MECM - SCCM - 3rd Party Patching and Always Deploy the Latest Software (Ninite Pro)

By using Ninite Pro in conjunction with SCCM we can create a software deployment that always deploys the latest version of the application. This eliminates the need to remove old deployments and re-deploy with the latest versions of applications. 

Making Sure Your Applications Are Update-to-Date Please note that the detection method for these applications will only check to see if the application is already installed, not if the application is the latest version. To ensure that you have the latest version of the application on your client machines, see the section below on how to create an auto-update schedule for your apps.

Deploying The Latest Version of an Application with Ninite Pro

1. Open the SCCM console and from the left sidebar, browse to the Application Management->Applications->Ninite Pro - 3rd Party Patching.
2. Select a package you would like to deploy, right-click and select Deploy.
   
3. Click Browse... next to Collection and select the collection that you would like to deploy the software to. Click Next>.
   
4. You will not have to add a distribution point since one will have already have been selected. Click Next>.
5. Choose Required if you would like to force the installation on the client machines. Or leave it as Available if you would like your end users to be able to install it on their own from the Software Center. Click Next>.
   
6. You can leave the default settings for Scheduling unless you want to change them. Click Next>.
7. You can leave the default setting for User Experience unless you want to change them. Click Next>.
8. You can leave the default setting for Alerts. Click Next>.
9. At the Summary screen Click Next> and your deployment will be complete.

Updating Your Apps On a Recurring Schedule

These Apps Are Updated By Default via Ninite A custom scheduled task is configured on all computers enrolled in MECM to update the following apps: 7-zip Acrobat Reader DC x64 Audacity Chrome Citrix Workspace Dropbox FileZilla Firefox ESR Google Drive OneDrive PuTTY VLC Thunderbird Thunderbird ESR TeamViewer Zoom

1. Browse to Application Management->Packages->Ninite Pro   
   Please Note: This is under the Packages section and not the Applications section.
2. Right-click "EPM - (Ninite Pro) - Update All Apps" and select Deploy.
   
3. Browse and select your target Collection.
   
4. A distribution point group will already be selected. Click Next>.
5. Choose to deploy the software as Required. Click Next>.
   
6. Specify a schedule for the deployment by clicking the New... button, the click the Schedule... button, the click the Custom Interval button and enter the desired update interval. And then click OK and then OK again.
   
7. It is very important to make sure that you change the setting for Rerun behavior: to Always Rerun Program. Click Next>.
   
8. At the User Experience click Next>.
9. At Distribution Points click Next>.
10. At Summary click Next> and at Completion click Close.

Create Custom Exclusions for App Updates

Occasionally, you may want to have Ninite Pro update all your applications except for a few choice apps due to a need to be on a specific version. This section describes how you can create a package with a custom command line that executes on a recurring schedule.

1. Deploy the NinitePro.exe to your target collection. It available under Software Library->Applications->Ninite Pro.
   
2. Once the NinitePro.exe is deployed to your target collection, you can setup a package (with no source folder) to execute on a recurring schedule.
3. Right-click on Packages and choose to create a New Package.
   
4. Name your new custom Ninite Pro package and click Next>.
   
5. Choose to create a "Standard Program" and click Next>.
   
6. This is where you'll define your custom command line.

   The standard command line is:
   "C:\Program Files\Ninite\NinitePro.exe" /updateonly /disableshortcuts /allusers /silent
   
   The new command line with Java exclusion is:
   "C:\Program Files\Ninite\NinitePro.exe" /updateonly /disableshortcuts /allusers /silent /exclude Java
   

   

7. At the requirements page, click Next>.
8. At the summary page, click Next>.
9. At the completion page, click Close.
10. To deploy your custom package, follow the previous section "Updating Your Apps On a Recurring Schedule" and simply substitute your custom package for the standard one.

Ninite Pro Switches A full list of Ninite Pro command line switches and application switches can be found on Ninite's website.

See Also

• Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM) Landing Page