Software Center Troubleshooting for Software Installation
Troubleshooting: Software does not appear in the Software Center
If you were expecting to find software in the Software Center, but it does not appear, use these suggestions to troubleshoot why.
These suggestions also work for task sequence deployments.
- Ensure you are the only user signed into the computer.
- Task sequences will never appear if another user is already signed into the computer.
- You can sign out other users by launching Task Manager and going to the Users tab.
- Refresh Software Center with the F5 key
- If Software Center is left open, it may not refresh automatically when new software becomes available.
- Press F5 with Software Center in focus to update the list of available software.
- Ensure the computer is in the correct Organizational Unit in AD
- Some software deployments are based on AD OU. If the computer has not been moved to the correct OU, software may not be available in Software Center.
- Move the computer to the correct OU for the department or lab it belongs to (or wait for /wiki/spaces/CSS/pages/100272196to run).
- After moving the computer into the correct OU, collection membership may need to be updated (this will happen automatically usually within 1 day or less, or can be performed manually).
- Ensure the computer appears in the SCCM Software Deployment collection
- Start the SCCM Console using appropriate credentials.
- Under Assets and Compliance go to Device Collections → Faculty-Staff → Faculty Staff Software Deployment and look for the collection named for the software you are deploying (not all software will be deployed to a collection with the exact name of the software).
- Check the membership of the collection and see whether the computer name appears.
- If it does not, then the computer is either not in the right OU, the collection membership needs to be updated, or the computer needs to be added to the collection.
- If the computer needs to be manually added, see: /wiki/spaces/CSS/pages/100274535
- You can manually update the collection membership if you have just added the computer to an OU. On the collection, use Right Click | Update Membership. Do not repeatedly run the Update Membership command unnecessarily.
- Wait for the collection to update. It may take up to 5 minutes (timing is variable based on the size of the collection and the query that it runs, most will take less than 5 minutes).
- Ensure the SCCM client is working on the computer and force its software deployment evaluations
- Go to Control Panel and select Configuration Manager.
- If the Configuration Manager item is not there, the SCCM client may not be installed. You can confirm by checking whether C:\Windows\CCM exists. If it is missing, there is no SCCM client installed, See the Reinstalling the SCCM client section.
- In the Configuration Manager window, go to the Actions tab. There should be between 9 and 11 actions available (See: Client Actions Examples). If there are fewer, then SCCM client is installing/self-upgrading or needs more time to communicate with the SCCM server and receive policy.
- If all 9 or 11 actions are available, run Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle and Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle. After five minutes, refresh the Software Center using the F5 key. You may also close and re-open Software Center.
- Ensure a Hardware Inventory has run on the machine
- Certain software is targeted based on specific hardware requirements (such as manufacturer or vendor). A hardware inventory is required for SCCM to know what hardware a machine has.
- Go to Control Panel and select Configuration Manager.
- If the Configuration Manager item is not there, the SCCM client may not be installed. You can confirm by checking whether C:\Windows\CCM exists. If it is missing, there is no SCCM client installed. See the Reinstalling the SCCM client section.
- In the Configuration Manager window, go to the Actions tab. There should be between 9 and 11 actions available (See: Client Actions Examples). If there are fewer, then the SCCM client is installing/self-upgrading or needs more time to communicate with the SCCM server and receive policy.
- If all 9 or 11 actions are available, run Hardware Inventory Cycle, the cycle may take up to 30 minutes to complete
- You can view if a Hardware Inventory has run by checking the computer in the SCCM Console and looking for Hardware Scan under Client Activity.
- If a recent date/time is showing, run Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle. After five minutes, refresh the Software Center using the F5 key.
- Ensure the computer object in SCCM is active
- Find the computer in SCCM console by searching or finding it in a collection and check the Client Activity column. It should say Active and show the number of days since last communication. If the computers is online Days Since Last Communication: should be set to 0 (ideally a computer will check in once a day, computers that are off campus, turned off or have otherwise not communicated to the server for a variety of reasons will have a number not equal to 0. This is not necessarily a problem).
- If the computer shows Inactive, it has not communicated in several days. Ensure the computer has a network connection on campus or a VPN connection off campus. (On campus is better.)
- If the client activity status field is blank, the SCCM object is probably marked Obsolete and should be removed from SCCM. Add the Obsolete column to your SCCM view to confirm. Obsolete computers are periodically deleted from SCCM automatically.
- Refresh Machine Policy and/or run an Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle
- If software is not showing in Software Center, but it is in the correct collection, the client has likely not received update policy yet.
- This is most obvious when software is not available shortly after being added to a collection or after a computer has been turned on.
- Navigate to Control Panel.
- Switch the view to Small Icons or select System and Security in category view.
- Select Configuration Manager.
- Select the Actions tab.
- Select Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle and click Run Now.
- Select Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle and click Run Now.
- Wait 5-15 minutes then refresh Software Center (the wait time is an estimation: some computers will be faster, others slower).
- The software should now be available.
- If software is not showing in Software Center, but it is in the correct collection, the client has likely not received update policy yet.
Re-installing the SCCM Client
If a re-installation of the SCCM client is needed, see: /wiki/spaces/CSS/pages/100273519
In most instances a re-installation of the SCCM client is not a substitute for any of the above suggestions. It may cause the process of making software available in Software Center take longer.
Client Actions Examples
Nine Client Actions
Eleven Client Actions
Troubleshooting: Software repeatedly fails to install from Software Center
- Check that the software really did fail to install.
- In some situations, Software Center will report an installation "failed" but the software has actually been installed and in may cases works.
- Search for the software on the computer, and if you find it, try running it and determine whether it will start up.
- For licensed software, the licensing portion of the installation may have failed and needs to be done manually.
- If the software is missing altogether, proceed to step 2.
- Delete SCCM Cache and re-try the installation.
- Open the Control Panel and select Configuration Manager.
- Select the Cache tab and click Configure Settings and enter credentials if prompted, then click Delete Files.
- Be sure to check the box for Delete persisted cache content and click Yes.
- Close the Configuration Manager window, close and re-open Software Center, navigate to the failed software and click Retry.
- Open the Control Panel and select Configuration Manager.
Troubleshooting: Software Center is missing from the computer
If the Software Center is missing from the computer, the SCCM client may need to be installed or reinstalled.
Notes
- The service that runs the SCCM Client and Software Center is configured for delayed startup. Pease wait 5 minutes after turning on a computer before attempting to use the Software Center or access the SCCM Client.
After moving a computer into the correct OU or group in AD, it may take up to 24 hours after the move for the change to populate in SCCM unless a manual collection update is done.
Most collections automatically update at least once a day, many update more frequently.
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