If you have ever worked with Configuration Manager 2007 you properly know about the great freeware tool called SMS Client Center created by Roger Zander. The latest version of SMS Client Center can be downloaded from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsclictr/files/SCCM%20Client%20Center/

You install the tool locally on your computer and it does not require the installation of the Configuration Manager console. You can connect to one Configuration Manager client at a time by typing the dns name or ip address of the client. But you can actually launch the tool from within the Configuration Manager console without the need to manually typing in the name. This can be done by creating a right-click context menu for the tool.

In order to do that you first need to install the Configuration Manager console and SMS Client Center on the same machine.

Then copy the code below into notepad or any other text editor. Remember to delete the line numbers !

1 <ActionDescription Class="Executable" DisplayName="Start SMS Client Center" MnemonicDisplayName="Start SMS Client Center" Description="Start SMS Client Center">
2  <Executable>
3   <FilePath>"C:\Program Files\SCCM Tools\SCCM Client Center\SMSCliCtrV2.exe"</FilePath>
4   <Parameters>##SUB:Name##</Parameters>
5  </Executable>
6 </ActionDescription>

Change line 3 to one of the two following choices depending on whether you installed the 32 or 64 bit version of SMS Client Center:

X86: <FilePath>"C:\Program Files (x86)\SCCM Tools\SCCM Client Center\SMSCliCtrV2.exe"</

X64: <FilePath>"C:\Program Files\SCCM Tools\SCCM Client Center\SMSCliCtrV2.exe"</

Save the file somewhere on your hard drive and name it i.e. StartSMSCliCtr.xml. Make sure that you select All Files in the save type as field in notepad. Otherwise your file will be named StartSMSCliCtr.xml.txt

Open Explorer and navigate to the Configuration Manager installation directory. In my example it is the D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminUI\XmlStorage\Extensions\Actions folder.

Look for a folder named 7ba8bf44-2344-4035-bdb4-16630291dcf6

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Note: If the Actions folder does not exist you must create it and inside the Actions folder create yet another folder named 7ba8bf44-2344-4035-bdb4-16630291dcf6

Remember to name the folders exatly as stated otherwise it will not work. The last thing to do is to copy the StartSMSCliCtr.xml you created earlier into that folder. If you left the Configuration Manager console open, you must close it down and open it up again. The GUID is a reference to the resource object in collections and I found it in the Configuration Manager SDK.

Now start the ConfigMgr console, expand Computer Management, Colelctions and then click on the All Systems collection. Find a machine in the details pane and right-click it. You should now see an item called Start SMS Client Center. If you click on it, SMS Client Center will launch and the name of the machine will automatically be “sent” to SMS Client Center.

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Using the above method you can extend the ConfigMgr console with all kinds of menu items. You could add an item which could launch your favorite remote tool in case you do not want to use the built-in remote tools.