How to install SCCM? Complete Guide

The installation of SCCM can be challenging, especially for the novice. We will explain how to install SCCM step-by-step.

1. Installing the SCCM prerequisites

To install SCCM, you must first install the following components:

• SQL Server instance. The site database stores all installation data, configuration items and collections, software updates metadata, and client deployment status information in a single centralized database on a SQL Server instance. You can install multiple SQL Server instances in an environment, but we recommend a single instance per site server.
• The Windows ADK. The Windows ADK contains tools to support the deployment of Windows operating systems to computers that Configuration Manager does not manage. These tools include DISM (Deployment Image Servicing & Management), Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE), and User State Migration Tool (USMT).

1.1 Running the SCCM prerequisites checker

The SCCM prerequisites checker is a tool that helps you determine whether the hardware and software in your environment are ready for the installation of System Center Configuration Manager. The prerequisites checker can help you avoid problems and delays in your deployment process by determining if your infrastructure needs to be updated before you start.

The Prerequisite Checker tool requires that all servers running Windows Server 2008 or later be joined to an Active Directory domain, with an account in good standing on the local server (the server where you’ll run the tool).

The following steps will walk you through installing this useful tool:

• Download PrerequisiteCheck_x64bit.msi from https://www1.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25175
• Open PowerShell as an administrator by right-clicking on its icon on your taskbar, then select Run As Administrator from the menu (or type “PowerShell” into Cortana’s search bar).
• Enter “Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Foundation” (without quotation marks) into PowerShell’s command line interface window, which should open once you’ve opened PowerShell as mentioned above… This command will install SCCM Prereq Checker’s dependencies; it may take several minutes, depending on how fast your connection is.
• Once the installation has been completed, run PrerequisiteCheck_x64bit.msi by double-clicking on its file name (or enter “PrerequisiteCheck_x64bit.msi” into PowerShell’s command line interface window).

1.2 Extending the AD schema for SCCM

SCCM requires you to extend your Active Directory schema before it can be used. This step involves running the SCCM prerequisites checker and extending the AD schema. To do this, follow these steps:

• Run the System Center Configuration Manager Prerequisite installer from \Bin\x64\Setupdl.exe (install path is where you installed ConfigMgr). This will run a tool called PrepareADSchema, which extends your AD schema to include tables required by ConfigMgr components such as site servers and clients, collections, and packages, to name a few.
• Run DCPromo on any Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers that are not running windows server 2008 R2 or later (this will install an in-place upgrade) For SCCM to work properly, you need at least one Windows Server 2008 R2 DC. If you do, you can promote a new domain controller and then demote the old one (this is because certain Active Directory schema changes only work on the latest version of Active Directory).

1.3 Creating the System Management Container

To make it easy for you, the SCCM server in Active Directory creates a system management container in Active Directory. After creating the System Management Container, add your SCCM server to this container by using Server Manager > Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers > View Tab > Advanced Features:

As we can see from Figure 1-3, the SCCM server is added to our newly created system management container.

Note: If you are using Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 functional domain level, don’t do this step; otherwise, skip it as it does not apply to you!

We need to grant the SCCM server permission to manage its computer account within this system management container. This can be done by adding the SCCM server to the default security group in Active Directory.

1.4 Creating the SQL Server service account

The next step is to create the SQL Server service account. In the SQL Server Configuration Manager, right-click on ‘SQL Server Services’ and choose ‘New Login.’

Enter a name for the new login. This should be the same name as your SQL Server instance, e.g., SCCM01\SQLSERVERAGENT or SCCM02\SQLSERVERAGENT, depending on how many instances you have in your environment. However, make sure that another login still needs to use it! The password must be as specified when configuring your instance during database setup (for example, P@ssw0rd).

Next, go to Security->Logins->New Login and add this account under the Logins tab:

Ensure the login is given ‘Log on as a service, right? Now, we need to create a database user account. Go to Security->Users and Roles->New Role Manager:

Enter a name for the new database user account and click “OK.” Under Roles, click “Add Role” and select “db_owner.”

Next, go back to Security->Logins and add the new database user account under the Logins tab.

Ensure the login is given ‘Log on as a service, right’.

1.5 Configuring the SQL Server

To configure the SQL Server, install the Native Client on your SCCM server. Next, configure the SQL Server service account with full access to SCCM and SQL databases. Configuring memory usage, for instance, is also important because it helps you ensure that both servers have enough RAM to perform their functions without any errors in either system. Finally, if certain features are missing from your SCCM server (for example, Fast Company Data Warehouse), you can manually install them using these steps:

• Install Microsoft Windows Feature Pack 30 April 2019 Update (2019-05-19) – x86/x64 – Multilingual – [SECTION] (17 MB). This will only install missing features based on your language settings for Windows 10 Professional / Enterprise / Education editions!
• After you have installed the feature pack, reboot your SCCM server.

1.5.1 Adding the service account and SCCM host to the local Administrator’s group

Add the SCCM service account to the Local Administrators group. This is required for the site server to function correctly.

If you are using a domain-joined server, add your domain user account that you intend to use as the SCCM service account (or if you have a local administrator on your machine) and make sure they can log in with this account. If it is not a standard member of Domain Admins or Domain Users, you will need to create an exception in Group Policy first so that the SCCM client can be installed correctly.

1.5.2 Configuring the SQL service running account

You must create a new local user account and grant it permission to access SQL Server.

• Click “Database Configuration Manager” on the left menu under Setup and Maintenance.
• Select the database server you want to configure and click Properties in the right pane.
• Select Security in the left pane and add your new account and its password if you want it for that purpose only (not recommended). Click OK once done! Ensure *Allow Log On Locally* is checked so this account can successfully log into this machine.
• Now that we have our running account set up correctly, let’s go ahead and configure it as our SQL service running account so that SCCM will use it when we need some extra processing power with our database-intensive tasks, such as installing applications!

1.5.3 Setting up memory usage for the SQL instance

• Set the startup memory to 1GB.
• Set the minimum memory to 512MB.
• Set the maximum memory of the SQL Server to 2GB.
• Specify four processors for your instance of SQL Server and click OK to apply changes.

1.6 Installing missing features on the SCCM server

Before installing SCCM, make sure you have the following Windows Server Features on your server:

• Service Pack 1
• Windows Server 2012 R2 Core
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 (included with the SCCM installation) and 4.6

1.7 Installing Windows ADK

• Download the Windows ADK from the Microsoft website and run it.
• The installer will ask you to select languages to install and then continue as usual until you reach the Select Features screen:
• Click on “Customize installation,” navigate to ConfigMgr client settings and check “Management Tools for [Windows 10],” and click OK:4. Proceed with the installation process by clicking Next until a summary window appears; click Install

1.8 Installing the SQL Native client

As a prerequisite, you should download and install the SQL Native client on your site server and management points. To do this, download SQL Native Client from Microsoft and run the installation wizard.

You will then be asked to accept the license agreement. Click Next until you are done with all of the steps in this wizard. You should now have successfully installed SQL Native Client on your computer!

1.9 Re-run the Prerequisite Check

If the prerequisite check fails, resolve the issues and re-run the check.

If it’s successful, you are ready to install SCCM!

2. Installing System Center Configuration Manager

To install the SCCM server:

• Run the setup and choose the custom installation type.
• On the System Center Configuration Manager Server Setup Wizard welcome screen, click Next.
• On the License Terms page, read through them and then check I accept these license terms if you agree to them, or uncheck it if you don’t want to agree with them and continue with the installation by clicking on the Next button when ready to proceed further to complete Installation step successfully otherwise at any point during installation process while installing SCCM server will not proceed further until the user accepts or declines license agreement terms displayed on this page so make sure that you have selected “I accept these license terms” option before continuing further otherwise it may cause problems when trying to install later.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed SCCM in your company. Following the above steps, you can install and configure the System Center Configuration Manager in your organization. This has enabled you to manage software updates, patches, and system health easily.