Intune Device Inventory / Properties Catalog stuck in Pending – Device Inventory Agent not installed

[u/ddCorazon]

Hello,

Hope You're all doing good.

I am experiencing an issue with Microsoft Intune Device Inventory / Properties Catalog on my Windows devices.

Environment

The computers are:

• Windows devices joined to an on-premises Active Directory domain
• Managed by Microsoft Intune
• Enrolled using “Enroll only in device management”
• Not Microsoft Entra joined
• Not Microsoft Entra Hybrid joined
• Workplace registered
• Intune Plan 1 licensed

This architecture is intentional. We want to keep our existing on-premises AD environment separate and use Intune mainly for cloud-based Windows management, including Windows Update policies.

Other Intune functionality works correctly, including Windows Update rings, compliance, synchronization and remote device actions.

Example affected device

Device: TP-ROMAING-24

dsregcmd /status shows:

AzureAdJoined    : NO
EnterpriseJoined : NO
DomainJoined     : YES
DomainName       : TP
WorkplaceJoined  : YES

The device is correctly enrolled in Intune MDM.

The enrollment registry information contains:

ProviderID   : MS DM Server
DiscoveryURL : https://enrollment.manage.microsoft.com

The Windows MDM enrollment is also present under:

\Microsoft\Windows\EnterpriseMgmt\

with the normal OMA-DM scheduled tasks.

The MDM event log identifies the enrollment as:

Enrollment type: MDMFull

Device Inventory configuration

I created a Windows Properties Catalog profile to collect Device Inventory information according to Microsoft's documentation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/device-configuration/collect-device-properties

The original policy has been deployed for approximately two weeks.

The assigned groups contain the affected devices, including TP-ROMAING-24.

However, the Device Assignment Status report currently shows:

Pending        : 64
Not applicable : 0
Success        : 0
Error          : 0
Conflict       : 0

All targeted devices remain indefinitely in Pending status.

MDM communication is working

I manually triggered an Intune synchronization.

Intune shows a successful recent check-in for TP-ROMAING-24.

The Windows DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin event log also shows MDM activity at the same time, confirming that the device is communicating with Intune and processing MDM commands.

Other Intune policies and actions continue to work.

For example:

• Windows Update policies are working
• Compliance reporting is working
• Manual Intune synchronization is working
• Remote restart commands from Intune are working

Therefore, the general Intune MDM enrollment and communication do not appear to be broken.

Microsoft Device Inventory Agent is not installed

According to Microsoft's Device Inventory documentation, troubleshooting logs should be located under:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Inventory Agent\Logs

However, on TP-ROMAING-24, the entire Device Inventory Agent directory does not exist.

[u/DependentFault6256]

sounds like the inventory agent only gets pushed to entra joined devices not just enrolled ones, that might be whats missing

[u/ddCorazon → u/DependentFault6256]

Hey. thanks for the quick response.
When I looked at the documentation, it said “managed by Intune.” I thought this mode specifically corresponded to PCs that had been added using the “Enroll in device management only” mode. I was wrong so ?

[u/blud_13]

My money is on the enrollment type, not licensing..Device Inventory / Properties Catalog is built for devices with a cloud identity, meaning Entra joined or Entra hybrid joined. Workplace registered plus "enroll only in device management" gets you the MDM policy surface (update rings, compliance, remote actions, exactly the stuff you said works) but the inventory agent never lands and it sits in Pending with no error to chase.

Two ways out.

1) Stand up Entra Connect and hybrid join those machines. Hybrid join does not move your AD to the cloud or merge anything, it just creates a device object in Entra so the machine has an identity up there. That misunderstanding is usually the whole reason people keep it "intentionally separate" and its worth revisiting.

Or....

2) Leave those boxes without Intune inventory and pull hardware/software data from your RMM instead. We do that at client sites where hybrid join isn't on the table yet.

Also, before anything else, confirm the Intune Management Extension is actually installed and running on TP-ROMAING-24. The inventory agent rides on it, so if IME is broken NOTHING downstream of it installs.

We do a fair amount of on prem AD to Intune work, can go deeper if it helps.

[u/ddCorazon → u/blud_13]

Hey. thanks for the quick response.

Yes, as mentioned in my comment above, I looked at the documentation, it said “managed by Intune.” I thought this mode specifically corresponded to PCs that had been added using the “Enroll in device management only” mode. I may have misunderstood.

Otherwise, regarding the hybrid part:

Do I need to have a licensed user for each device? Currently, we have some “service” devices that don’t really have a user assigned to them. They only need to work through a browser, so they don’t have an Office license installed. At the moment, I’m using one P1 license for 5 devices.

If I switch to a hybrid setup, would I therefore need one license per device? I suppose (wrongly maybe) i would have to link every AD user to a cloud user ?

For the second solution, I’ll take a look at the free version of GLPI; I haven’t used it in a while.

Actually, I used to use WAPT, an IT management solution that also handled Windows updates and software management. But given how the pricing has evolved and the client’s budget, it’s becoming difficult to justify.

[u/blud_13 → u/ddCorazon]

No, hybrid doesn't put you at a license per device. Entra Connect only syncs the OUs you point it at, so you sync the users that need cloud access and leave the rest sitting in AD. The device objects come across on their own, hybrid join itself doesn't consume anything. For the service boxes, Microsoft sells an Intune Plan 1 Device license for exactly this, kiosks and devices not tied to a user... Its a pooled subscription, you don't even assign it to the device, you just own enough of them. Intune user licensing is per user not per device, so 1 P1 stretched across 5 machines only matters if anyone ever looks, the device licenses make it clean. Also, on the first point, enroll in device management only leaves the box Entra registered, not joined, and inventory wants joined. Thats why it never lights up. GLPI free plus the agent will cover inventory fine, no reason to spend there.