Update 1609 for System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview

Today Microsoft has released update 1609 for System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview. Technical Preview releases give an opportunity to try out new Configuration Manager features in a test environment before they are made generally available. This month’s new preview features include:

• Windows 10 Upgrade Analytics – Assess and analyze device readiness and compatibility with Windows 10 to allow smoother upgrades.  This is done through integration with Windows Upgrade Analytics.
• Office 365 Client Management Dashboard – Use the Office 365 client management dashboard to track Office 365 updates and deployments.
• Deploy Office 365 apps to clients – We have added a new Office 365 Servicing node in the Software Library where you can deploy Office 365 apps to clients.
• Improvements for BIOS to UEFI conversion – An OS deployment task sequence can now be customized with a new variable, TSUEFIDrive, so that the Restart Computer step will prepare the drive for transition to UEFI. See the documentation for additional details on the necessary customizations.
• Improvement to Endpoint Protection antimalware policy settings – You can now specify the level at which the Endpoint Protection Cloud Protection Service will block suspicious files.
• Boundary Group Improvements – Improvements have been made to boundary groups to allow more granular control of fallback behavior, and greater clarity of what distribution points are used.

This release also includes the following new features for customers using System Center Configuration Manager connected with Microsoft Intune to manage mobile devices:

• TouchID, ApplePay and Zoom DEP Settings – DEP provides the ability for admins to create enrollment profiles to skip initial setup screens for new iOS devices. TouchID, ApplePay and Zoom have now been added as options to configure in the iOS enrollment profiles.
• Windows Store for Business – Windows Store for Business allows customers to obtain applications (purchased or free) and deploy them to users in their organization.
• Android, iOS, and Windows Additional Settings – New settings have been added for Android, iOS, and Windows.
• Native Connection Types for Windows 10 VPN Profiles– You can now create Windows 10 VPN profiles with Microsoft Automatic, IKEv2, and PPTP connection types in the Configuration Manager console without using OMA-URI.
• Intune Compliance Charts – Admins can get a quick view of overall device compliance, and top reasons for non-compliance using new charts under the Monitoring.

Update 1609 for Technical Preview is available in the Configuration Manager console. To install Configuration Manager Technical Preview for the first time, the installation bits (currently based on Technical Preview 1603) areavailable on TechNet Evaluation Center.

Source: Enterprise Mobility and Security Blog
Detailed overview of new features: Microsoft TechNet

Restore SCCM Report

Recently I had lot of questions how to restore the SCCM reports which are accidently deleted by SCCM users.

first option comes in my mind that is simply restore the DB will work, but again I have thought and the following trick works.

Navigate to registry - HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\SMS\SRSRP\ change the SRSInitializeState  key to 0 and monitor the srsrp.log file. It will re-import the standard reports along with the custom security settings.

and now issue is gone and all the default reports are appeared again in SCCM.

Configuration Manager and Windows ADK for Windows 10, version 1607

If you are using Configuration Manager and you are planning to deploy Windows 10, version 1607, This page explains the support matrix for Configuration Manager versions and Windows 10 versions. 

The Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10, version 1607, is available on the Microsoft Hardware Dev Center (adksetup.exe file version 10.1.14393.0).

The newer ADK is only needed if deploying Windows 10, version 1607

MS have limited support for Windows 10, version 1607, in Configuration Manager version 1602. Users who are still on this version of Configuration Manager and will be deploying the newer version of Windows 10 can upgrade the ADK to the latest version if desired, or remain with the prior version, Windows ADK for Windows 10, version 1511. Beyond that, MS do not support deployment of Windows 10, version 1607, with older versions of Configuration Manager. So the need for this new version of the Windows ADK does not apply.

	Windows 10 ADK Version
ConfigMgr Version		1507	1511	1607
	1511	Supported	Supported
	1602	Supported	Supported 1	Supported 2
	1606		Supported 1	Supported

1 The Windows ADK for Windows 10, version 1511, provides basic forward compatibility and can be used for image capture, image apply, driver injection, and offline update servicing of Windows 10, version 1607, if absolutely necessary. We strongly recommend upgrading to the latest ADK version, but basic forward compatibility is supported during the transition period.

2  The newer ADK is only needed if deploying Windows 10, version 1607.

Microsoft Intune provides support for iOS 10

Earlier Apple announced the availability of iOS 10 (with public release scheduled for 9/13/2016). Since the initial beta bits were first released, Microsoft have been busy working to ensure that all existing MDM and MAM scenarios are compatible with the latest version of iOS and Mirosoft has announced that Microsoft Intune will support iOS 10. All existing Intune features currently available for managing iOS devices will continue to work seamlessly as users upgrade their devices and apps to iOS 10. In addition, iOS 10 will also work with customers managing in hybrid with both Intune and Configuration Manager.

Goodbye Patch Tuesday

Patch Tuesday is soon to be a thing of the past. Beginning in October, Microsoft will deploy fixes for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 with a single cumulative monthly patch. This is designed help reduce fragmentation across your company’s PCs. The new system is right in the line with how updates are currently deployed for Windows 10.

From October 2016 onwards, Windows will release a single Monthly Rollup that addresses both security issues and reliability issues in a single update. The Monthly Rollup will be published to Windows Update (WU), WSUS, SCCM, and the Microsoft Update Catalog. Each month’s rollup will supersede the previous month’s rollup, so there will always be only one update required for your Windows PCs to get current. i.e. a Monthly Rollup in October 2016 will include all updates for October, while November 2016 will include October and November updates, and so on. Devices that have this rollup installed from Windows Update or WSUS will utilize express packages, keeping the monthly download size small.

Windows will proactively add patches to the Monthly Rollup that have been released in the past. Microsoft's goal is eventually to include all of the patches we have shipped in the past since the last baseline, so that the Monthly Rollup becomes fully cumulative and you need only to install the latest single rollup to be up to date. We encourage you to move to the Monthly Rollup model to improve reliability and quality of updating all versions of Windows.Microsoft is planning to add these previously shipped patches over the next year and will document each addition so IT admins know which KBs have been included each month.

It’s a big departure from the current system, under which Microsoft sporadically releases individual patches for the older platforms. That has some advantages, allowing IT administrators to selectively deploy updates as needed, but it also comes with some serious drawbacks. Under the current system, individual PCs frequently wind up with different updates installed, which causes syncing problems, boosts scan times, and ups testing complexity. Even just pinpointing the right patches before applying them can be a pain.

Here’s how the new system will work. In October, up-to-date PCs running the older platforms will receive just a single package of security and stability fixes from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System Center Configurations Manager (SCCM) and the Microsoft Update Catalog. If you delay the update in October, you’ll be prompted to install it again in November, along with another single set of patches for that month, and so on. Each month’s update will include patches for all previously-uninstalled months, from October onwards.

older updates will begin to be included in the monthly patch rollouts, dating all the way back to Service Pack 1 for Windows 7. That means that — at some point — you’ll be able to get fully up to date with just a single installation, no matter the current state of your PC.

Microsoft is allowing one exception for its new all-in-one update system, affording the ability to download and deploy security patches separately from stability fixes. That will reduce the size of the initial update needed to secure your company’s PCs as quickly as possible. Those updates will be available from WSUS, SCCM and the Microsoft Update Catalog, not Windows Update.

Servicing Stack and Adobe Flash updates won’t be included in the rollups. Microsoft will move to the same monthly rollup model for the .NET Framework in October too.

for more about patch Tuesday see on Patch Tuesday

SCCM 1606 New features

If you’ve been installing SCCM Technical Preview in your lab, SCCM 1606 contain most features included in the latest technical previews.

Consult technical Articles for a full features list. 1606 also applies the latest KB/fixes to fix known bugs…. Including KB3155482 but not KB3174008 (which was release a week prior to 1606). If you had already installed KB3174008, 1606 will revert the fixes included in KB3174008. Microsoft recommendation is to skip this KB (unless you are really blocked by this), update to 1606 and wait for a new KB that will be available for 1606 soon. (Which will include KB3174008).

Here’s our list of favorite features

• Option for clients to switch to a new software update point
  • You can enable the option for Configuration Manager clients to switch to a new software update point when there are issues with the active software update point.
• Per-app VPN for Windows 10 devices
  • For Windows 10 devices managed using Configuration Manager with Intune, you can add a list of apps that automatically open a VPN connection that you have configured through the Configuration Manager admin console. You have the option of restricting VPN traffic to those apps, or you can continue to allow all traffic through the VPN connection.
• Customize the RamDisk TFTP block size and window size on PXE-enabled distribution points
  • You can customize the RamDisk TFTP block size and window size for PXE-enabled distribution points. If you have customized your network, it could cause the boot image download to fail with a time-out error because the block or window size is too large. The RamDisk TFTP block size and window size customization allow you to optimize TFTP traffic when using PXE to meet your specific network requirements
• Improvements to the Install software updates task sequence
  • A new task sequence variable, SMSTSSoftwareUpdateScanTimeout, is available to give you the ability to control the timeout on the software updates scan during the Install software updates task sequence step. The default value is 30 minutes.
  • There have been improvements to logging. The smsts.log log file will contain new log entries that reference other log files that will help you to troubleshoot issues during the software updates installation process.

Cireson ConfigMgr User Device Affinity app

The User Device Affinity app enables administrators, help desk staff, and other users to easily search, view, edit, and manage user to device relationships outside of the Configuration Manager Console.

With the User Device Affinity app, you can easily:

1. View existing user to device relationships
2. Associate new users to existing devices
3. Remove users from existing devices
4. Add new devices to existing users
5. Remove devices from existing users
6. Search and filter users and devices for management of UDA relationships
7. Launch Remote Manage in the context of a computer

Associating users to their primary devices (user device affinity) is a great feature of Configuration Manager. It allows you to easily deploy applications to a user’s primary device (often referred to as ‘user centric software delivery’). It also provides helpful information to your Help Desk so when a user calls in for support, they can have information on what computer they might be using. The problem with user device affinity is getting it configured, and configured correctly, in your environment. There are over a half dozen ways to associate users to computers – some automated, however most manual – which can lead to mistakes. The Cireson User Device Affinity app easily allows an administrator to view and manage the relationships between users and devices. This process is completed outside the Configuration Manager Console, which reduces complexity and confusion.

Thanks to Cireson, who made this fantastic tool.

for more detail and download the tool visit on cireson 

credit goes to Cireson.