Endpoint Central is an endpoint management and security solution for managing desktops, laptops, servers, mobile devices from a central location. You can install patches, deploy softwares and operating system images, manage assets, software licenses etc.
Endpoint central agent is a lightweight software application which is required to manage devices using endpoint central. In this blog post, we will see how to deploy the agent using Intune. But before that, we will test the agent installation on one test PC manually to check the Installation process.
How to download ManageEngine Endpoint Central Agent
Using Endpoint Central management server you can download the agent. You can follow below steps to download the agent:
- Go to Agent > Computers > Download Agent.
- Remote Office: Select the Office location.
- Platform: Select the platform as Windows and click on Download Agent.
After you click on Download Agent and select the office, it will download ManageEngine Endpoint agent for you. As I have a default location set as Local office, It downloaded a file called LocalOffice_Agent.exe. This is the agent file which we will be deploying using Intune.
If you have deployed the agent on end user’s devices and now for some reason want to Uninstall Endpoint central agent, then you can use Intune to uninstall it as well. In this blog post, we will also see how to Uninstall Endpoint central agent using Intune.
There are other ways to Uninstall Endpoint central agent If you are manageengine endpoint central server administrator, then you can login on the admin portal and go to Agent > Computers > Select the computer and then select Uninstall Agent.
Steps to deploy Endpoint Central Agent using Microsoft Intune
Before we create a deployment package on Intune admin center, we will need the Installer / Setup files for the agent. I have already downloaded LocalOffice_Agent.exe file from Endpoint Central server, this file will be for Installing the agent on the target device.
For Uninstallation of this agent, I will be using a powershell script. Copy and paste below code into a notepad and save the file as Uninstall.ps1.
Uninstall.ps1
$agent = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter "Name = 'ManageEngine UEMS - Agent'" $agent.uninstall() | out-null
Copy both the files in one folder.
- Download Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool
- Create an empty folder for example C:\output or anywhere you like.
Use below process to repackage the application / setup files to .intunewin file. Launch command prompt, change the current folder to where Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool is downloaded and run .\IntuneWinAppUtil.exe.
- Provide source folder as the location of the folder where all setup files are copied. I have copied LocalOffice_Agent.exe and Uninstall.ps1 file in D:\MEEndpointAgent. Therefore, source folder will be D:\MEEndpointAgent
- Provide setup file name as LocalOffice_Agent.exe.
- Output folder – This is the folder where .intunewin file will be created.
- As you can see from below screenshot, LocalOffice_Agent.intunewin file has been created successfully.
Now once .intunewin file has been created, we will create an app deployment on Intune admin center using the following steps:
- Login on Microsoft Intune admin center.
- Click on Apps -> All Apps -> + Add
- Select App Type to Windows app (Win32)
- Click on Select.
- Select app package file and browse to LocalOffice_Agent.intunewin and click Ok.
App Information
On App Information tab, provide information about the application for example: Name, Description and Publisher Information. Other information like App version, Category, Information URL, Privacy URL is not mandatory to provide.
- Name: ManageEngine Endpoint Central Agent
- Description: ManageEngine Endpoint Central Agent deployment using Intune.
- Publisher: ManageEngine
Program
You will need to specify Install and Uninstall commands which will run to Install or Uninstall the application.
- Install Command: .\LocalOffice_Agent.exe /silent
- Uninstall Command: powershell.exe -Executionpolicy Bypass -File .\Uninstall.ps1
- Allow available uninstall: Select ‘Yes‘ to provide the uninstall option for this app for users from the Company Portal.
- Install behavior: System
- Device restart behavior: No specific action
Requirements
- Operating System Architecture – 64-bit
- Minimum Operation System – Windows 10 1607
Detection Rules
- Rules format – Manually configure detection rules
- Click on + Add, Select Rule type File.
- Path – C:\Program Files (x86)\ManageEngine\UEMS_Agent\
- File or folder: scripts
- Associate with a 32-bit app on 64-bit clients: Yes
Assignments
You can create an Azure AD security group and add devices or users into that group. Under Required assignment, add this group for application deployment. If you want to deploy this app on specific devices, then add devices into the Azure AD group. If you want to deploy app on all organization devices, you can click + Add all devices to add target it to all managed devices.
Monitoring the Installation Progress
To check the Installation status of the app, You can follow below steps:
- From Intune admin center, Click on Apps on the left hand side.
- Click on All apps.
- Search for the app ManageEngine Endpoint Central Agent and click on it.
From the Overview page of the application, you can check the status of Installation and Failures. To find more details on which devices the app is deployed successfully, you can also click on Device Install status or User Install status.
Intune Policy Refresh Cycle
The Device will Sync / Check in to start the app deployment. It may take some time for the process to start. Therefore, if you are testing it on a test device, you can force initiate Intune refresh cycle on the device which will speed up the download and installation process. You can also use Powershell to force initiate Intune refresh cycle.
Also, you can restart the device first which also starts the device check-in process. Manual sync is not mandatory on user’s devices as the device check-in process happens automatically. But if you are testing this setting on a test device then this can speed up your testing and can save some time.
End User Experience
Let’s check if agent is installed on the target device. To confirm the agent installation, You can open Programs and Features and check if ManageEngine UEMS – Agent is showing in the list.
How to Uninstall Endpoint central agent using Intune
We had created .intunewin package using LocalOffice_Agent.exe and an Uninstall.ps1 powershell script file. Also when creating app deployment we specified Uninstall command as powershell.exe -Executionpolicy Bypass -File .\Uninstall.ps1
LocalOffice_Agent.exe file is used to deploy ManageEngine UEMS – Agent and Uninstall.ps1 will be used to Uninstall this agent. Using Uninstall assignment section of the app, Add an Azure AD security group which contains devices from where you want to remove the agent by following below steps:
- From Intune admin center, Click on Apps on the left hand side.
- Click on All apps.
- Search for the app ManageEngine Endpoint Central Agent and click on it.
- Click on Properties > Edit Assignments.
- Under Uninstall assignments section, click on Add group to add an Azure AD group.
Deploy Old version of ManageEngine Desktop Central agent using Intune
If you are using an older version of ManageEngine Desktop Central agent and want to deploy it on users devices using intune. Then you can follow below steps.
Download ManageEngine Desktop central agent
Download Agent from Desktop Central > Agent > Computers > Download Agent. You can test the installation of this agent on one test PC manually by using below steps:
Extract the zip file, Double click on setup.bat and Select Option 2 to Install WAN Agent on this Computer (As also shown in below screenshot). Ignore the Install.bat file for now as this file is created by me which will look into it later when we are going to create Intune Package.
Deploy ManageEngine Desktop Central Agent using Intune
Please find below steps to deploy ManageEngine desktop central agent using Intune:
- Download Agent from Desktop Central > Agent > Computers > Download Agent
- Select respective office to download the agent setup.
- Extract the zip file.
Create a File Install.bat in the same folder where all other installation files are stored (as shown in the screenshot above).
Install.bat
msiexec /i DesktopCentralAgent.msi /qn REBOOT="REALLYSUPPRESS" MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL="Disable" TRANSFORMS=DesktopCentralAgent.mst ENABLESILENT=yes
- Download Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool
- Create an empty folder for example C:\output or anywhere you like.
Use below process to repackage the application / setup files to .intunewin file. Launch command prompt, change the current folder to where Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool is downloaded and run below command.
Replace setup_folder with C:\DesktopCentral_Agent (this is where all your setup files are kept)
setup_file with Install.bat
Output_folder with C:\output (this is the folder where .intunewin file will be generated)
IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c <setup_folder> -s <setup_file> -o <output_folder>
Example:
.\IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c C:\DesktopCentral_Agent -s Install.bat -o C:\output
Output Folder:
Now once .intunewin file has been created, we can create a Win32 app deployment on Intune admin center using below steps:
- Login on Microsoft Intune admin center.
- Click on Apps -> All Apps -> + Add
- Select App Type to Windows app (Win32)
- Click on Select.
- Select app package file and browse to install.intunewin and click Ok.
- Enter / Update the Name of the Application and Publisher Information and click Next.
Program
- Install Command – Install.bat
- Uninstall Command – %SystemRoot%\system32\msiexec.exe /x{6AD2231F-FF48-4D59-AC26-405AFAE23DB7} MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable REBOOT=”ReallySuppress” /qn
- Device restart behaviour – No Specific Action
- Click Next.
Requirements
- Operating System Architecture – 64-bit
- Minimum Operation System – Windows 10 1607
Detection Rules
- Rules format – Manually configure detection rules
- Click on + Add, Select Rule type MSI.
- MSI Product Code – {6AD2231F-FF48-4D59-AC26-405AFAE23DB7}
- MSI product version check – No
Assignments
Assign the application to your pilot users or all the users as per your requirement.
After you click on Create, it will upload the files and then push the agent to the users which are in your Pilot Group.
Monitor the Installation
You can check the status of the installation from Application -> Monitor Device Install Status or User Install Status.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we have seen how to deploy ManageEngine Endpoint Central Agent using Intune. Previously the agent name was Desktop Central agent and the setup files were in a different format. I have provided the steps for both the old version and new version agent Installers. I hope this post will help you deploy the agent in your organization across all devices.