Forum Discussion
Device Config Policy vs Device Compliance Policy
Hi Stuart,
compliance settings are mostly used in combination with conditional access to check a device for certain settings and then set a compliant flag or not. It can also be used just for reporting if certain settings are set like BitLocker. So it's a kind of simple check and remember if several compliance policies have the same setting, they are evaluated and the most restrictive value counts. Pin 4 and Pin 6 in two compliance policies, then pin length 6 is enforced.
Configuration policies instead are the way to configure and not to check. E.g. set creation of something like passwords to deny simple passwords. Its not a check, it will enforce the setting in the password example during creation of the password. If two configuration policies have same setting they are in conflict and the setting will not be applied.
Hope this helps in you decisions.
best,
Oliver
Hi Stuart,
compliance settings are mostly used in combination with conditional access to check a device for certain settings and then set a compliant flag or not. It can also be used just for reporting if certain settings are set like BitLocker. So it's a kind of simple check and remember if several compliance policies have the same setting, they are evaluated and the most restrictive value counts. Pin 4 and Pin 6 in two compliance policies, then pin length 6 is enforced.
Configuration policies instead are the way to configure and not to check. E.g. set creation of something like passwords to deny simple passwords. Its not a check, it will enforce the setting in the password example during creation of the password. If two configuration policies have same setting they are in conflict and the setting will not be applied.
Hope this helps in you decisions.
best,
Oliver
Microsoftarnabmitra - In our Intune environment, we have the same password settings in compliance policies and in device configuration profiles. I made a change to the compliance policy and not to the device configuration profile, but the change did not hit my device until I made the change to the device configuration profiles. In my case, compliance policy settings did not take precedence, it was the other way around. Can you explain?
Roy_Kang Compliance policies always take precedence over configuration profile settings. Changing the password requirements for the compliance policy only affects whether or not the device is marked as compliant, plus any additional actions you've defined in the policy.
Once the device is marked accordingly, refer to this link to see how it affects each platform:
If a device is marked as non-compliant...
For iOS/iPadOS it is remediated. The device operating system enforces compliance.
For Android it is quarantined. The device operating system doesn't enforce compliance.
Hope this helps.
I thought Compliance polices are used JUST to be used to determine if any devices assigned to the Compliance policy were compliant. That compliance level could them be used in Conditional Access policies. Configuration policies are used to ensure that devices are configured in a way that they would be in-line with Compliance polices thus being compliant (clear, low, medium or high risk).
Is this not true?
For example PW length in Compliance Policy says length of 12 when a user has a current PW of 6 could make the user a low risk
Thanks,
Ray
Thanks, this was helpful. I have a few more questions...
1) How do I create a compliance policy that the device MUST be Azure or Intune joined to be able to used the Desktop Apps?
2) In general, I think Compliance Policies vs Configuration Policies are confusing....so I plan on just using Compliance Policies with Conditional Access....so how do I make it so that they cannot access resources unless they are compliant?
Hi reditguy,
I think what you are looking for is a set of Conditional Access policies to ensure your devices are compliant before accessing your cloud services. There is a checkbox to grant access only for compliant devices. This way you can create a Conditional Access policy to protect your services and allow access only to devices marked as compliant.
The evaluation to be compliant is simple the device needs to be Azure AD joined and Intune enrolled (i would recommend MDM auto-enrollment). As soon as the device gets joined and enrolled it receives the compliance policy and evaluates its status, e.g. Require Password, enforce encryption, OS version etc. sends the result back and get the flag for compliant or not depending on the evaluation.
The configuration policies are mainly for configuration, for example to turn on or off certain features of Windows 10. As an example: Turn of camera or Cortana or configure a start menu.
best,
Oliver
Thank you....that is how I have it set in CA. So to confirm....if a user tries to for example setup an outlook profile or OneDrive on their office PC or BYOD/home PC....CA will tell that they cannot do it because their PCs are not compliant, and by default (because I see no specific setting for this), they cannot comply with the policy until the PC is joined to Azure AD and/or Intune? Is this by default or a specific setting somewhere?
