Important Feature Change: Password change with GPO’s no longer possible KB2962486/KB2928120/KB2961899 – Part 2

In part two of this post series, I will explain how we could solve our problem with ConfigMgr Settings Management and the MiniWebService, which is available for free.

Part 1 – Background Information

Part 2 – Solution Overview and installing netECM:MiniWebservice (This Post)

Part 3 – Creating ConfigMgr Settings Item

Part 4 – Retrieve the passwords with PowerShell

Overview

This solution will use a PowerShell script, which is implemented in a ConfigMgr Setting Item to generate a random password, encrypt the password and save the encrypted password to the netECM:MiniWebService. After that the unencrypted password is set for the local admin account.

The unencrypted password is never saved to the harddisk or transfered over the network. It’s only available in memory when the PowerShell script is running. The encryption is based on the RSA Asymmetric Encryption.

If you need the password later you can get it with a PowerShell script, which can be included in the ConfigMgr console or can be used standalone. It’s also possible to get the password by custom code for your ownl helpdesk tool.

Installing the MiniWebService

Download the actual version of the netECM:MiniWebService from our Homepage.

Start the Installation:

	On the Welcome screen click next.
	Read and accept our license agreement.
	You can change the path where the web service is located on the disk.
	Configure a application pool user is mostly not required if the system account has access to configuration manager and the web service is installed on the same server like the configuration manager sms provider is located. Other wise you can specify a connection to a remote system on the next screen.
	On this screen you can configure the configuration manager site server, if it is a remote system. If it’s local you can skip this step.
	Now start the installation process…
	When the wizard finishes we are ready to test the service.

Test the web service

Open a PowerShell console and type the following command:

New-WebServiceProxy -Uri http://localhost/netECMMiniWebService/TSClient.svc
If you get a message like these, then your service is ready to use:

Part 3 of this blog bost will be released soon and you can continue implementing the solution in your environment.