Now Available: Update 1610 for System Center Configuration Manager

[Yvette O'Meally]

First published on CLOUDBLOGS on Nov 18, 2016
Happy Friday! We are delighted to announce that we have released version 1610 for the Current Branch (CB) of System Center Configuration Manager that includes some great new features and product enhancements.

We continue to see a strong adoption of the Current Branch model by our customers. There are now more than 25,000 organizations managing more than 50 million devices with Configuration Manager version 1511 or later. Even though this is a significant milestone, we expect many more customers to upgrade to the Current Branch of Configuration Manager in the coming months, so the quality of the product continues to be a top priority for us.

Thanks to our active Technical Preview Branch community, the 1610 update includes feedback and usage data we have gathered from customers who have installed and road tested our monthly technical previews over the last few months. As always, 1610 has also been tested at scale — by real customers, in real production environments. As of today, nearly 1 million  devices are being managed by the version 1610 of Configuration Manager.

1610 includes lots of new features and enhancements in Windows 10 and Office 365 management, application management, end user experience, client management and also includes new functionality for customers using Configuration Manager in hybrid mode with Microsoft Intune . Here are just few of the enhancements that are available in this update:

• Windows 10 Upgrade Analytics integration allows you to assess and analyze device readiness and compatibility with Windows 10 to allow smoother upgrades.


• Office 365 Servicing Dashboard and app deployment to clients features help you to deploy Office 365 apps to clients as well as track Office 365 usage and update deployments.


• Software Updates Compliance Dashboard allows you to view the current compliance status of devices in your organization and quickly analyze the data to see which devices are at risk.


• Cloud Management Gateway provides a simpler way to manage Configuration Manager clients on the Internet. You can use the ConfigMgr console to deploy the service in Microsoft Azure and configure the supported roles to allow cloud management gateway traffic.


• Client Peer Cache is a new built-in solution in Configuration Manager that allows clients to share content with other clients directly from their local cache with monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.


• Enhancements in Software Center including customizable branding in more dialogs, notifications of new software, improvements to the notification experience for high-impact task sequence deployments, and ability for users to request applications and view request history directly in Software Center.


• New remote control features including performance optimization for remote control sessions and keyboard translation.

This release also includes new features for customers using Configuration Manager connected with Microsoft Intune. Some of the new feature include:

• New configuration item settings and improvements now only show settings that apply to the selected platform. We also added lots of new settings for Android (23), iOS (4), Mac (4), Windows 10 desktop and mobile (37), Windows 10 Team (7), Windows 8.1 (11), and Windows Phone 8.1 (3).


• Lookout integration allows to check device’s compliance status based on its compliance with Lookout rules.


• Request a sync from the admin console improvement allows you to request a policy sync on an enrolled mobile device from the Configuration Manager console.


• Support for paid apps in Windows Store for Business allows you to add and deploy online-licensed paid apps in addition to the free apps in Windows Store for Business.

For more details and to view the full list of new features in this update check out our What’s new in version 1610 of System Center Configuration Manager documentation.

Updated 12/9/2016 Note: The update is now globally available to all customers. The script to enable the first wave is no longer necessary. If you ran the Prerequisite Check before 12/10/2016, but didn’t initiate the installation, you may need to re-run the Prerequisite check again before installation.

For assistance with the upgrade process please post your questions in the Site and Client Deployment forum . To provide feedback or report any issues with the functionality included in this release, please use Connect .  If there’s a new feature or enhancement you want us to consider including in future updates, please use the Configuration Manager UserVoice site .

Thank you,

The System Center Configuration Manager team



Additional resources:

• What’s New in System Center Configuration Manager


• Get Ready for System Center Configuration Manager


• Start Using System Center Configuration Manager


• Upgrade to System Center Configuration Manager


• Documentation for System Center Configuration Manager


• System Center Configuration Manager Forums


• System Center Configuration Manager Support


• Report an issue


• Provide suggestions