Changing Startup to Automatic on the SCCM Remote Control Service

One of the biggest bugbears within the support staff is that the Configuration Manager 2012 Remote Tools client service is set to Automatic (Delayed Start) when installed as default.

If you are working on a users machine and you have to restart it, it can often feel like an age before you can remote control the machine again.

Using Group Policy and a Group Policy Preference Settings you can change this. Under Services add the SCCM Remote Control Service and change the startup type to “Automatic”.

WMI Filters

More often than not when deploying Group Policy you need to target specific types of machine, or OS, or architecture and do this you need to use WMI filters.

Here are some helpful tips on what the numbers you are using mean:

WMI Win32_OperatingSystem ProductType:

ProductType 1 = Desktop OS
ProductType 2 = Server OS - Domain Controller
ProductType 3= Server OS - Non domain controller

WMI Win32_OperatingSystem Version:

5.1 - Windows XP

5.2 - Windows Server 2003

5.2.3 - Windows Server 2003 R2

6.0 - Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

6.1 - Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

6.2 - Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

6.3 - Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2


In my case today I had to target servers that weren't domain controllers and were running Windows Server 2012 R2 so I used the following WMI filter:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.3%" AND ProductType="3"

The following filter is also useful, it will select all Windows Server 2012 R2 objects, normal servers and domain controllers:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version like "6.3%" AND (ProductType="2" or ProductType="3")


IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: 
Always test your Group Policies and WMI filters before deploying.