How to Import a New Computer into Configuration Manager

Article
10/04/2022

You add a new computer directly to the Configuration Manager database by calling the ImportMachineEntry Method in Class SMS_Site. This can be used to deploy operating systems to computers that have not yet been discovered automatically by Configuration Manager.

Tip

You can also use the Import-CMComputerInformation PowerShell cmdlet.

You must provide the following information:

NETBIOS computer name
MAC address
SMBIOS GUID

Note

The MAC address must be for a network adapter that has a driver in Windows PE. The MAC address must be in colon format. For example, 00:00:00:00:00:00. Other formats will prevent the client from receiving policy.

You should add a newly imported computer to a collection. This allows you to immediately create advertisements for deploying operating systems to the computer.

You can associate a new computer with a reference computer. For more information, see How to Create an Association Between Two Computers in Configuration Manager.

To add a new computer

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see SMS Provider fundamentals.
Call the ImportMachineEntry Method in Class SMS_Site.
Add the resource identifier you get from ImportMachineEntry to a collection.

Example

The following example method adds a new computer to Configuration Manager. The ImportMachineEntry Method in Class SMS_Site is used to import the computer. Then, the computer is added to a custom collection. "All Systems" collection.

Important

In previous version of this example, the computer was added to the "All Systems" collection. It is no longer possible to modify the built-in collections, use a custom collection instead.

For information about calling the sample code, see Calling Configuration Manager Code Snippets.

Sub AddNewComputer (connection, netBiosName, smBiosGuid, macAddress)  

    Dim inParams  
    Dim outParams  
    Dim siteClass  
    Dim collection  
    Dim collectionRule  

    If (IsNull(smBiosGuid) = True) And (IsNull(macAddress) = True) Then  
        WScript.Echo "smBiosGuid or macAddress must be defined"  
        Exit Sub  
    End If       

    If IsNull(macAddress) = False Then  
        macAddress = Replace(macAddress,"-",":")  
    End If      

    ' Obtain an InParameters object specific  
    ' to the method.  

    Set siteClass = connection.Get("SMS_Site")  
    Set inParams = siteClass.Methods_("ImportMachineEntry"). _  
        inParameters.SpawnInstance_()  

    ' Add the input parameters.  
    inParams.Properties_.Item("MACAddress") =  macAddress  
    inParams.Properties_.Item("NetbiosName") =  netBiosName  
    inParams.Properties_.Item("OverwriteExistingRecord") =  False  
    inParams.Properties_.Item("SMBIOSGUID") =  smBiosGuid  

    ' Add the computer.  
    Set outParams = connection.ExecMethod("SMS_Site", "ImportMachineEntry", inParams)  

   ' Add the computer to the all systems collection.  
   set collection = connection.Get("SMS_Collection.CollectionID='ABC0000A'")  

   set collectionRule=connection.Get("SMS_CollectionRuleDirect").SpawnInstance_  

   collectionRule.ResourceClassName="SMS_R_System"  
   collectionRule.ResourceID= outParams.ResourceID  

   collection.AddMembershipRule collectionRule  

End Sub

public int AddNewComputer(  
    WqlConnectionManager connection,   
    string netBiosName,   
    string smBiosGuid,   
    string macAddress)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        if (smBiosGuid == null && macAddress == null)  
        {  
            throw new ArgumentNullException("smBiosGuid or macAddress must be defined");  
        }  

        // Reformat macAddress to : separator.  
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(macAddress) == false)  
        {  
            macAddress = macAddress.Replace("-", ":");  
        }  

        // Create the computer.  
        Dictionary<string, object> inParams = new Dictionary<string, object>();  
        inParams.Add("NetbiosName", netBiosName);  
        inParams.Add("SMBIOSGUID", smBiosGuid);  
        inParams.Add("MACAddress", macAddress);  
        inParams.Add("OverwriteExistingRecord", false);  

        IResultObject outParams = connection.ExecuteMethod(  
            "SMS_Site",  
            "ImportMachineEntry",  
            inParams);  

        // Add to All System collection.  
        IResultObject collection = connection.GetInstance("SMS_Collection.collectionId='ABC0000A'");  
        IResultObject collectionRule = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_CollectionRuleDirect");  
        collectionRule["ResourceClassName"].StringValue = "SMS_R_System";  
        collectionRule["ResourceID"].IntegerValue = outParams["ResourceID"].IntegerValue;  

        Dictionary<string, object> inParams2 = new Dictionary<string, object>();  
        inParams2.Add("collectionRule", collectionRule);  

        collection.ExecuteMethod("AddMembershipRule", inParams2);  

        return outParams["ResourceID"].IntegerValue;  
    }  
    catch (SmsException e)  
    {  
        Console.WriteLine("failed to add the computer" + e.Message);  
        throw;  
    }  
}

The example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`connection`	- Managed: `WqlConnectionManager` - VBScript: SWbemServices	- A valid connection to the SMS Provider.
`netBiosName`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	- The computer NETBIOS name.
`smBiosGuid`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The SMBIOS GUID for the computer.
`MacAddress`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The MAC address for the computer in the following format: `00:00:00:00:00:00`.

Compiling the Code

The C# example has the following compilation requirements:

Namespaces

System

System.Collections.Generic

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine

Assembly

microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider

adminui.wqlqueryengine

Robust Programming

For more information about error handling, see About Configuration Manager Errors.

.NET Framework Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see Configuration Manager role-based administration.