SCCM collection tied to AD group will not auto-populate

Based on the documented behavior, the issue is almost always that the AD group discovery data for the devices isn’t being updated frequently enough, or the discovery configuration isn’t optimal for group‑based collections.

Key points and checks:

1. Verify AD Group Discovery is correctly scoped
   • In Administration → Hierarchy Configuration → Discovery Methods → Active Directory Group Discovery → Properties → General, confirm that:
     • The specific group used in the collection query is explicitly included in the Groups scope, or
     • The Location scope includes the OU/container where that group resides, with recursive search if needed.
   • If the group isn’t in scope, it will only be discovered when a manual full discovery is run.
2. Run AD System/User Discovery first
   • Best practice is to run Active Directory System Discovery and Active Directory User Discovery before Active Directory Group Discovery.
   • If devices/users are not already discovered by these methods, Group Discovery has to do basic discovery for each member, which is less efficient and can delay or prevent timely updates.
   • Confirm that System Discovery is enabled, scoped to the OUs where the devices live, and running on a reasonable schedule.
3. Use delta (incremental) discovery instead of frequent full discovery
   • Delta discovery for AD Group/System/User Discovery runs on a short cycle (default 5 minutes) and is designed to pick up:
     • New computers or users added to AD
     • Changes to group membership (added/removed)
   • Ensure on Polling Schedule for AD Group Discovery that:
     • Delta discovery is enabled.
     • Full discovery is not scheduled excessively often (weekly or less is recommended).
   • If only full discovery is effectively being used (for example, delta disabled or failing), the collection will only update after those full runs.
4. Check for over‑broad or heavy group scopes
   • AD Group Discovery recursively discovers each member and nested group in the configured scopes. Large groups or too many groups can cause long runtimes and delays.
   • Best practice is to only specify the groups actually used with Configuration Manager. If the configured scope is very large, reduce it to just the required group(s) and monitor behavior.
5. Confirm stale‑record filters are not excluding devices
   • On the Options tab for AD Group Discovery and AD System Discovery, check:
     • Only discover computers that have logged on to a domain in a given period of time
     • Only discover computers that have updated their computer account password in a given period of time
   • If these are set too aggressively, devices may be excluded from discovery and never appear in the collection, even though they are in the AD group.
6. Validate discovery is actually running and processing
   • Review adsgdis.log on the site server to confirm:
     • The group is being discovered on the expected schedule.
     • Membership changes are being detected during delta discovery.
   • Also confirm that adsysdis.log shows successful discovery of the devices themselves.
7. Ensure collection evaluation is configured correctly
   • For the collection:
     • Incremental updates should be enabled.
     • Limiting collection should contain the discovered systems (for example, a collection based on All Systems that is actually populated).
   • If the limiting collection does not contain the discovered resources, the query will never return them.

If AD System/User Discovery is enabled and healthy, the AD group is explicitly in the Group Discovery scope, delta discovery is running, and stale‑record filters are not excluding the devices, then group membership changes should be detected within a few minutes and the collection should auto‑populate via incremental evaluation without needing manual full discovery.

References:

• About discovery methods for Configuration Manager
• Select discovery methods to use for Configuration Manager
• Configure discovery methods for Configuration Manager
• Management insights in Configuration Manager