[Unsupported] Getting / triggering ConfigMgr Client Programs using Software Center Code

An odd title perhaps, but I recently had a requirement to retrieve the deadline for a deployed task sequence on the client side in the user context using PowerShell. You can find this info in WMI, using the CCM_Program class of the ROOT\ccm\ClientSDK namespace. Problem is, standard users do not have access to that.

I tried deploying a script in SYSTEM context to get the deadline from WMI and stamp it to a registry location where it could be read in the user context, however curiously the CCM_Program namespace is not accessible in SYSTEM context. A quick Google search assured me I was not alone scratching my head over that one.

I found a way to do it using a Software Center dll, which I’m sure is not supported, but it works at least. Run the following PowerShell code as the logged-on user to find the deadline for a deployed program (could be a classic package/program or task sequence).

$PackageID = "ABC0012B"
Add-Type -Path $env:windir\CCM\SCClient.data.dll
$Connector = [Microsoft.SoftwareCenter.Client.Data.ClientConnectionFactory]::CreateDataConnector()
$Package = $Connector.AllProgramApplications | where {$_.PackageId -eq $PackageID}
$Connector.Dispose()
If ($Package)
{
    $Deadline = Get-Date $Package.DeadlineDisplayValue
}

You can do some other nice things with that Software Center data connector class, for example, trigger a task sequence to run. But you didn’t hear that from me 😉

$PackageID = "ABC0012B"
Add-Type -Path $env:windir\CCM\SCClient.data.dll
$Connector = [Microsoft.SoftwareCenter.Client.Data.ClientConnectionFactory]::CreateDataConnector()
$Package = $Connector.AllProgramApplications | where {$_.PackageId -eq $PackageID}
$Connector.InstallApplication($Package,$false,$false)
$Connector.Dispose()