Microsoft releases a new Tech Preview for ConfigMgr almost once a month. That means that we can really see where the system in going in almost real time. This post will cover some of the more interesting upcoming features. Note that the features discussed here may or may not be in the next CB release of ConfigMgr.
First, whether or not a machine is UEFI-enabled will be inventoried. This can be helpful in your Windows 7 to Windows 10 migrations as you move from legacy BIOS to UEFI.
Task Sequences and Content
A new tool will be available to help with cleaning up your content library. Sometimes, not all content is removed from the content library when deleting an application or package. This tool (called ContentLibraryCleanup.exe in TP 1701) will crawl your content library and remove any stale files.
Software update points will also begin obeying boundary group associations, just like management points and distribution points do now. This may be final nail in the coffin for secondary sites, which is very important.
There are several task sequence improvements in the pipeline. First, Microsoft has increased the number of applications that can be install in one “Install Applications” step. Next, you’ll have the option to expire standalone media and there’s more content support for standalone media.
Finally, you will have the ability to retry a task sequence if the wizard can’t find one (no deployments found) or if a dependency is not found.
Application Improvements
The big improvement here will be ability to stop an application from running if another executable is open. For example, if we need to install a new web plugin and Internet Explorer has to be closed for the installation to be successful. There will be an option in the deployment type settings to either not run the application installation, or close Internet Explorer.
Data Warehouse
Finally, ConfigMgr will be implementing a data warehouse feature to store older information, which should remove it from the ConfigMgr database. There aren’t a lot details about this feature yet, but I’m particularly excited about it, especially if it can improve system performance.
