SDM Software's Free Tool Bridges Group Policy Gap for Intune Migration

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. – May 27, 2026 – SDM Software, a firm specializing in configuration management, today released a free utility aimed at solving a long-standing challenge for IT professionals moving to cloud-based endpoint management. The new tool, GPP-to-Intune Bridge, converts legacy Group Policy Preferences (GPP) into PowerShell scripts that can be deployed through Microsoft Intune, effectively preserving years of configuration work that previously had no direct migration path.

This release addresses a critical gap in Microsoft's own endpoint management suite. As organizations increasingly adopt Intune for modern, cloud-native device management, they have discovered that the platform offers no one-to-one replacement for the granular settings configured through Group Policy Preferences. This has forced IT teams into time-consuming manual workarounds, scripting, or abandoning complex configurations altogether. SDM Software's tool promises to eliminate this burden, providing a direct bridge from on-premises policy to cloud-based deployment.

The Modernization Hurdle for IT Admins

For years, IT administrators navigating the transition to cloud-based device management have faced a significant roadblock. While Microsoft Intune provides robust capabilities for deploying security policies and application settings, it was not designed to be a direct successor to all aspects of traditional Group Policy. The most notable gap has been its handling of Group Policy Preferences.

Group Policy Preferences have been a cornerstone of Windows management for over a decade, allowing admins to declaratively configure a vast range of settings, including mapped network drives, scheduled tasks, registry modifications, local users and groups, and printer connections. These settings are often highly customized and crucial for user productivity and system functionality. However, the client-side extensions (CSEs) that process GPPs on domain-joined machines do not exist in the cloud-native architecture of Intune.

This gap has left organizations with a difficult choice: either maintain a hybrid infrastructure indefinitely to preserve these settings, or embark on a painstaking manual migration. The latter typically involves dissecting existing Group Policy Objects (GPOs), identifying critical GPP settings, and attempting to recreate their logic using custom PowerShell scripts. This process is not only resource-intensive but also requires significant scripting expertise and is prone to human error. Furthermore, one of GPP's most powerful features, Item-level Targeting (ILT), which allows a single policy to apply different settings based on granular criteria like user group, IP address range, or operating system, is notoriously difficult to replicate in Intune without complex, custom-coded logic.

Existing community-driven scripts and parsers have attempted to address this issue, but they often come with significant limitations, failing to support the full breadth of GPP settings or struggling to translate the complex logic of Item-level Targeting. This has left a clear and persistent demand in the IT community for a more comprehensive and reliable solution.

Bridging the Gap: How the New Tool Works

Enter GPP-to-Intune Bridge, the new free utility from the configuration experts at SDM Software. The tool is designed to directly tackle the GPP migration problem by automating the conversion process. Administrators can point the utility at their existing GPOs, and it will parse the embedded Group Policy Preferences, converting them into ready-to-use PowerShell scripts. These scripts can then be deployed to Intune-managed devices as standard platform or remediation scripts.

According to the company, the key differentiator for GPP-to-Intune Bridge is its comprehensive support. Unlike many existing community tools, SDM Software claims its utility supports the full scope of GPP settings. Most importantly, it can interpret and convert configurations that rely on Item-level Targeting, embedding the conditional logic directly into the output PowerShell script. This ensures that the nuanced and context-aware policies that organizations have spent years refining can be preserved as they transition to a modern management framework.

"We recognize that many organizations have years of configuration logic embedded in Group Policy Preferences," said Kevin Sullivan, Principal Consultant for SDM Software, in the official announcement. "The SDM team released GPP-to-Intune Bridge to provide IT professionals with a reliable way to extend those configurations into Intune without requiring a complete redesign of their configuration management strategy."

By generating PowerShell scripts, the tool provides a flexible output that integrates seamlessly into Intune's existing framework. This approach empowers administrators to not only migrate their settings but also to review, modify, and manage them using a language and deployment method they are already familiar with, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for a complete GPP migration.

A Strategic Play in the Hybrid Cloud Market

While the GPP-to-Intune Bridge is offered at no cost, its release is a calculated move in the competitive landscape of endpoint management. By providing a high-value solution to a widespread problem, SDM Software reinforces its brand as 'The Configuration Experts' and builds significant goodwill within the IT professional community. This strategy positions the company as an essential partner in the digital transformation journey.

The free tool serves as a powerful entry point into the company's broader ecosystem of products. IT teams who successfully use the bridge to overcome their initial migration hurdles may soon face the next challenge: ongoing management, auditing, and change control for their newly scripted configurations across a hybrid environment. This creates a natural pathway for SDM Software to introduce its flagship commercial product, 'Change Manager for Group Policy/Intune'.

This 'freemium' model is a common and effective strategy in enterprise software. The free tool solves an immediate, acute problem (migration), while the paid product addresses the long-term, strategic need for governance and control. 'Change Manager' is designed to provide a single pane of glass for managing configurations across both traditional Group Policy and modern Intune policies, offering features like version control, rollback capabilities, detailed auditing, and delegated administration that are essential for enterprise-grade compliance and stability.

By solving a problem that Microsoft has not natively addressed, SDM Software not only differentiates itself from competitors but also strengthens its position within the Microsoft ecosystem as a key enabler of cloud adoption.

The Evolving Landscape of Endpoint Management

The emergence of specialized tools like the GPP-to-Intune Bridge highlights a broader trend in enterprise IT. As major platform vendors like Microsoft push the industry towards cloud-native solutions, they inevitably create gaps and complexities during the transition from legacy systems. This creates a fertile ground for third-party vendors to develop solutions that smooth over these rough edges, thereby accelerating cloud adoption.

Microsoft's strategy has been to promote Intune as the future of endpoint management while providing co-management capabilities for a gradual transition. However, the official guidance for migrating complex GPPs has largely been to 're-imagine' them using modern methods or to leverage PowerShell. This hands-off approach acknowledges the complexity of the task and implicitly creates an opportunity for partners with deep expertise in both old and new paradigms.

Tools that automate and de-risk these migrations are becoming essential for organizations that cannot afford the downtime or operational cost of a full manual overhaul. By preserving the intricate logic built into legacy systems, they allow businesses to leverage the benefits of modern management—such as zero-trust security and remote device administration—without sacrificing the stability and functionality their users depend on. As hybrid environments remain the norm for the foreseeable future, such bridge technologies will continue to play a crucial role in enabling a cohesive and manageable IT infrastructure.