Archive | August, 2023

Watermarking & Session Capture Protection in Azure Virtual Desktop using Microsoft Intune and Azure AD Joined devices

31 Aug

In the July 2023 release for Azure Virtual Desktop, the Watermarking and Session capture protection features became generally available. Numerous blog posts already showcase how to enable the feature using Group Policy. In today’s post, I will showcase how to enable Watermarking and Session Capture protection using Microsoft Intune for Session Host Virtual machines that are Azure AD joined.

Prerequisites

You’ll need the following things ready before you can rollout watermarking/session capture protection:

  • Azure Virtual Desktop: You must have Azure Virtual Desktop deployed (Pooled or Personal Desktops) and set up in your Azure environment.
  • Microsoft Intune: You should have an active subscription to Microsoft Intune, which is a cloud-based service that enables device management and security. The role within Intune Portal for creating and assigning the configuration profiles is – Policy and Profile manager built-in role-based access control (RBAC) role.
  • Azure Active Directory: Your Azure Virtual Desktop environment should be integrated with Azure Active Directory (AD) (The Host pools RDP properties – targetisaadjoined:i:1). The AAD Security groups must be in place, which has the members as the session’s host in AVD.
  • Azure AD Joined Devices: The session host virtual machines (VMs) you want to enable Watermarking and Session Capture protection for should be Azure AD joined. This means they must be connected to Azure AD and registered as members of your organization’s directory.
  • Admin Access: You need administrative access to the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com) and Microsoft Intune (https://intune.microsoft.com).
  • Windows 11 operating system for the client along with the Azure Virtual Desktop Client or Remote Desktop Client versions 1.2.x and higher

Configuration Profiles – Intune

To enable the Watermarking and Session Capture protection features in Azure Virtual Desktop using Microsoft Intune Configuration profiles and Azure AD joined devices, you can follow these steps:

  • In the settings picker, browse to Administrative templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Azure Virtual Desktop. You should see settings in the Azure Virtual Desktop subcategory available for you to configure, such as “Enable watermarking” and “Enable screen capture protection”
  • Select the “Enable screen capture protection” settings, too and leave the values as defaults. (Feel free to tweak it based on your requirements)
  • Assigning the configuration to the AAD group, which has all the session host devices
  • Reboot the session host after applying or wait until the next maintenance cycle

Client Validation

Connect to a remote session with a supported client (Azure Virtual Desktop Client or Remote Desktop Client versions 1.2.x), where you should see QR codes appear.

The QR code only works for Windows 11 Multi-session\Windows 11 Enterprise (pooled or personal desktops). The RemoteApps will not show the QR code as its not supported.

Screenshot protection – In the session, it will be completely blank if you try to take a screenshot. Below is an example. I was trying to take a screenshot of the text file, and the screenshot was completely blank.

Mobile Phone Photo

When you try to take a screenshot from the mobile phone, this is how it will look, and it will pop the Connection ID. You have this connection ID you can match in Azure Insights.

Azure Virtual Desktop Insights

To find out the session information from the QR code by using Azure Virtual Desktop Insights:

  1. Open a web browser and go to https://aka.ms/avdi to open Azure Virtual Desktop Insights. Sign-in using your Azure credentials when prompted.
  2. Select the relevant subscription, resource group, host pool and time range, then select the Connection Diagnostics tab.
  3. In the section Success rate of (re)establishing a connection (% of connections), there’s a list of all connections showing First attempt, Connection Id, User, and Attempts. You can look for the connection ID from the QR code in this list, or export to Excel.

I hope you will find this helpful information for getting started with Watermarking and Screenshot protection for the Azure Virtual Desktop – Session Host. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

Thanks,
Aresh Sarkari

Tags: , , , , , ,

Microsoft Intune – Add additional DNS Client Servers across the managed devices

24 Aug

I recently wrote a blog post about adding DNS Client via GPO, highlighting which methods work and which don’t. If you’re interested, you can read more about it on – GPO – PowerShell – Intune – Add additional DNS Client Servers across the enterprise | AskAresh. As promised, here are the steps for performing the same task in Microsoft Intune for all of your managed devices.

Note – The best method of assigning the DNS Servers is through the DHCP server. If you are setting the IP using DHCP, always make sure you add/remove additional DNS Client Servers from there. In my situation, there was no DHCP server, hence the detailed blog post.

Prerequsites

We are going to implement this configuration via Microsoft Intune using the Scripts:

  • The necessary Microsoft Intune permissions to create, the PowerShell Scripts.
  • A device group available within Microsoft Entra with all the devices you want to target this change.

    PowerShell Script for DNSClient (Additional DNS Servers)

    Save the below script and place on the desktop and we shall be uploading it to Microsft Intune portal – “AddDNSClient.ps1″

    • Please enter the proper DNS Server Address within the script based on your environment and requirement. In the example below the existing two DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4. We are adding additional two DNS Servers 9.9.9.9 and 9.9.9.4.
    $dnsclient=Get-DnsClient  | Get-DnsClientServerAddress | where{$_.ServerAddresses -contains "8.8.8.8" -or $_.ServerAddresses -contains "8.8.8.4"}
foreach($nic in $dnsclient){
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex $nic.InterfaceIndex -ServerAddresses ("8.8.8.8","8.8.8.4","9.9.9.9","9.9.9.4")
}

    Create a script policy and assign it – Intune

    1. Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center.
    2. Select Devices > Scripts > Add > Windows 10 and later.Screenshot that shows creating a new script for a Windows 10 device.
    3. In Basics, enter the following properties, and select Next:
      • Name: AddDNSClientServers
      • Description: Additional DNS Server 3 & 4
    4. In Script settings, enter the following properties, and select Next:
      • Script location: Browse to the PowerShell script. saved previously and upload it (AddDNSClient.ps1)
      • Run this script using the logged on credentials: Select No.
      • Enforce script signature check: Select No 
      • Run script in 64-bit PowerShell host: Select Yes to run the script in a 64-bit PowerShell host on a 64-bit client architecture.
    5. Select Assignments > Select groups to include. Add the AAD group “Win11-P-DG”

    Wait for approx. 15-20 minutes and the policy will apply to the managed devices. (Machine Win11-Intune-15)

    Managed Device

    You can validate that the settings have been applied to the client by going to the path – C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs and opening the file IntuneManagementExtension.txt. I copied the policy ID – cf09649b-78b7-4d98-8bcc-b122c29e5527 from the Intune portal hyperlink and searched within the log file. We can see the policy has been applied successfully.

    I hope you will find this helpful information for applying additional DNS servers via Intune – Scripts and PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , ,

    VMware App Volumes – Writable Volumes – Third-party Application Exclusions (snapvol.cfg)

    17 Aug

    Over the years, I’ve discovered a list of exclusions that can help with the smooth functioning of VMware App Volumes – Writable Volumes. Though these exclusions are just suggestions, each environment is unique, so take them at your own risk. Testing them in your environment before implementing them in production is essential.

    Path/Process/File Exclusion (Snapvol.cfg)

    In this blog, I am not outlining the steps on how to add the snapvol.cfg exclusion as my ex-colleague Daniel Bakshi outlines on a VMware blog post on how to do it step by step. I hope you will find this information useful if you encounter intermittent black screen issues.

    Cisco AnyConnect

    VPN – Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client v4.x – Cisco

    #Cisco AnyConnect Exclusions
exclude_process_name=vpnui.exe
exclude_process_name=vpnagent.exe
exclude_registry=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vpnagent

    Crowdstrike Falcon Agent

    Falcon Agent – The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform

    #Crowdstrike Exclusions
exclude_process_name=CSFalconService.exe
exclude_process_name=CSFalconContainer.exe

    Mcafee Antivirus aka Trellix

    Antivirus Software – Trellix | Revolutionary Threat Detection and Response

    #McAfee Provided Exclusions as per McAfee KB89553
exclude_process_path=\Program Files\McAfee
exclude_process_path=\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee
exclude_process_path=\Program Files (x86)\McAfee
exclude_process_path=\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\McAfee
exclude_process_path=\ProgramData\McAfee
exclude_path=\Windows\Temp\McAfeeLogs
exclude_process_name=MER.exe
exclude_process_name=webMERclient.exe
exclude_process_name=amtrace.exe
exclude_process_name=etltrace.exe
exclude_process_name=procmon.exe
exclude_process_name=procmon64.exe

    Zscalar Client Connector

    Zero trust client – Zscaler Client Connector

    #ZScalar Exclusions
exclude_path=\ProgramData\Zscaler
exclude_path=\Program Files (x86)\Zscaler

    BlueYonder Application

    Popular supply chain applications – Blue Yonder | World’s Leading Supply Chain Management Solutions

    #Exclusions to resolve issues with BlueYonder
exclude_registry=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ProFloor.Application
exclude_registry=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ProSpace.Application
exclude_registry=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{22FBECF5-10A3-11D2-9194-204C4F4F5020}
exclude_registry=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{5E77716A-9680-4C0D-883E-74D49A2F4456}

    VMware DEM

    VMware Dynamic Enivornment Manager – Dynamic Environment Manager | Profile Management | VMware | AU

    #VMware DEM
exclude_registry=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware UEM

    I hope you will find this helpful information for applying exclusions within the snapvol.cfg file. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post. I will gladly add more exclusions if you want to share them in the comments section.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , ,

    GPO – PowerShell – Intune – Add additional DNS Client Servers across the enterprise

    16 Aug

    Let’s say you have the entire Windows member server fleet of Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, Windows 11 Pro/Enterprise etc., using DNS Server 1 and Server 2 within their TCP-IP properties and now you decide to add DNS Server address 3 and Server 4 to the member servers to increase resiliency.

    In the blog post, I will demonstrate how you can add the additional DNS Server using Group Policy Object and PowerShell with your enterprise.

    What doesn’t work?

    It would be best if you didn’t waste time – The GPO Computer Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Network –> DNS Client –> DNS Servers doesn’t work. The “Supported On” version doesn’t include Windows Server 2016\Windows 10 in the compatibility. Even if you apply this GPO, it will apply to the server within the registry, but there will be no visible change under the TCP-IP properties.

    Prerequsites

    We are going to implement this configuration via group policy object within the enterprise:

    • The necessary active directory permissions to create, apply and link the GPOs
    • Access to the Sysvol folder to store the script
    • WMI Filters to target the script\GPO to specific subnets (More details below)

    PowerShell Script for DNSClient (Additional DNS Servers)

    Save the below script and place it within the location – \\DOMAINNAME\SYSVOL\DOMAINNAME\scripts\SetDNSAddress.ps1″

    • Please enter the proper DNS Server Address within the script based on your environment and requirements.
    $dnsclient=Get-DnsClient  | Get-DnsClientServerAddress | where{$_.ServerAddresses -contains "192.168.0.3" -or $_.ServerAddresses -contains "192.168.0.4"}
foreach($nic in $dnsclient){
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex $nic.InterfaceIndex -ServerAddresses ("192.168.0.3","192.168.0.4","192.168.0.5","192.168.0.6")
}

    Create the GPO (Additional DNS Servers)

    On a member server with administrative privileges, press Win + R to open the Run box. Type gpmc.msc and press Enter to open the Group Policy Management Console.

    • In the GPMC, expand the forest and domain trees on the left pane to locate the domain you want to create the GPO in.
    • Right-click on “Group Policy Objects” under the domain and select “New” to create a new GPO.
    • In the “New GPO” dialog box, provide a name for the GPO (e.g., “Additional DNS Servers”) and click “OK”.
    • Right-click on the newly created GPO and select “Edit” to open the Group Policy Management Editor.
    • Navigate to Computer Configuration > Preferences > Control Panel Settings > Scheduled Tasks
    • Right Click on Scheduled Tasks > Configure the task as Immediate Task.
    • Give it a name – SetDNSClient
    • Set the user account as SYSTEM. It will automatically convert into NT Authority\system.
    • Set the check “run with highest privileges”
    • In the Actions tab, create a new “Start a program” action.
    • Set the Program as: PowerShell.exe
    • Set the Add Arguments point to this line, and modify including your network share and file: ExecutionPolicy Bypass -command “& \\DOMAINNAME\SYSVOL\DOMAINNAME\scripts\SetDNSAddress.ps1”
    • Set the following in common Tab. – “Apply once and do not reapply”

    Bonus Tip – WMI Filters

    You want to target the GPO to a specific set of member servers who’s IP range starts with a particular IP address. Then you can create a WMI filter such as the below to target particular computers that meet the below range. In the below example, the GPO will apply to the machine starting with IP Address 10.XX OR 10.XX.

    Select * FROM Win32_IP4RouteTable
WHERE (Mask='255.255.255.255'
AND (Destination Like '192.168.%' OR Destination Like '192.169.%'))

    Intune (Configuration Profiles – Doesn’t Work)

    As of writing the blog post the Intune built-in setting\CSP is showing similar behaviour like the DNS Server GPO it doesn’t work.

    CSP

    Under both situations (CSP & ADMX templates), the report says the policy is applied successfully. However, there is no visible impact on the operating system’s TCP-IP properties. I am optimistic that using the Scripts method and PowerShell can achieve the same results in Intune. Please let me know in the comments sections if you got it working or/else if you would like to see a blog post on using Intune Scripts to set the DNS Client on member servers.

    Following are the references and important links worth going through for more details:

    DescriptionLinks
    Static DNS Servers via GPOUpdate DNS static servers in your local Network (itdungeon.blogspot.com)
    DNS Server GPO doesn’t workDNS Server GPO Settings Invisible in IPConfig – CB5 Solutions LLC (cbfive.com)

    I hope you will find this helpful information for applying additional DNS servers via the GPO and PoweShell. I want to thank my friend Eqbal Hussian for his assistance and additional rounds of testing\validations. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,