Use Windows Update native experience with Configuration Manager Technical Preview 2105.2

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Configuration Manager Blog articles.

Update 2105.2 for the Technical Preview Branch of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager has been released. When installing software updates from Configuration Manager, you can now choose to use the native Windows Update interface and restart experience. The client's Windows Update Settings page will display the updates like they appear when using Windows Update for scanning. Restarts from software updates will also behave as though you're using Windows Update.

 

screenshots of Windows native software update experiencescreenshots of Windows native software update experience

To use this feature, client devices must be running Windows Insider build 21277 or later. To enable the Windows Update native experience:

  1. From the Administration workspace, select Client Settings in Configuration Manager.
  2. Select the Computer Restart group in Client Settings
  3. For the Select the restart experience to be shows to end users setting, choose the Windows option.
  4. If needed, you can change the number of days the device is allowed to be pending a restart before it's forced using the following setting:  Specify a deadline, the time (in days) from when a device is pending reboot until the device is forced to restart.

For more information, see Windows Update native experience for software updates. 

 

This preview release also includes:

 

Send product feedback from error windows - Previously, if the Configuration Manager console reported an error in a separate window, you had to go back to the main console window to send feedback. In some cases, this action isn't possible with other console windows open.

 

Starting in this release, error messages include a link to Report error to Microsoft. This action opens the standard "send a frown" window to provide feedback. It automatically includes details about the user interface and the error to better help Microsoft engineers diagnose the error. Aside from making it easier to send a frown, it also lets you include the full context of the error message when you share a screenshot.

 

Custom properties for devices - Many customers have other data that's external to Configuration Manager but useful for deployment targeting, collection building, and reporting. This data is typically non-technical in nature, not discoverable on the client, and comes from a single external source. For example, a central IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) system or asset database, which has some of the following device attributes:

  • Physical location
  • Organizational priority
  • Category
  • Cost center
  • Department

Starting in this release, you can use the administration service to set this data on devices. You can then use the custom properties in Configuration Manager for reporting or to create collections.

 

Hardware inventory for client log settings - You can now inventory client log file settings such as log levels and size by enabling the new inventory class, Client Diagnostics (CCM_ClientDiagnostics). This behavior allows you to track settings that you change by the Client Diagnostics actions. This new inventory class isn't enabled by default.

 

Simplified CMPivot permissions requirements - We've simplified the CMPivot permissions requirements. The new permissions are applicable for CMPivot standalone and CMPivot in the on-premises console. The following changes have been made:

  • CMPivot no longer requires SMS Scripts read permission
    • The SMS Provider still requires this permission if the administration service falls back to it due to a 503 (Service Unavailable) error, as seen in the CMPivot.log.
  • The default scope permission isn’t required.

Hierarchy approved console extensions don't require signing - Starting in this technical preview, you can choose to allow unsigned hierarchy approved console extensions. You may need to allow unsigned console extensions due to an unsigned internally developed extension, or for testing your own custom extension in a lab.

 

Improvements to CMPivot - We've made the following improvements to CMPivot:

  • Added a Key value to the Registry entity
  • Added a new RegistryKey entity that returns all registry keys matching the given expression
  • Added maxif and minif aggregators that can be used with the summarize operator
  • Improvements to query autocomplete suggestions in the query editor

PowerShell release notes preview - These release notes summarize changes to the Configuration Manager PowerShell cmdlets in technical preview version 2105.2.

 

For more details and to view the full list of new features in this update, check out our Features in Configuration Manager technical preview version 2105.2 documentation. 

 

Update 2105.2 for Technical Preview Branch is available in the Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager Technical Preview console. For new installations, the 2103 baseline version of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch is available on the Microsoft Evaluation Center. Technical Preview Branch releases give you an opportunity to try out new Configuration Manager features in a test environment before they are made generally available.

 

We would love to hear your thoughts about the latest Technical Preview!  Send us feedback about product issues directly from the console and continue to share and vote on ideas about new features in Configuration Manager.

 

Thanks,

The Configuration Manager team

 

 

Configuration Manager Resources:

Documentation for Configuration Manager Technical Previews

Try the Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch

Documentation for Configuration Manager

Configuration Manager Forums

Configuration Manager Support

 

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