Using MEMCM to fix legacy GPO settings that prevent co-managed clients getting updates from Intune

Background

Co-management has really opened the playing field as we consider moving workloads to the cloud. I did a blog series on co-management before, check it out! https://byteben.com/bb/co-management-series-merging-the-perimeter-part-1-what-is-co-management/

Generally speaking, as we move workloads to Intune, similar workloads are prevented from being applied to the clients from MEMCM. There are caveats to this, but I am generalising here. One of the workloads we moved recently to Intune for all company laptops was “Windows Updates”. This was done during the COVID “Everyone needs to work from home now” conversation. We didn’t have a CMG at the time and so we had two options. Deliver them from Intune (which was on our roadmap anyway for laptops) or configure optimal settings for the Boundary Groups for use with VPN. Moving the workload to Intune looked to be the simpler option and was our long term goal – so we went with that.

This meant adding clients to our pilot device collection for co-management in MEMCM for Windows Updates. As the clients received this policy they would then receive their Windows Update Configuration Settings from the Intune Update Ring configuration Policy – any traditional Windows Update GPO that could be in conflict with a policy delivered from Intune was blocked. We can see this on our MDM Diagnostics page:-

The Problem

What did we all do back in the day with GPO and Windows Update? We set the GPO to Disable Automatic Updates There are lots of discussions and blogs on this particular topic, I found Jason’s very interesting reading – dang, it was probably the post we read when we enabled this GPO https://home.configmgrftw.com/software-updates-management-and-group-policy-for-configmgr-cont/

I have yet to get confirmation, but it looks like there is not an equivalent CSP that gets pushed from the Intune Configuration Policy to block this GPO from applying. If the client still receives this GPO (because we used to apply that thing at the root of the domain) then Automatic Updates will be disabled! That’s right – no updates..arghhh. This is what you might see on the client after you have moved the Windows Update workload to Intune:-

and the offending registry key that causes this behaviour

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU > NoAutoUpdate = 1

Which was created by this GPO:-

GPO – Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update Configure Automatic Updates

I am still playing with CSP’s. If our clients are co-managed and we have the Device Configuration workload enabled for our clients we could deliver a CSP to block that GPO – in theory. I’ll look into this more and update the blog post if the CSP works. Thanks Oliver Kieselbach for being a sounding board on my CSP thoughts https://oliverkieselbach.com/

After examining the WindowsUpdate.admx template, the CSP to override that GPO setting would be:-

But in this post we wont be using a CSP. In this particular environment we still needed to deliver that GPO and GPO filtering was not an option to exclude the co-managed devices from getting the registry setting that disables automatic updates.

The Approach

This is where we see the value in using both MEMCM and Intune together. We decide to leave that GPO in place and applied a WMI filter so it only applied to servers. For the clients, we moved the GPO setting into MEMCM as a CI. We create two CI’s, one to disable automatic updates for non co-managed clients and the other to enable automatic updates for co-managed clients. We can then target the baseline to the appropriate device collection.

We are using a simple registry CI for check and remediation to enable automatic updates for co-managed clients. BTW, Automatic updates are also enabled if that registry value does not exist. You could use PowerShell to remediate and delete that registry key, we are just going to change the value from 1 to 0. Lots of ways to skin a cat.

Note
I won’t be including high level steps on how to create Configuration Items and Baselines. Instead, I’ll leave a link in the blog so you can import them into your environment to copy/paste/tweak.

Apply a WMI Filter to the existing GPO

The GPO to Disable Automatic Updates was set at the root of the domain with no WMI filter. Our first job is to apply a filter so that it only applies to out of scope clients (like DC’s and/or Servers). An example of what a WMI filter would like like if you only wanted it to apply to Server 2016/2019 could be:-

Example of a WMI Filter
WMI Filter applied to the GPO that Disables Automatic Updates

More information on creating WMI Filters for GPO’s can be found here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-firewall/create-wmi-filters-for-the-gpo

Create the Configuration Items and Baselines

Important Make sure you get the timing right between applying a WMI filter on the existing GPO and your clients evaluating the new Configuration Baseline. If you apply the WMI filter BEFORE your clients evaluate the Configuration Baseline those client may get automatic updates enabled because the GPO applies before the CI is evaluated – very undesirable.

The baselines can be downloaded here:-

https://byteben.com/bb/Downloads/Enable%20Automatic%20Updates.cab
https://byteben.com/bb/Downloads/Disable%20Automatic%20Updates.cab

Enable Automatic Updates CI/CB

The Enable Automatic Updates Configuration Baseline, when deployed, will evaluate the following registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU > NoAutoUpdate

The CI is set to remediate any value that is not 0.

Disable Automatic Updates CI/CB

The Disable Automatic Updates Configuration Baseline, when deployed, will evaluate the following registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU > NoAutoUpdate

The CI is set to remediate any value that is not 1.

Import configuration data

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, click Assets and Compliance > Configuration Baselines
  2. In the Home tab, in the Create group, click Import Configuration Data.
  3. On the Select Files page of the Import Configuration Data Wizard, click Add, and then in the Open dialog box, select the .cab files you want to import.
  4. Select the Create a new copy of the imported configuration baselines and configuration items check box if you want the imported configuration data to be editable in the Configuration Manager console.
  5. On the Summary page, review the actions that will be taken, and then complete the wizard.

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/configmgr/compliance/deploy-use/import-configuration-data

Note

  • The Cab files contain both the Baselines and associated CI’s
  • I have not signed the CAB files so you will be prompted to accept that security risk
  • The CABs are exported from CB 2002

Deploy the Configuration Baselines

You will need the collection that identifies the clients that have had the Windows Updates workload moved to Intune. In this environment, it looks like below:-

Deploy the Enable Automatic Updates Configuration Baseline to your Co-Management “Windows Update” Pilot Collection

Deploy the Disable Automatic Updates to a Device Collection that includes all clients in scope but Excludes your Co-Management “Windows Update” Pilot Collection

When deploying either Configuration Baseline, ensure you select remediate noncompliant rules when supported

Results

With the Configuration Baseline Disable Automatic Updates deployed, your Windows Update Settings will look like this (Note: “Your organization has turned off automatic updates”)

With the Configuration Baseline Enable Automatic Updates deployed, your Windows Update Settings will look like this (Note: “Your organization has turned off automatic updates” has gone)

Summary

In this post we identified that a legacy GPO could be blocking automatic updates when we move our Windows Update workload to Intune for co-managed clients. We applied a WMI filter to exclude the clients from receiving the GPO but left the GPO in place for Domain Members who patch outside of MEMCM e.g. Domain Controllers. Next, we created some Configuration Items to Enable and Disable Automatic Updates and deployed the Configuration Baselines to the appropriate collections. Finally, we observed the co-managed clients receiving updates from Intune after we enabled Automatic Updates.

As I said at the beginning of the post, you could find another way to remove the registry value that disables automatic updates. I will be investigating whether I can do this with a CSP. If I can this will work well for co-managed clients who also have their workload move to Intune for Device Configuration.

**Update** 22/07/20

Thanks to Per Larsen for reminding me of a cool feature that is currently in preview.

Endpoint Analytics Proactive Remediation

Think of it like your traditional CI in MEMCM. You can run scripts on a schedule, from Intune, to remediate clients. Ill delve more into Proactive Remediations later but I actually managed to re-enable automatic updates using the two scripts below. Its pretty cool stuff! Read more here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/analytics/proactive-remediations

https://github.com/byteben/Windows-10/blob/master/EnableAutomaticUpdates.ps1
https://github.com/byteben/Windows-10/blob/master/Detect_EnableAutomaticUpdates.ps1

Granted, I managed to address the issue using CI’s but I did manage to catch a few that had not evaluated my baseline yet

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6 thoughts on “Using MEMCM to fix legacy GPO settings that prevent co-managed clients getting updates from Intune”

  1. Hi – Nice article and we are in the same position now but not able to work out. The following were performed

    The particular device is now in to the proper staging in SCCM Co-mangement. Verified the logs and it shows the value of workload as 255 and no errors in the logs as well.

    Created a Update ring in Intune Portal and assigned to the device. Ran a sync on the client machine and could see the registry entries – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Update.

    Verified the windows update setting and checked the policies are set to Mobile Device Mangement but still one of the policy – Disable Automatic Updates is Enabled as per GPO.

    So should i disable them in the GPO so Intune can start doing the quality updates ?

    1. If your clients are on a VPN – disable that GPO. There is not an equivalent CSP that gets set from the Update Ring that will block the legacy GPO. If you can’t block the GPO, run a script to change that registry key to 0. Proactive Remediations is perfect for this scenario.

  2. Thanks. so changing that specific value will start the quality updates right. Also do i need to disable the SCCM Software update ? When i deploy from Intune how can i force the updates to start on the client immediately ?

    1. If you moved the updates workload to Intune the ConfigMgr agent for those clients will not install any updates – even if updates are deployed to a collection the client is a member of. That is the very point of comgmt – the same two workloads in ConfigMgr and Intune will never clash.

      Updates will start installing depending on the settings in your update ring – if you have removed the GPO blocker of course

  3. After removing the NoAutoUpdate, i see the policies are applied now. Can you please also help me to see if there is any changes to be done so that i can have the updates pushed out (1909 Quality Updates) immediately. the following were configured in Portal
    Servicing channel – Semi-Annual Channel
    Microsoft product updates – Allow
    Windows drivers – Block
    Quality update deferral period (days) – 0
    Feature update deferral period (days) – 0
    Set feature update uninstall period (2 – 60 days) – 10

    Automatic update behavior – Auto install at maintenance time
    Active hours start – 8 AM
    Active hours end – 2 PM
    Restart checks – Allow
    Option to pause Windows updates – Enable
    Option to check for Windows updates – Disable
    Require user approval to dismiss restart notification – Yes
    Remind user prior to required auto-restart with dismissible reminder (hours) – 2
    Remind user prior to required auto-restart with permanent reminder (minutes) – 15
    Change notification update level – Use the default Windows Update notifications
    Use deadline settings – Not configured

  4. Do you ever see conflicting rules errors when a machine switches from the Disable Automatic Updates to Enable Automatic Updates collection?

    I just started seeing them and can’t figure out why. The machine is definitely only in the Enable Automatic Updates collection AND when you logon to the machine the applet shows the correct Compliance Baseline policy but its in an error state due to a conflicting rule from the previous compliance baseline setting.

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