FAQ
Which links should I bookmark?
RealmJoin Admin Portal: https://realmjoin-web.azurewebsites.net/
Gitlab Packages: https://gitlab.realmjoin.com//
General RealmJoin website: https://realmjoin.com/
This documentation: https://docs.realmjoin.com/
Am I able to maintain my own packages and updates?
RealmJoin contains an internal application store compatible with Intunewin, with over 500 existing applications. Glück&Kanja Consulting offers packaging-as-a-service to provide any missing applications. Also, it is possible to use additional deployment repositories completely maintained independently.
Which platforms are supported?
RealmJoin v4 is only available for Windows 10.
I do not see my groups in the Admin Console
The sync between Azure AD and RealmJoin is scheduled every 15 minutes and based on your custom pattern ruleset.
Does RealmJoin support Multi-User Devices?
Yes. Starting with version 4.13 RealmJoin allows applications to be installed not only for the primary device user but also for secondary users. See our Multi-User Devices article for more details.
How to enter the Debug Mode in RealmJoin client?
Press and hold Strg + Shift and click the RealmJoin icon in the taskbar. For a detailed description of Debug mode see our Troubleshooting.
I accidentally uninstalled RealmJoin-deployed software using the Windows Apps control
Force reinstall by using the debug mode. After opening the tray in debug mode, you can find all available software, even if assigned hidden or already installed and rerun the package.
Can I get rid of Bloatware using RealmJoin?
TBD
Is RealmJoin providing an uninstall of software?
A general uninstall feature is currently not implemented. In a 100% modern workplace environment with evergreen applications, regular removable of installed software does not exist anymore. Chocolatey packages provide a generic uninstall component that would be usable for RealmJoin. But because of the volatile history of unattended and the sometimes unpredictable issues with incomplete uninstalls we have decided against using it.
There are typically three reasons to uninstall software:
The license should be re-used for a different user. In this case, it's easy to just create a package to enable/disable a license for a user.
The software needs to be removed because of [choose your reason]. In this situation, a dedicated remove-software-package can be created.
There is a newer version of the software. This is not a reason to use an uninstall command but instead, it is a common practice for every software package used by RealmJoin to 'clean' any precursory binaries or settings.
All items above describe special usecases and should be solved in cooperation with Glück & Kanja Consulting AG.
Should I use the applications internal auto-updater or not?
This highly depends on the application itself as well as your internal processes. For some applications, that might be prone to attacking and are very well maintained by the vendor - like Google Chrome - we recommend to use the applications internal update. For other software, it might be more useful to include a regular update via RealmJoin into your processes.
Re-Install failed software installations
RealmJoin tries to restart failed installations according to your selected installation phases. To reinstall the package manually please use the Debug Mode of the RealmJoin agent.
Since the packages are based on open protocols, can others access my packages?
Yes. NuGet and Chocolatey repositories are based on open protocols. Using search commands one is able to find all repositories that are hosted on the GK tenant. Since packages should not contain personalized information like licenses or user-specific data, there is no potential harm in e.g. installing an Office package with a different company name in the package description. It is in principle possible to host the RealmJoin
What firewall/proxy settings do I have to configure?
Please check the infrastructure requirements for detailed information on the RealmJoin connections.
Does G&K have any recommendations on workflows?
Yes. Our suggestions can be found in the workflow section of this documentation.
What is the recommendation for reporting?
See section States in the RealmJoin Portal - Clients article. It is possible to get virtually any information from each client in JSON-form. There are several applications available to evaluate the data, for example, PowerBI, which allows to sort and process the data in logical and visually pleasing ways.
In the future, may RealmJoin packages be used in Intune?
If in the future, Microsoft Intune becomes more capable and the installation of software is as versatile and organized as with RealmJoin, you may use the existing packages in Intune. Since RealmJoin does only need Chocolatey and PowerShell to run the installers, there might be possibilities to use Intune to install the software.
All packages created by the Glück & Kanja Consulting AG Package Factory can be prepared as .intunewin packages.
Is RealmJoin GDPR compliant?
Glück & Kanja takes data protection very seriously. All contracts with customers and partners consider data protection.
Does the RealmJoin BitLocker enforcement work on virtual machines?
For virtual machines, the encryption is only enforced if the virtual machine variable $env:RjDisableVmDetection=1 is set.
This setting can be bypassed in the OOBE screen with the command setx /m RjDisableVmDetection 1 in a cmd shell.
Is it possible to see the code of store applications?
It is possible to request reading rights for a specific application package from Glück & Kanja. The installation script of already installed packages can be found under $env:ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\<packageId>\Tools
Can I force the weblinks in the RealmJoin tray to use a specific process?
Yes. To do so, the target has to be set to the process and optional args can be provided. Additionally, for edge, the protocol handler can be used:
Key: "WebLinks" (directing to process):
See chapter Settings and Policies for further information.
How do you secure the communication between service and agent?
The communication between the RealmJoin Service (Backend) and the RealmJoin Agent (Client) is secured with Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 or higher.
Additionally some content (e.g. software packages) is signed by the RealmJoin Service, so that the RealmJoin Agent can ensure, that data was not changed during transport.
Why is RealmJoin safe?
We are committed to high security standards
Our development and our operations team is ISO 27001 certified.
We work with latest cloud development tools (e.g. Github) and code is stored in secured repositories.
We are committed to state-of-the-art development, built and operations methodologies (e.g. CI/CD).
Our team members use Azure AD identities and require to use multifactor authentication.
Endpoints, identities and services are protected by the latest technologies (e.g. Microsoft Sentinel and M365 Defender Suite incl. EDR) and monitored by a Security Operations Center.
All systems are updated continuously.
The design of RealmJoin ensures protection against threats
Our services run on well protected Azure platforms.
We run signed binaries.
Our app-packages are built in a consistent way, leveraging state-of-the-art code repositories and CI/CD methodology to ensure a maximum of integrity.
App packages are signed during the built process and checked by the RJ agent prior installation on the client.
RealmJoin leverages strong Azure AD identities for administrators.
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