Generating WNS credentials

This document describes how to get Windows Notification Service (WNS) credentials that you can upload during installing or upgrading Windows MDM server.

Before you begin

The organization must have a paid Microsoft developer account to create WNS credentials.

Note: For detailed instructions about how to create a paid Microsoft developer account, see https://bigfix-wiki.hcltechsw.com/wikis/home?lang=en-us#!/wiki/BigFix%20Wiki/page/How%20to%20create%20a%20Microsoft%20developer%20account

About this task

To establish the communication with the enrolled devices, the windows MDM server must know the credentials of WNS server through which windows MDM server will communicate with enrolled devices to apply polices and actions, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/push-notification-windows-mdm.

To get WNS credentials for the MDM server, complete the following steps:

Login to Microsoft Partner Center: Open the URL https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/dashboard and enter the Microsoft developer account credentials. The following page is displayed.
Click Apps and games. The Apps and games Overview page is displayed.
Create an app and get WNS push credentials (client secret, PFN, and SID). To do that, complete the following steps.
1. From the Overview page, click New product and select MSIX or PWA app.
2. On the Create your app by reserving a name page, enter an appropriate name for the application (which will be the WNS server name) and click Reserve product name.
Create wnscredentials.json file.
1. Go to Home > Apps and Games, and from the product list, select the application you have created.
  1. From the product page, navigate to Product Management > WNS/PNS and click the App Registration portal link.
  2. Microsoft Azure portal page for your app is displayed. Click the Client credentials link to add a certificate or secret.
  3. On the Certificates & secretes page, under Client secrets tab, click + New client secret.
  4. Enter Description of the client secret, click the Expiresdrop-down and select the validity period of the client secret, and click Add.
  5. Copy the Value of the Secret ID to use it as the client_secret value in the WNScredential.json file.
  6. Navigate to Product Management > Product Identity and copy the PFN and Package SID to add them to the WNScredential.json file.
  7. Furnish the copied information in the following format and save the file as wnscredentials.json.
```
{
"client_id": "ms-app://<Package SID>",
"client_secret":"<Application Secrets>",
"PFN":"<PFN>"
}
```

Results

The wnscredentials.json file is created that can be uploaded while Installing BigFix MDM Service for Windows to establish the communication between the MDM server and Windows devices.