SCCM Configmgr Technical Preview update 1704 available

Microsoft released April update 1704  for SCCM Configmgr Technical preview with some new features and improvements to the existing features that are reported through user voice  .

These technical preview updates will help you to test in lab environment and report feedback to Microsoft before they make into current Branch (Production Version). You can install this version to update and add new capabilities to your existing Configuration Manager technical preview site.

To see these preview updates in your Configmgr console,you must have the base version of SCCM Configmgr Technical preview 1703 (not applicable to current branch).These Technical Preview updates are intended for use in a lab environment.  For more information about technical preview and updates, please refer https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/get-started/technical-preview

New features you can try out with this version are:

• • Configure Android apps with app configuration policies

  • Hardware inventory collects Secure Boot information

  • Add child task sequences to a task sequence

  • Reload boot images with current Windows PE version

  • Improvements to operating system deployment

For more information about these features ,read the documentation here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/get-started/capabilities-in-technical-preview-1704

If you do not have lab environment to play around with Configmgr technical preview features ,download the baseline version of technical preview 1703 from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-system-center-configuration-manager-and-endpoint-protection-technical-preview and install.

To install the technical preview in your lab ,you can use Johan hydration kit to save time. Follow Johan blog post here http://deploymentresearch.com/Research/Post/580/Hydration-Kit-For-Windows-Server-2016-and-ConfigMgr-Current-Technical-Preview-Branch

To download and install this preview update 1703 ,launch the console ,go to administration node overview –> updates and serving ,click on check for updates ,wait for the sync to happen.

Monitor dmpdownloader.log for downloading the content.

If the state is stuck at downloading for longer time, restart SMS executive service on SCCM server ,wait for a while ,check the log and console for status.

verify download folder location and its content from SCCM Installation directory\EasySetupPayload\0aff9384-6a8d-4dc5-a8bf-4e9afd2d51f1 .Total size of this update will be 1.3GB .

Once the state is changed to ‘Ready to Install’ ,click on Install update pack.

Click next ,next ,next to see summary page

Click next

State is now changed to Installing from available in updates and servicing .

Monitor the installation status of the update from cmupdate.log  from your Configmgr logs folder ,you can also check status via console from Monitor—>updates and servicing status

After a while check the status ,Close the SCCM console and re-open it to install new console version.

This update 1702 has new feature that download latest ConfigMgr updates only which means , If two or more ConfigMgr updates apply, only the latest update is downloaded. For example, if your current ConfigMgr version is 2 or more versions older than the Current Branch version, only the most recent version downloads. A new clean-up function now deletes unneeded downloads from the EasySetupPayload folder. A new warning appears when you try to install an update that has been replaced by a newer one. The warning does not block other updates and you can override this warning.

After the update is installed ,evaluation time will reset to 90 days.

Technical preview update 1702 has following versions for:

Console Version: 5.0.8514.1000

Site Version: 5.0.8514.1000

Client Version:5.00.8514.1000