System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview 1712 now available !

Posted on December 17, 2017 by ncbrady

Introduction

Microsoft have released the latest Technical Preview release of System Center Configuration Manager namely System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview 1712.

There are two main versions (of Configuration Manager) available:

  •     System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch)
  •     System Center Configuration Manager (Technical Preview)

System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch) is designed for use in production, for managing anything from small to very large Enterprises whereas System Center Configuration Manager (Technical Preview) is for lab environments only and is limited to 10 clients. The Technical Preview releases are released monthly, and contain the latest and greatest features being trialed in the product, and usually these new features are the result of feedback from uservoice.

Current Branch releases on the other hand are released only a few times per year and contain stable, tested features that are mature enough to release into production environments.

System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview 1712 is now available. This release offers the following new features:

  • Surface Device dashboard improvements – The Surface dashboard now displays firmware version for Surface devices rather than operating system version.
  • Improvements to Office 365 client management dashboard – The Office 365 client management dashboard now displays a list of relevant devices when graph sections are selected.
  • Install multiple applications in Software Center – Click the multi-select icon on the Applications tab in Software Center. In this mode, select multiple applications and then install all together using the Install Selected button.
  • Client-based PXE – Configure clients to respond to PXE requests without adding the distribution point role.

This release also includes the following improvements based on your feedback from UserVoice:

  • Renamed collections display in existing collection membership rules – When a collection is a member of another collection and it is renamed, the new name is updated under membership rules.
  • Allow user interaction when installing applications as system – Now users can interact with an application installation user interface in system context even during a task sequence.
  • Do not automatically upgrade superseded applications – In this release you have the option to configure an application deployment to not automatically upgrade any superseded version.
  • Device list displays primary user – Device lists under Assets and Compliance, Devices, now display the primary user by default. The last logged on user can also be added as an optional column.

Upgrading to Technical Preview 1712

Normally I’d guide you through the upgrade process using screenshots and text, but for this release I recorded a video of the entire upgrade process from start to finish and it’s available for you to watch on youtube.com here.

 

Recommended reading

 

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