Create Application Group Using SCCM | ConfigMgr | Deploy App Group

Create an application group using SCCM to deploy a group of apps to users or devices. Let’s see how to create ConfigMgr Application groups to deploy a group of applications.

ConfigMgr 2111 version comes out with the great news that SCCM application groups and orchestration groups are not pre-release features

• Implicit Uninstall Of An Application Using SCCM Remove Device From Collection
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• ConfigMgr SCCM Client Action Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle | Configuration Manager

Introduction

An SCCM Admin can create a group of applications called the application group. You can use the application group and deploy it to a user or device collection as a single deployment.

Application Groups feature got released with Configuration Manager version 1906. However, it’s still a pre-release feature. This doesn’t mean you can’t use the Application Groups feature in your production environment.

My recommendation is to start using it and provide valuable feedback to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager product group! Are you trying to replace Task Sequence capabilities with application groups?

Create Application Group Using SCCM

Let’s try to create an application group using SCCM.

Launch SCCM Console. Navigate to Software Library – Application Management – Application Group node. Select Create Application Group from Create group in the ribbon.

On the General Information page, specify information about the app group. Enter Application Group Name = Mandatory Applications for Sales. Enter Administrator Comments = Add if there is any. Enter Publisher Name

Click on the Next button to continue.

Software Center Icon for Application Group

Now it’s time to create a software center icon for the app group.

On the Software Center page, include information that shows in the Software Center.

You can add additional Languages to Application Groups by Add/Remove Language

Click on Browse to upload a new Software Center ICON

Select Applications for App Group

Let’s select applications that you want to add to the application group.

• On the Application Group page, select Add. Select one or more apps for this group. Reorder them using the Move Up and Move Down actions.
• Selected 7Zip and Chrome.
• Click on NEXT button.

Click on NEXT, NEXT, and Close to finish application groups creation

Deploy SCCM Application Groups

Now, let’s deploy the application groups to a Device collection.

• Right-click on Application Groups and select Deploy

Click on Browse to select Collection to deploy

Content Distribution

Now, it’s time to distribute the content to the DPs.

Specify the content location and distribute the content to the Distribution point or Distribution point group. Click on Add. Select the DPs or DP groups to which you want to distribute the Firefox source file. Click on NEXT to continue.

Deployment Settings

Let’s start configuring the deployment settings.

• Select Action – Install (Application Groups). I selected Install to install Firefox on those devices.
• Select Purpose as Required or you can make it as an available application if you want
• Click NEXT to continue

NOTE! – You can notice that there are no additional options in deployment settings.

Scheduling Options for Application Group Deployment

Let’s see how to start scheduling Application Group Deployment.

• You can select the scheduling options from Specify the schedule for this deployment window.
• Schedule the application to be available already
• You can also specify the deadline if you want to deploy the Application group after off-hours
  • As Soon As Possible after the available time
  • You can schedule the deadline as per your requirement

User Experience Options

Specify the user experience for the installation of Application Groups on the selected devices. Specify user experience setting for the deployment Display in Software Center and only show notifications for computer restarts.

Click on the Next button.

Specify Configuration Manager and Operations Manager alert option. Click on NEXT (All default settings selected).

Click on NEXT, NEXT, and Close

ConfigMgr Application Groups Deployment

The following deployment was created for application groups.

Log Files Related to ConfigMgr Application Group

To troubleshoot an app group deployment, use the following log files on the Windows 10 client:

• AppGroupHandler.log
• AppEnforce.log
• SettingsAgent.log

Snippets of AppGroupHandler.log

Checking apps with which to force desired state of: Installed
Raising client SDK event for class CCM_Application, instance CCM_Application.Id="ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/ApplicationGroup_dede2225-7292-4b27-8aa7-5a21257d3fed",Revision="1",IsMachineTarget=1, actionType 23l, value NULL, user NULL, session 4294967295l, level 0l, verbosity 30l
Installing app: ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_471fdf49-b217-4bfc-b807-4a19ad5fc555, revision: 1, user:
app ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_471fdf49-b217-4bfc-b807-4a19ad5fc555, jobId: {4BD36D70-1D72-4D9C-AACB-7C68E2AD6A63}
found App: 7-Zip ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_471fdf49-b217-4bfc-b807-4a19ad5fc555, revision: 1, applicability: Applicable, InstallState: Installed
App: 7-Zip ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_471fdf49-b217-4bfc-b807-4a19ad5fc555, is Installed
App ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_471fdf49-b217-4bfc-b807-4a19ad5fc555, after enforcement has state: Compliant
Installing app: ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_25cf40e6-5acc-4495-8d7f-4e7336766257, revision: 1, user:
app ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_25cf40e6-5acc-4495-8d7f-4e7336766257, jobId: {25B65587-7A58-44C0-A372-BEB58A3C6B96}
found App: Google Chrome ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_25cf40e6-5acc-4495-8d7f-4e7336766257, revision: 1, applicability: Applicable, InstallState: Installed
App: Google Chrome ScopeId_1074285A-82C7-474F-B242-1EE20F8C3CE5/Application_25cf40e6-5acc-4495-8d7f-4e7336766257, is Installed

Results

Let’s see the results of Application Group deployment results. I have added 7Zip and Chrome.

Windows 10 Client Side

Let’s look at the Software center and Windows 10 devices to check and confirm whether all the applications got installed successfully.

Server Side

Let’s look at Configuration Manager console – Monitoring workspace to check and confirm whether the application group deployment is completed or not.

Resources

• Create application groups – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/configmgr/apps/deploy-use/create-app-groups