Troubleshooting Intune: Why Only One App Policy Applies to Edge/Managed Browser?

Table of Contents

Microsoft Intune stands as a powerful cloud-based service dedicated to endpoint management and security. It empowers organizations to manage and secure their mobile devices, applications, and data. App configuration policies are a crucial feature within Intune, enabling administrators to customize the behavior of managed applications. These policies are designed to streamline application deployment and ensure consistent user experiences across diverse devices and user groups. However, a specific limitation arises when dealing with Microsoft Edge or Managed Browser applications: only one Intune app configuration policy is effectively applied, even when multiple policies targeting the same settings are assigned. This article delves into this particular behavior, elucidating the symptoms, underlying cause, and providing a practical solution to navigate this constraint within Intune environments. Understanding this limitation is crucial for administrators to effectively manage web access and application behavior using Intune policies, particularly when leveraging Edge or Managed Browser for managed environments.

Symptoms¶

The primary symptom of this issue manifests when administrators configure and deploy multiple Intune app configuration profiles intended to manage settings within Microsoft Edge or the Managed Browser application. These profiles might be designed to enforce various configurations, such as setting specific bookmarks, controlling browser features, or managing security protocols. Despite successfully assigning multiple profiles to users or devices, administrators observe that only one of these policies is actively applied. This means that the settings defined in the other configuration profiles are effectively ignored by the Edge or Managed Browser application. Users might notice that only a subset of the intended configurations are in effect, reflecting the settings from just one of the deployed policies, while configurations from other assigned policies are absent. This can lead to inconsistencies in application behavior across user groups and a deviation from the intended management strategy, particularly when expecting cumulative effects from multiple policy assignments. The unexpected application of only a single policy, despite the intention to enforce multiple, is a key indicator of this Intune behavior.

Cause¶

The root cause of this behavior lies in the current design of Microsoft Intune and its handling of app configuration policies specifically for Edge and Managed Browser applications. Intune, at present, does not support the merging or combining of multiple app configuration policies when these policies are targeted at Edge or Managed Browser. Instead of intelligently consolidating settings from different policies into a unified configuration, Intune applies a single policy and disregards any conflicting or additional settings defined in other assigned policies. This limitation is not a malfunction but a design characteristic of the current Intune service. The system is not engineered to resolve conflicts or prioritize settings across multiple policies for these specific browser applications. Consequently, when multiple policies are assigned, Intune selects one policy to apply, effectively overriding or ignoring the configurations specified in other policies. This behavior stems from the underlying architecture that processes and applies app configuration policies, which does not currently include a policy merging mechanism for Edge and Managed Browser. Understanding this architectural constraint is essential for administrators to adjust their policy deployment strategies and avoid unintended configuration outcomes.

Solution¶

To effectively manage configurations for Edge or Managed Browser within Intune, administrators must adapt their policy deployment strategy to align with the platform’s current limitations. The primary solution is to consolidate all desired configurations for a specific group of users or devices into a single app configuration policy. Instead of distributing settings across multiple policies, administrators should design a comprehensive policy that encapsulates all the required configurations for each distinct user group or device set. For instance, if the goal is to provide different sets of bookmarks to various departments within an organization, instead of creating separate policies for bookmarks and other settings, administrators should create distinct, comprehensive policies for each department. Each policy would include the specific bookmarks relevant to that department, along with any other necessary configurations. This approach ensures that only one policy is applied per user or device group, circumventing the limitation of Intune’s inability to merge policies.

To implement this solution effectively, consider the following steps:

1. Identify User Groups: Clearly define the different user groups or device sets that require distinct configurations for Edge or Managed Browser. These groups could be based on departments, roles, geographical locations, or any other organizational structure relevant to policy differentiation.

2. Define Configuration Requirements: For each identified user group, meticulously document all the required settings for Edge or Managed Browser. This includes bookmarks, allowed or blocked websites, security settings, and any other application-specific configurations that need to be enforced.

3. Create Consolidated Policies: For each user group, create a single, comprehensive Intune app configuration policy. This policy should incorporate all the configuration requirements identified in the previous step for that specific group. Ensure that no settings are duplicated or spread across multiple policies intended for the same group.

4. Assign Policies Exclusively: Assign each consolidated policy exclusively to its designated user group or device set. It is crucial to ensure that there is no overlap in user or device membership across groups targeted by different policies. This exclusivity prevents the assignment of multiple policies to a single user or device, which could lead to the issue of only one policy being applied.

5. Testing and Validation: After deploying the consolidated policies, thoroughly test the configurations for each user group. Verify that all intended settings are correctly applied in Edge or Managed Browser for users within each group. This validation step is essential to confirm the effectiveness of the consolidated policy approach and ensure that the desired configurations are successfully implemented.

Example Scenario: Managing Edge Bookmarks for Different Departments

Let’s illustrate this solution with a practical example. Suppose an organization has two departments: Sales and Marketing, and they require different sets of default bookmarks in Microsoft Edge for their respective teams.

• Sales Department: Needs bookmarks for CRM, Sales Reporting, and Customer Support portals.
• Marketing Department: Requires bookmarks for Marketing Analytics, Social Media Management, and Content Creation tools.

Instead of creating separate policies for bookmarks and potentially other settings, the administrator should create two distinct, comprehensive policies:

• Policy for Sales Department (Edge Configuration - Sales): This policy will include configurations for the Sales department, including bookmarks for CRM, Sales Reporting, and Customer Support portals, along with any other relevant Edge settings for the sales team. This policy should be assigned exclusively to the Sales user group.

• Policy for Marketing Department (Edge Configuration - Marketing): This policy will include configurations for the Marketing department, including bookmarks for Marketing Analytics, Social Media Management, and Content Creation tools, along with any other relevant Edge settings for the marketing team. This policy should be assigned exclusively to the Marketing user group.

By creating and assigning these two consolidated and exclusive policies, the administrator ensures that users in the Sales department receive the Sales-specific bookmarks and configurations, while users in the Marketing department receive the Marketing-specific bookmarks and configurations. This approach effectively addresses the Intune limitation and provides tailored configurations for each department using single, comprehensive policies.

Diagram: Policy Assignment Strategy

```mermaid
graph LR
subgraph User Groups
A[Sales Department]
B[Marketing Department]
end

subgraph Intune Policies
    C[Edge Configuration - Sales]
    D[Edge Configuration - Marketing]
end

A --> C
B --> D
style C fill:#ccf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
style D fill:#ccf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

```

Table: Consolidated Policy Approach

Department	Policy Name	Included Configurations	Assignment Group
Sales	Edge Configuration - Sales	Bookmarks (CRM, Sales Reporting, Customer Support), …	Sales Department
Marketing	Edge Configuration - Marketing	Bookmarks (Marketing Analytics, Social Media, Content), …	Marketing Department

By adhering to this consolidated policy approach, organizations can effectively manage Edge and Managed Browser configurations within Intune, despite the current limitation of single policy application. This strategy ensures that each user group receives the intended and comprehensive set of configurations, optimizing user experience and maintaining organizational control over managed browser applications. While this workaround is effective, it’s important to stay informed about potential future updates to Intune that might address policy merging for Edge and Managed Browser, potentially simplifying policy management in the future.

Do you have any experience with this Intune limitation, or have you found other effective strategies to manage Edge and Managed Browser policies? Share your insights and questions in the comments below!