User device affinity in
Microsoft System Center 2012
Configuration Manager is a method of associating a user with
one or more specified devices. User device affinity can eliminate
the need to know the names of a user’s devices in order to deploy
an application to that user. Instead of deploying the application
to all of the user’s devices, you deploy the application to the
user. Then, user device affinity automatically ensures that the
application install on all devices that are associated with that
user.
You can define primary devices. These are typically the devices
that users use on a daily basis to perform their work. When you
create an affinity between a user and a device, you gain more
software deployment options. For example, if a user requires
Microsoft Office Visio, you can install it on the user’s primary
device by using a Windows Installer deployment. However, on a
device that is not a primary device, you might deploy Microsoft
Office Visio as a virtual application. You can also use user device
affinity to predeploy software on a user’s device when the user is
not logged in. Then, when the user logs on, the application is
already installed and ready to run.
In addition to following the procedures in this topic, you can
configure user device affinity when you deploy an operating system
to a computer. For more information, see How to Associate Users
with a Destination Computer.
You must manage user device affinity information for computers.
User device affinities are automatically managed by Configuration
Manager for the mobile devices that it enrolls.
How to Manually Configure User
Device Affinity
Use the following procedures to manually configure the
affinity between users and devices from the Configuration Manager
console.
To configure primary users for a
device
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click Assets
and Compliance.
-
In the Assets and Compliance workspace, click
Devices.
-
Select a device from the list. Then, in the Home
tab, in the Device group, click Edit Primary
Users.
-
In the Edit Primary Users dialog box, search for
and select the users to add as primary users for the selected
device, and then click Add.
 Note |
| The Primary Users list shows users who are already
primary users of this device and the method by which each
user-device relationship was assigned. |
-
Click OK to close the Edit Primary Users
dialog box.
To configure primary devices for a
user
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click Assets
and Compliance.
-
In the Assets and Compliance workspace, click
Users.
-
Select a user from the list. Then, in the Device
tab, click Edit Primary Devices.
-
In the Edit Primary Devices dialog box, search
for and select the devices to add as primary devices for the
selected user, and then click Add.
| Note |
| The Primary Devices list shows devices that are already
configured as primary devices for this user and the method by which
each user-device relationship was assigned. |
-
Click OK to close the Edit Primary
Devices dialog box.
How to configure the site to
automatically create user device affinities
Use the following procedure to enable your
Configuration Manager site to automatically create user device
affinities from usage data that is reported by client devices.
Configuration Manager reads data about user logons from
the Windows Event log. To be able to automatically create user
device affinities, you must enable the following two settings from
the local security policy on client computers to store logon events
in the Windows Event log.
- Audit account logon events
- Audit logon events
You can use Windows Group Policy to configure these
settings.
 Important |
| If an error causes the Windows Event log to generate a high
number of entries, this can result in a new event log being
created. If this occurs, existing logon events might be no longer
be available to Configuration Manager. |
To configure the site to automatically
create user device affinities
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click
Administration.
-
In the Administration workspace, click Client
Settings.
-
To modify the default client settings, select
Default Client Settings, and then, in the Home tab,
in the Properties group, click Properties. To create
custom client agent settings, select the Client Settings
node, and then, in the Home tab, in the Create group,
click Create Custom Client Device Settings.
-
For the client setting User and Device Affinity,
configure the following:
- User device affinity threshold
(minutes) - Specify the number of minutes of usage before a
user device affinity is created.
- User device affinity threshold (days)
– Specify the number of days over which the usage based affinity
threshold is measured.
| Note |
| For example, if User device affinity threshold (minutes)
is specified as 60 minutes and User device affinity
threshold (days) is specified at 5 days, the user must
use the device for at least 60 minutes over a period of 5 days to
automatically create a user device affinity. |
- Automatically configure user device
affinity from usage data – From the drop-down list, select
True to enable the site to automatically create user device
affinities. If you select False, then an administrative user
must approve all user device affinity assignments.
| Important |
| After an automatic user device affinity is created,
Configuration Manager continues to monitor the user device affinity
thresholds. If the user’s activity for the device falls below the
configured thresholds, then the user device affinity will be
removed. Configure User device affinity threshold (days) to
a value of at least 7 days to avoid situations where an
automatically configured user device affinity might be lost while
the user is not logged on, for example, during the weekend. |
-
Click OK to close the client settings dialog
box.
How to import a file that contains
user device affinities
You can import a file that contains user device
affinities to enable you to create many relationships at one time.
For this procedure, the subject devices must have been discovered
and exist as resources in the Configuration Manager database,
otherwise this procedure will fail.
Use this procedure to import a file containing user and
device affinities to System Center 2012
Configuration Manager.
To import a file that contains user
device affinities
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click Assets
and Compliance.
-
In the Assets and Compliance workspace, click
either Users or Devices.
-
On the Home tab, in the Create group,
click Import User Device Affinity.
-
On the Choose Mapping page of the Import User
Device Affinity Wizard, specify the following information:
- File name – Specify a comma-separated
values (.csv) file that contains a list of users and devices
between which you want to create an affinity. In this file, each
user-and-device pair must be on a separate line separated by a
comma. Use the format <Domain>\<user
name>,<device NetBIOS name>.
| Important |
| The devices listed in the file must already exist as resources
in the Configuration Manager database. Otherwise, the import will
fail. |
- This file has column headings for
reference purposes – If the comma-separated values file has a
top-row header line, select this option and the header line will be
ignored during the import.
-
If the file you are importing contains more than two
items on each line, you can use Column and Assign to
specify which columns represent users and devices and which columns
to ignore during import.
-
Click Next and then complete the Import User
Device Affinity Wizard.
How to allow users to create a user
device affinity
Use these procedures to allow users to create their own
user device affinity from the Application Catalog.
To configure the site to allow users
to create a user device affinity
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click
Administration.
-
In the Administration workspace, click Client
Settings.
-
To modify the default client settings, select
Default Client Settings, and then, in the Home tab,
in the Properties group, click Properties. To create
custom client agent settings, select the Client Settings
node, and then, in the Home tab, in the Create group,
click Create Custom Client User Settings.
-
Configure the following for the client setting User
and Device Affinity:
- In the Allow user to define their primary
devices drop-down list, select True.
-
Click OK to close the client settings dialog
box.
To configure a user device
affinity
-
In the Application Catalog, click My
Systems.
-
Enable the option I regularly use this computer to
do my work.
How to Manage User Device Affinity
Requests
When the client setting Automatically configure user
device affinity from usage data is set to False, an
administrative user must approve all user device affinity
assignments. Use the following procedure to approve or reject a
Configuration Manager user device affinity assignment.
To approve or reject a user device
affinity assignment
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click Assets
and Compliance.
-
In the Assets and Compliance workspace, select
the user or device collection for which you want to manage affinity
requests.
-
In the Home tab, in the Collection group,
click Manage Affinity Requests.
-
In the Manage User Device Affinity Requests
dialog box, select the affinity requests to approve or reject, and
then click Approve or Reject.
-
Click Close to close the Manage User Device
Affinity Requests dialog box.
See Also
