Hi,

I have created some applications in SCCM 2012 but they don't appear in the Software Center on the workstations/laptops. When clicking on "find additional applications from the application catalog" they do appear and i can install/uninstall them. When installing they appear in Software Center.

How can i solve this so they appear in the Software Center? Thnx!

Hi,

To be visible in Software Center the application needs to be deployed to a device Collection as "Available". Could that be the case?

Regards,
Jrgen

Maybe this helps you Introducing the Application Catalog and Software Center in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

(See table in the upper half of the article)

• Edited by McAllstar Monday, December 17, 2012 4:55 PM
• Proposed as answer by Jason SandysMVP Monday, December 17, 2012 5:23 PM

Maybe this helps you Introducing the Application Catalog and Software Center in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

(See table in the upper half of the article)

• Edited by McAllstar Monday, December 17, 2012 4:55 PM
• Proposed as answer by Jason SandysMVP Monday, December 17, 2012 5:23 PM

I have created some applications in SCCM 2012 but they don't appear in the Software Center on the workstations/laptops. When clicking on "find additional applications from the application catalog" they do appear and i can install/uninstall them.

Only *available* deployments to *users* will show up in the application catalog. All other deployments will be shown in Software Center.

Thanks for the answer!

I really don't understand why you have to deploy applications to computers instead of a active directory group/users.

Now i have to create computer groups (which are not dynamic) :(

You don't have to deploy applications to computers. They can also be deployed to users / groups. There's no need to create computer groups.

I know, but then they won't appear in Software Center. Only when clicking on "find additional applications from the application catalog".

I don't understand why that's an issue? The app catalog is much more dynamic as it automatically refreshes user policies when you launch it and because its simply a web app you can include a link to it on your user's start menu to directly launch it.

I have a similar question....I have created a Package/Program and deployed to All Systems collection and made it "Available".  I was under the impression this should appear to all machines in the Software Center and be available for installation.  This doesnt appear to be the case.  This Package wont show up at all in the Software Center or Application Catalog (which i guess is normal).  Any troubleshooting suggestions?

Thanks

Richie Tenhet

It will. Has the client refreshed its machine policy?

Thanks for the quick response, Jason.  Yes, refreshed policy multiple times. After further investigation, it appears that the few test clients I was using are having issues with corrupted CCM client installs.  I checked a couple of other machine and i DO see the Package listed in Software Center.  Looks like I picked a bad bunch of machines to test on! :(  Thanks again and sorry to waste your time.

Yes, they are Available . It is available in the Software Center for some time; then it has disappeared. The only reason I can think of is that the Client has lost the (self-signed) certificate

I know this is an old thread but has there been any talk of changing this "feature"? My users are never able to find the app catalog and find it very unintuitive to have available software in 2 places. Even the Microsoft description from the link provided is hazy at best as to the difference.

• The Application Catalog is the users gateway to the available applications that they can install while Software Center helps the user track the status of available and required software, and lets users configure various options

One is "available applications", the other is "available and required software"? Really?

Jus re-read this thread. It contains my explanation and a link to http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2012/03/31/introducing-the-application-catalog-and-software-center-in-system-center-2012-configuration-manager.aspx which whould answer your questions.

Thanks Torsten. I saw your answer:

Only *available* deployments to *users* will show up in the application catalog. All other deployments will be shown in Software Center.

My question is "Why??" It just doesn't make any sense to me.

By design. That's the way the designed it to work and coded it to work.

Thanks Jason. I was just trying to get a better understanding of the thinking behind the design and coding. Why 2 separate interfaces for the same thing (installing/monitoring available applications). My users find it confusing and I've seen others on the internet express the same concern.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It's definitely a valid question (although don't users get confused if the start button no longer says "start" or if it goes away completely -- justify anything by the "user get confused" is like saying water is wet).

I'm not sure why exactly they went down the path except that generally using a Silverlight app that connects to a web service allows them to be very responsive to end-user requests but has limitation on what it can show about the local system whereas a local native can obviously show that local system information but is not as responsive. There may have been some specific technical issues also. Your best bet is to file design change request on Connect to try to influence this.

Thanks Jason. I can't say I share your dim view of users (I tend to think if they don't understand something you did, then you didn't make it clear enough).

I think it must have been "specific technical issues" that forced them into a bad design. Although I connect to web services and combine that with local data all the time. It'd be nice if they explained it as a temporary work around rather than a feature. :)

Not that this is relevant or helpful in any way, by my "dim" view is based on my experience for almost 20 years and the examples I cited above are completely real.

Users in most organizations are lead by the hand and never expected to actually think about using their computer so as soon as something looks different, they shut down -- they don't read messages or apply any critical thinking, they don't do anything except call the help desk.

I typically sum it up as treat your users like babies and that's all they'll ever be.

Hi,
for me it sounds like a bug.

for me it sounds like a bug.

What does sound like a bug?

Hi Torsten,

we are sitting here in a sccm 2012 r2 ws and having exactly this problem:

a deployement against a user collection and it is not visible for an user via software center.

And this is a missing feature (which we expect in 2012 version) or a bug.

2012 is more and more user based. Why do i need the website to give an user the chance to install software.

hey i hope this is not a CAS Problem ;-)

Applications deployed to users appear in the app catalog and not software center: http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2012/03/31/introducing-the-application-catalog-and-software-center-in-system-center-2012-configuration-manager.aspx

Why? Because that's the way they designed it. You are welcome to file a DCR on connect or your support channels if you don't like this but ultimately there is no bug or problem (you not liking it is not a bug).

A thread like this probably doesn't need my opinion but thought I'd share anyway, I actually am not fond of the design either.   I prefer to deploy by user but application catalog isn't capable of showing all advertised applications.   So I just stick software center on the desktop and rarely use application catalog which is too bad.

File a DCR on connect. They do seriously look at everyone.

Hi Jason,
as a mvp you know, how senseless a DCR against MS is.

So, IMHO they designed it badly, cause the custumer expect it in the software center.

But, this is not a discussion with a MVP, i will discuss this with my MS support.

Thanks for clearing it out,

 Jrn Rink

as a mvp you know, how senseless a DCR against MS is.

I completely disagree. I've seen many, many DCRs implemented based upon customer feedback. Keep in mind though that business impact is a determining factor. Also, just because *you* don't like something, doesn't mean it should be changed either.

Jason, keep in mind:
As i said, it is not a problem what i *like*, it is a problem what a customer expects.

And we expect to give our 500 customers the chance to see this in the software center, cause they do not *like* to see it their, they WANT it there.

But, remember, this i will discuss with MS and not here.

No disagreement. Here's a good post from Jeffrey Snover that fits nicely with this: http://www.jsnover.com/blog/2013/12/19/identifying-problems/

This is yet another example of lost functionality in a newer version of a Microsoft product.  Previous versions had user and computer deployments installed from the same interface...no longer.

This is yet another example of lost functionality in a newer version of a Microsoft product.  Previous versions had user and computer deployments installed from the same interface...no longer.

This is not a forum for sympathy. If you don't like a designed feature or function, please submit a DCR (with business justification).

I know this is an old thread, but I have been seeking an answer this question myself. It didn't make sense to me at first, either. "How counterintuitave," I thought.

I can only guess at Microsoft's logic for designing it this way. But in an absence of answers or explanations from Redmond, one can only assume that it's because System Center is a heterogeneous ecosystem, capable of deploying applications to both PCs and Macs. The Software Center wouldn't necessarily be available to a Mac user. Since Macs have only somewhat recently been able to join Windows domains, this arrangement would seem to be logical--Mac users would have to provide his domain credentials to access the application library to see what apps were available to them.

Gregory

• Edited by piusg Friday, December 12, 2014 7:39 PM

I know this is an old thread, but I have been seeking an answer this question myself. It didn't make sense to me at first, either. "How counterintuitave," I thought.

I can only guess at Microsoft's logic for designing it this way. But in an absence of answers or explanations from Redmond, one can only assume that it's because System Center is a heterogeneous ecosystem, capable of deploying applications to both PCs and Macs. The Software Center wouldn't necessarily be available to a Mac user. Since Macs have only somewhat recently been able to join Windows domains, this arrangement would seem to be logical--Mac users would have to provide his domain credentials to access the application library to see what apps were available to them.

Gregory

• Edited by piusg Friday, December 12, 2014 7:39 PM

I'm not so sure anyone actually gets the point lol

I know that this is an old question but...

You can create computer collections based on OU and user collections based on groups

Computers by OU:

• Create a new device collection collection
• In "Limiting Collection" select the collection you want to limit it (I recommend "All Systems")
• In "Membership Rules" click "Add Rule" -> "Query Rule"
• Name the query and make sure that "System Resource" is selected in "Resource Class"
• Click "Edit Query Statement"
• Go to the "Criteria" tab and click the button that looks like a yellow star (or something, not sure what it's suppose to be)
• Select "Simple Value" in "Criterion Type"
• Press the "Select..." button
• Select "System Resource" in "Attribute Class"
• Select "System OU Name" in Attribute
• Press OK
• In "Operator" select "is like"
• in "Value" put in your OU name (in the following format: <domain name>/<OU name>/<sub OU name>... (where ... can be more sub OUs)
• Press OK until you return to the collection properties
• Check the box for "Use incremental updates..." for the collection to update when computers are added to that OU

Users in a specific group:

• Create a new device collection collection
• In "Limiting Collection" select "All Users and User Groups"
• In "Membership Rules" click "Add Rule" -> "Direct Rule"
• Name the query and make sure that "User Group Resource" is selected in "Resource Class"
• Select "User Group Name" in "Attribute name"
• In the value type the OU group name (% can be used as a wildcard. I recommend using a % before the group name because the group name will be proceeded by the OU that the group is in) and press the "Next" button
• Check the box next to the group that you are looking for
• Press "Next" on the following screens
• Check the box for "Use incremental updates..." for the collection to update when computers are added to that OU

You can then deploy the application to the user collection as "available" or "required"

• Edited by havens1515 17 hours 53 minutes ago