In this post I will show you how to deploy Company Portal using SCCM. Earlier Company Portal was used only for the purpose of Intune to see applications and other settings through an app portal based application. Starting onwards Configuration Manager 2006, Company Portal has become integral part of Microsoft Endpoint Manager, hence when co-management settings are enabled to manage workloads, Company portal can be used in parallel along with Software Center.

This post will cover deploy Company Portal using SCCM in offline mode which doesn’t require Microsoft Store for Business Integration with SCCM.

Difference between Company Portal and Software Center

At first glance Company Portal looks similar to Software Center. The latter one is used only for Configuration Manager client to see list of applications, updates, compliance settings etc. But as the organizations are moving more towards cloud technology and Intune capability, there was a need of an application which should support both Intune and Configuration Manager. And here is the solution ie. Company Portal.

Company Portal app, once deployed will show you all the applications deployed through Intune, as well as application deployed / targeted through SCCM. Though this behavior is subjective and depends upon the kind of Workloads setting you have defined in SCCM Co-management feature. The setting can be verified under \Administration\Overview\Cloud Services\Cloud Attach, workloads tab

Workloads
  • Workload set to Configuration Manager ( Client apps): Only see SCCM apps
  • Workload set to Intune / Pilot Intune (Client apps): Can see SCCM and Intune apps

The above-mentioned same behaviour will be observed for for Office Click-to-run apps.

Workloads

Download Company Portal Binaries

To deploy Company Portal using Configuration Manager, we need to get the source available which can be downloaded through Microsoft Store for Business

  • Login to Microsoft Store for Business, under Manage > Settings > Shop experience, enable Show offline apps.
  • Search for Company Portal and select License type as offline
  • Download the following files:
Microsoft.CompanyPortal_2021.1008.825.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle
Microsoft.NET.Native.Framework.2.2_2.2.29512.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx
Microsoft.NET.Native.Runtime.2.2_2.2.28604.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx
Microsoft.Services.Store.Engagement_10.0.19011.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx
Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.3_2.32002.13001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx
Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00_14.0.30035.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx

For more information on which files to download for Company Portal check How to Deploy Intune Company Portal Forcefully using Intune.

Create Company Portal Application using SCCM

Its time to create application now. Login to SCCM server and launch Configuration Manager console, navigate to \Software Library\Overview\Application Management\Applications and click Create Application

DeployCompanyPortalSCCM 03

On Specify settings for this application page, select
Type: Windows app package (*.appx, *.appxbundle, *.msix, *.msixbundle)
Location: \\sccm01\source\Application\Company Portal\Microsoft.CompanyPortal_2021.1008.825.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle

APPXBUNDLE File with extension AppxBundle needs to be selected, click Next.

Windows app package

On Import Information page, you might see the warning as “The Windows app dependencies listed were not found in the application folder. You can continue to create and deploy this application, but it will not run until the missing Windows app dependencies are provided”

View imported information

But this is fine as this stage what it indicates is, that we have not downloaded all the files required for Company Portal for various different kind of Architecture  as I only select x64 architecture based upon 64 bit OS only. The application installation will perfectly work hence you can avoid this warning under View Imported information.

On General Information page with Specify information about this application, specify:
Name: Company Portal
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation
Software version: 2021.1008.825.0

DeployCompanyPortalSCCM 06

Publisher, Software version will be populated automatically.

On Summary page, verify the information and click Next to complete application creation process.

Right click the application and go to Properties. Under Software Center tab, select the icon for Company Portal which can be downloaded through intune-icons

Company Portal Properties

Go to Deployment Types and edit it to open Deployment Type Properties to specify name as Company Portal.

Click on Framework tab which will show you Windows app dependencies required by Windows app package with showing only 5 files as Included with Windows app package content which is perfectly fine as you can see all these files are showing yes against Architecture x64, and No for arm, arm x86.

Company Portal Framework

You might also observe that Programs tab is missing which usually shows Installation program and Uninstallation program. It is missing because .appxbundle is hardcoded into Microsoft installation process on how to execute the installation with all other required dependency .appx files.

Company Portal Offline files

Deploy the application to existing collection and navigate to Client system (Windows 10 or Windows 11).

We can see Company Portal application visible under Software Center and ready to be installed.

Software Center with Company Portal

Verify Company Portal Management Service

Launch Company Portal once installed and we can see list of all applications listed (Intune apps and Configuration manager apps, if workload was appropriately selected as explained previously).

Company Portal

We can also verify which application is coming through which Management Service. Select any application and click on Additional information. I have 2 different applications:

VLC media player : Additional information > Management Service: set to Intune
7-Zip 19.00: Additional information > Management Service: set to Configuration Manager

DeployCompanyPortalSCCM 12DeployCompanyPortalSCCM 13

Set the default user portal as Company Portal

We can also set Company Portal to be the default user portal for the notifications of any application and updates which were previously going to Software Center.

Navigate to \Administration\Overview\Client Settings, Create Custom Client Device Settings and select Software Center.

Select the user portal

Under Software Center, Select the user Portal from Software Center to Company Portal and deploy the Client Settings to existing devices.

Note: Selecting the Company Portal doesn’t replace Software Center. You will still be able to use Software Center and Company Portal separately but for the default notifications for installation and other task will now go to Company Portal rather than Software Center.

This makes perfectly sense for using Company Portal in hybrid environment where both Intune and Configuration Manager co-exists.

Prerequisites for using Company Portal

Just deploy Company Portal is not enough until unless following prerequisites are not met.

  • You should be on Configuration Current version 2006 or later
  • Windows 10 version 1803 or above is supported
  • Intune License should be assigned to the user

Important Links

Apps in Company Portal – Configuration Manager | Microsoft Docs

Co-management workloads – Configuration Manager | Microsoft Docs

GitHub – Insentra/intune-icons: Icons for use with applications deployed via Microsoft Intune / MDM / ConfigMgr etc.