Topic last updated—November 2007

A Configuration Manager 2007 client downloads its client policy on a schedule. By default, this value is configured to every 60 minutes and is configured with the option Policy polling interval (minutes). (To identify the dialog where you can configure this option, see Computer Client Agent Properties: General Tab.) However, there might be occasions when you want to initiate ad-hoc policy retrieval from the client—for example, in a troubleshooting scenario or when testing.

Use the following procedures to initiate ad-hoc policy retrieval from the client outside its scheduled polling interval, either by using the Actions tab on the Configuration Manager client or by running a script on the computer. You must be logged onto the client computer with local administrative rights to perform these procedures.

Note
The same procedures can be used with the SMS 2003 client, which is named Systems Management in the Control Panel of the client computer.

To manually initiate client policy retrieval using the Actions tab on the Configuration Manager client

  1. Select Configuration Manager in the Control Panel of the computer.

  2. Click the Actions tab.

  3. Click Machine Policy Retrieval and Evaluation Cycle, and then click Initiate Action.

  4. Click OK to confirm the prompt, and then click OK to close Configuration Manager.

To manually initiate client policy retrieval using a script

  1. Open a text editor, such as Notepad.

  2. Copy and insert the following into the file:

      Copy Code 
    on error resume next

dim oCPAppletMgr 'Control Applet manager object.
dim oClientAction 'Individual client action.
dim oClientActions 'A collection of client actions.

'Get the Control Panel manager object.
set  oCPAppletMgr=CreateObject("CPApplet.CPAppletMgr")
if err.number <> 0 then
	Wscript.echo "Couldn't create control panel application manager"
	WScript.Quit
end if

'Get a collection of actions.
set oClientActions=oCPAppletMgr.GetClientActions
if err.number<>0 then
	wscript.echo "Couldn't get the client actions"
	set oCPAppletMgr=nothing
	WScript.Quit
end if

'Display each client action name and perform it.
For Each oClientAction In oClientActions

	if oClientAction.Name = "Request & Evaluate Machine Policy" then
		wscript.echo "Performing action " + oClientAction.Name 
		oClientAction.PerformAction
	end if
next

set oClientActions=nothing
set oCPAppletMgr=nothing

  3. Save the file with a .vbs extension.

  4. On the client computer, run the file using one of the following methods:

    • Navigate to the file by using Windows Explorer, and double-click the script file.

    • Open a command prompt, and type: cscript <path\filename.vbs>.

  5. Click OK in the Windows Script Host dialog box.

See Also