depending on network security, it might not actually ping. The important is that it can associate the FQDN to the IP of the management point.
- Adding an entry to the Host file might be required.
Port
- Client -> Management point : TCP 80 or 443
- Client -> Software Update Point : TCP 8530 or 8531
- More details on SCCM ports requirement, here
Manual installation of the SCCM client
- There is no way to use the Client Push Installation for workgroup computers
- Management Point must be provided in the install command line, as the client will not be able to find it in Active Directory
- Site code must be provided in the install command line

SCCM CLIENT INSTALL WORKGROUP COMPUTERS

Copy the source of SCCM client locally on the computer

Open a command prompt as Administrator

Set the working directory and run the CCMsetup command line
- ccmsetup.exe /mp:<Management Point FQDN> SMSSITECODE=001 SMSMP=<Management Point FQDN> DNSSUFFIX=<domain suffix>

Validate Management Point configuration and communication
- When a client can’t resolve the FQDN of the management point, it might show up empty

Action are limited as the client is not yet approved to connect to the SCCM server.

Important logs at this point are
- C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\ClientLocation.log
- C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\LocationServices.log
- Those logs provide details to the connection to the management point
- If you see any error at this point, you are missing connection prerequisites of some sort.
Client show up in the SCCM console

APPROVE WORKGROUP COMPUTER CLIENT IN SCCM

In most environment, SCCM client approval method is set to Automatically approve computers in trusted domains.

This settings can be found under Administration / Site Configuration / Sites / Hierarchy Settings

When using this settings, workgroup computers will not be automatically approved for this SCCM site.

With this said, we need to approve clients once they show up in the SCCM console.

The ease management, we first create a Collection for Not Approved clients.
- Be sure to set the limiting collection to All System, as the not approved clients don’t have much information to based query on.

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select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.

SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_CM_RES_COLL_SMS00001 on SMS_CM_RES_COLL_SMS00001.ResourceId = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_CM_RES_COLL_SMS00001.IsApproved= ‘0’

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