This blog post is a complete revised Step-by-step SCCM Installation Guide. It covers every aspect of the SCCM Installation. From the server prerequisites to the SQL installation, the Sccm installation itself and all configuration and site server installation. Following this guide, you should have a functional SCCM server in a couple of hours. We already did a guide in the past when SCCM 1511 was released but it’s was time for a 2020 refresh. Since our first guide, more than 12 SCCM version has been released… and the product even changed its name to Microsoft Endpoint Manager. (MEM or MEMCM). SCCM installation has never been an easy process and the product itself can be complex for inexperienced administrators. With this blog post, our goal is to bring it a bit further, explaining concepts and best practices rather than just guide the user through the installation process. If you’re not familiar with SCCM Current … Read More
Step-by-Step SCCM 1610 Upgrade Guide
The third upgrade for SCCM Current Branch is now available. This post is a complete step-by-step SCCM 1610 upgrade guide. If you’re looking for a complete SCCM installation guide, see our blog series which covers it all. You can’t install this upgrade if you are running SCCM 2012. You need to be at least at SCCM 1511. Installing SCCM upgrades is very important to your infrastructure. It adds new feature and fixes lots of issues, which some of them are important. New Update and Servicing Model If you’re not familiar with the new SCCM servicing model, read our New Update and Servicing section of the 1602 upgrade post which explain it all. Similar to SCCM 1606, if you need to make a new SCCM installation, you can’t install SCCM 1610 directly. You need to install SCCM 1511 (or 1606) first and then apply SCCM 1610 from the console. SCCM 1606 is the baseline version if you’re … Read More
Manage Windows 10 Upgrades using SCCM (Windows as a Service)
Windows as a service provides a new way to think about building, deploying, and servicing the Windows operating system. Microsoft will releases new builds two to three times per year rather than the traditional upgrade cycle. Instead of doing traditional Windows deployment projects, you will need a continuous updating process which will reduce the overall effort required to maintain Windows 10 devices in your environment. SCCM Windows 10 Upgrades Summary This post will look at the available tools in SCCM to manage and deploy Windows 10 upgrades. We have broken down the post in 4 different sections : Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard What’s missing in the Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard Windows 10 reports Windows 10 Collections SCCM Windows 10 Servicing Dashboard The Windows 10 servicing dashboard provides information about Windows 10 computers in your environment, active servicing plans, compliance information, and so on. Let’s get a look at the different dashboard tiles: Windows 10 Usage tile … Read More
Upgrade Windows 10 using SCCM Servicing Plans
With the introduction of new Windows 10 service branches, you will need to upgrade your Windows 10 devices at a much faster pace. Hopefully, SCCM Current Branch (1511 and higher) has built-in features to help you fulfill this task. You can choose between Upgrade Task Sequence or the new Windows Servicing feature. This post will describe how to use SCCM Windows 10 servicing plans to upgrade Windows 10 devices. If you are running SCCM 1511 we recommend using the Upgrade Task Sequence over servicing plans. SCCM 1511 has an issue that makes all Windows 10 languages and editions to be downloaded to the device when the ADR runs. This is fixed in SCCM 1602, using a new filter you can exclude unwanted languages and editions. If you are running SCCM 1602 or later, it’s really a matter of preference of which process to use. Each one has their own advantages, the … Read More
Step-by-Step SCCM 1606 Upgrade Guide
The second upgrade for SCCM Current Branch (1511) is now available. This post is a complete step-by-step SCCM 1606 upgrade guide. If you’re looking for a complete SCCM 1511 installation guide, see our blog series which covers it all. You can’t install this upgrade if you are running SCCM 2012. You need to be at least at SCCM 1511. Installing SCCM upgrades is very important to your infrastructure. It adds new feature and fixes lots of issues, which some of them are important. New Update and Servicing model If you’re not familiar with the new SCCM servicing model, read our New Update and Servicing section of the 1602 upgrade post which explain it all. Similar to SCCM 1602, if you need to make a new SCCM installation, you can’t install SCCM 1606 directly. You need to install SCCM 1511 first and then apply SCCM 1606 from the console. SCCM 1511 is still the baseline version if you’re starting from … Read More
SCCM Windows 10 Customization using Task Sequences
In this post we will describe how to customize your windows 10 image to personalize it to your company. There’s an infinite amount of customization that can be made but i’ll try to cover the more frequent one, those that are asked 95% of every Windows 10 projects I was involved in. You could also do all those modifications through group policies if you want to enforce those settings. SCCM Windows 10 Customization Package Before we begin any customization, we will create a Windows 10 Customization package that we will use in our task sequence. It will be empty to start but we will create the folders and scripts during this blog post. Open the SCCM Console Go to Software Library / Application Management / Packages Create a new package On the Package tab, enter a Name, Description, Manufacturer and Source folder (this is where all scripts will be stored) On the Program Type … Read More
Windows 10 Deployment | SCCM Task Sequence Upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10
In the fourth post of this blog series about Windows 10 Deployment using SCCM, we will show you how to upgrade a Windows 7 to Windows computer 10 using SCCM task sequence upgrade. The goal of an upgrade task sequence is to upgrade an existing operating system to Windows 10 without loosing any data and installed software. This post assumes that you are running SCCM 1511 or SCCM 1602 and that you completed the preparation of your environment for Windows 10. If you are running SCCM 2012 R2 SP1, the product team has release important information about SCCM task sequence upgrade that you can find in this blog post. In the past, an in-place upgrade scenario was not a reliable and popular option to deploy the latest version of Windows. With Windows 10, it’s now reliable and features an automatic rollback in case something goes wrong. This scenario can also be considered faster than the wipe and reload deployment scenarios, since … Read More
Windows 10 Deployment | Create SCCM Windows 10 Build and Capture Task Sequence
In the third post of this blog series about Windows 10 Deployment using SCCM, we will show you how to create a SCCM Windows 10 Build and Capture Task Sequence and deploy it. Complete the preparation of your environment before reading this post. You will be able to edit this task sequence later to customize it to your environment. The goal of a build and capture task sequence is to capture a reference machine OS in order to redeploy its configuration multiple time. As a best practice, we recommend not to add too much software and customization to your reference image. Rather, use the task sequence steps to customize your deployment which decrease management operation tasks in the long run. For example, if you want to include Adobe Reader to your reference image because all your users need it, do not install it on your reference machine and do your capture. Instead, … Read More
Step-by-Step SCCM 1602 Upgrade Guide
The first upgrade for SCCM Current Branch (1511) is now available. This post is a complete step-by-step SCCM 1602 upgrade guide. If you’re looking for a complete SCCM 1511 installation guide, see our blog series which covers it all. Installing SCCM upgrades is very important to your infrastructure. It adds new feature and fixes lots of issues, which some of them are important. New Update and Servicing Since SCCM 1511, Microsoft now release update pack differently than services packs and cumulative updates. Downloading and updating is made directly from the console. If you need to make a new SCCM installation, you can’t install SCCM 1602 directly. You need to install SCCM 1511 first and then apply SCCM 1602 from the console. SCCM 1511 is still the baseline version if you’re starting from scratch. The update process seem quite easy but don’t get confused. Yes, it’s easy to apply, but these updates needs to be planned as … Read More
SCCM Windows 10 Deployment | Create SCCM Windows 10 Task Sequence
In the second post of this blog series about Windows 10 Deployment using SCCM, we will show you how to create a SCCM Windows 10 Task Sequence and deploy it. Complete the preparation of your environment before reading this post. This task sequence will help you deploy what we call a “vanilla” Windows 10 using the default Install.wim from the Windows 10 media. This means that you’ll end up with a basic Windows 10 with the SCCM client and nothing else. You will be able to edit this task sequence later to customize it to your environment. Create SCCM Windows 10 Task Sequence Open the SCCM Console Go to Software Library \ Operating Systems \ Task Sequences Right-click Task Sequences and select Create Task Sequence On the Task Sequence wizard, select Install an existing image package On the Task Sequence Information pane, enter the desired Name, Description and Boot Image On the Install … Read More