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 scratch.

Update 2016/10/12

SCCM 1606 is now available as a new baseline media. You can use this new media to install a new site, or upgrade from System Center 2012 Configuration Manager with Service Pack 2 or System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager with Service Pack 1. See the Technet documentation for more information about the new media.

*If you are running SCCM 1511 or 1602, the latest updates will be replaced by SCCM 1606 in the SCCM Console after installation. If you are on SCCM 1511, you won’t be able to install 1602 after 1606, you can skip it and install SCCM 1606 directly which contains all 1602 features.

SCCM 1606 New features and fixes

If you’ve been installing SCCM Technical Preview in your lab, SCCM 1606 contain most features included in the latest Technical Previews (1603 and up).

Consult this Technet article for a full features list. 1606 also applies the latest KB/fixes to fix known bugs…. Including KB3155482 but not KB3174008 (which was release a week prior to 1606). If you had already installed KB3174008, 1606 will revert the fixes included in KB3174008. Microsoft recommendation is to skip this KB (unless you are really blocked by this), update to 1606 and wait for a new KB that will be available for 1606 soon. (Which will include KB3174008).

This is also the SCCM version that will bring support for the Windows 10 Anniversary update.

Here’s our list of favorite features :

  • Option for clients to switch to a new software update point
    • You can enable the option for Configuration Manager clients to switch to a new software update point when there are issues with the active software update point.
  • Per-app VPN for Windows 10 devices
    • For Windows 10 devices managed using Configuration Manager with Intune, you can add a list of apps that automatically open a VPN connection that you have configured through the Configuration Manager admin console. You have the option of restricting VPN traffic to those apps, or you can continue to allow all traffic through the VPN connection.
  • Customize the RamDisk TFTP block size and window size on PXE-enabled distribution points
    • You can customize the RamDisk TFTP block size and window size for PXE-enabled distribution points. If you have customized your network, it could cause the boot image download to fail with a time-out error because the block or window size is too large. The RamDisk TFTP block size and window size customization allow you to optimize TFTP traffic when using PXE to meet your specific network requirements
  • Improvements to the Install software updates task sequence
    • A new task sequence variable, SMSTSSoftwareUpdateScanTimeout, is available to give you the ability to control the timeout on the software updates scan during the Install software updates task sequence step. The default value is 30 minutes.
    • There have been improvements to logging. The smsts.log log file will contain new log entries that reference other log files that will help you to troubleshoot issues during the software updates installation process.

Before you begin

Downloading and installing this update is done entirely from the console. There’s no download link, the update will appear in your console once synchronized.

If you’re running a multi-tier hierarchy, start at the top-level site in the hierarchy. After the top-level site upgrades, you can begin the upgrade of each child site. Complete the upgrade of each site before you begin to upgrade the next site. Until all sites in your hierarchy are upgraded, your hierarchy operates in a mixed version mode.

Before applying this update, we strongly recommend that you go through the upgrade check list provided on Technet. Most importantly, initiate a site backup before your upgrade.

In this post, we’ll be updating a standalone Primary Site Server, console and clients.

Before installing, check if your site is ready for the update :

  • Open the SCCM console
  • Go to Administration \ Cloud Services \ Updates and Servicing
  • In the State column, ensure that the update is Available

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  • If it’s not available, right-click Updates and Servicing and select Check for Updates

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  • The update state will change to Downloading

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  • You can follow the download in Dmpdownloader.log

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  • The update files are stored in the EasyPayload folder in your SCCM Installation directory

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SCCM 1606 Upgrade guide

Step 1 | SCCM 1606 Prerequisite check

Before launching the update, we recommend to launch the prerequisite check :

  • Open the SCCM console
  • Go to Administration \ Cloud Services \ Updates and Servicing
  • Right-click the Configuration Manager 1606 update and select Run prerequisite check

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  • Nothing will happen, the prerequisite check runs in the background. All menu options will be grayed out during the check

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  • One way to see progress is by viewing C:\ConfigMgrPrereq.log

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  • You can also monitor prerequisite check by going to Monitoring / Site Servicing Status, right-click your Update Name and select Show Status

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  • When completed the State column will show Prerequisite check passed

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Step 2 | Launching the SCCM 1606 update

We are now ready to launch the SCCM 1606 update. At this point, plan about 45 minutes for the update installation.

  • Right click the Configuration Manager 1606 update and select Install Update Pack

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  • On the General tab, click Next

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  • On the Features tab, select the features you want to update

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  • If you don’t select one of the feature now and want to enable it later, you’ll be able to so by using the console in Administration \ Cloud Services \ Updates and Servicing \ Features

SCCM 1602 upgrade guide

  • In the Client Update Options, select the desired option for your client update
    • This new feature allows to update only clients member of a specific collection. Refer to the Technet article for more details

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  • On the License Terms tab, accept the licence terms and click Next

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  • On the Summary tab, review your choices and click Next

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  • On the Completion tab, close the wizard. The whole process took a minute but the installation is not over, it has been initiated

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  • During installation, the State column changes to Installing
  • You can  monitor installation by going to Monitoring / Site Servicing Status, right-click your Update Name and select Show Status

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  • … or you can follow detailed installation progress in SCCM Installation Directory\Logs\CMUpdate.log

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[su_box title=”Warning” style=”glass” title_color=”#F0F0F0″]We’ve done numerous SCCM 1606 installation. Some installation start a couple of minutes after you complete the wizard but we’ve seen some installation starts after a 10 minutes delay. Do not reboot or restart any services during this period or your update could be stuck in “Prerequisite check passed” status and all other options greyed out. There’s actually no officially documented methods by Microsoft to fix that. Patience is the key ![/su_box]

  • When completed, you’ll notice the message There are no pending update package to be processed in the log file
  • Monitoring / Site Servicing Status, right-click your Update Name and select Show Status, the last step will be Installation Succeeded

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  • Refresh the Updates and Servicing node, the State column will be Installed

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Updating the consoles

As in 1602, the console has an auto-update feature. At console opening, if you are not running the latest version, you will receive a warning and the update will start automatically.

  • Since all updates operations were initiated from the console, we didn’t close it during the process. We received a warning message when clicking certain objects. You will have the same message when opening a new console
  • Click OK,  console update will starts automatically

SCCM 1602 upgrade guide

SCCM 1602 upgrade guide

  • Wait for the process to complete. You can follow the progress in C:\ConfigMgrAdminUISetup.log and C:\ConfigMgrAdminUISetupVerbose.log. Once completed, the console will open and you’ll be running the latest version

Verification

Consoles

After setup is completed, verify the build number of the console. If the console upgrade was successful, the build number will be 5.0.8412.1003. You can also notice that Version 1606 is stated.

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Servers

  • Go to Administration \ Site Configuration \ Sites
  • Right-click your site and select Properties
  • Verify the Version and Build number

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Clients

The client version will be updated to 5.00.8412.1006 (after updating, see section below)

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SCCM 1606 Client Package distribution

You’ll see that the 2 client packages are updated :

  • Navigate to Software Library \ Application Management \ Packages

SCCM 1602 upgrade guide

  • Check if both package were updated, if not, select both package and initiate a Distribute Content to your distribution points

Boot Images

Boot images are automatically updated during setup. See our post on upgrade consideration in large environment to avoid this if you have multiple distribution points.

  • Go to Software Library / Operating Systems / Boot Images
  • Select your boot image and check the last Content Status date. It should match your setup date

Updating the Clients

Our preferred way to update our clients is by using the Client Upgrade feature :

  • Open the SCCM Console
  • Go to Administration / Site Configuration / Sites
  • Click the Hierarchy Settings in the top ribbon
  • Select Client Upgrade tab
  • The Upgrade client automatically when the new client update are available checkbox has been enabled
  • Review your time frame and adjust it to your needs

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Monitor SCCM client version number

SCCM Reports Client Version

You can see our SCCM Client version reports to give detailed information about every clients versions in your environment. It’s the easiest way to track your client updates.

SCCM 2012 - System Health Configuration Manager SS

Collections

You can also create a collection that targets clients without the latest client version. I use it to monitor which client haven’t been updated yet.

Here’s the query to achieve this: (You can also refer to our Set of Operational Collection Powershell Script which contains this collection)

[pastacode lang=”sql” manual=”select%20SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID%2CSMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType%2CSMS_R_SYSTEM.Name%2CSMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier%2CSMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup%2CSMS_R_SYSTEM.Client%20from%20SMS_R_System%20where%20SMS_R_System.ClientVersion%20!%3D%20’5.00.8412.1006′” message=”” highlight=”” provider=”manual”/]

Happy updating ! 🙂

Comments (76)

Iftakhar

02.28.2019 AT 01:22 AM
We d have CAS. Under CAS 2 primary site and under NA 3 secondary site. Updated from 1806 to 1810. Primary site have been updated. Now time to update secondary sites. Please advice how do I update secondary sites or do you have any articles I can follow to make it happen.

SAMUEL V

05.03.2017 AT 12:54 PM
Hi, We're running SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine. Having a CAS and 2 Primary Sites. We're planning for an upgrade to 1606 Baseline (as per the above guide). But I've just learnt that there might be some limitations around WSUS version, if you're using SCCM for pushing updates. For e.g. products like Office 365 require atleast WSUS 4.0 which is only compatible on Windows Server 2012 and higher. Is there more I need to be concerned about regarding WSUS given the above roadmap?

Jonathan Lefebvre

05.03.2017 AT 02:21 PM
Hi Samuel, First question, why a CAS? Considering that the OS (2008R2) is no longer supported on SCCM 1702 and above, your SCCM 1606 will "soon" be unsupported, you might want to do a side-by-side migration. here our post about it. https://systemcenterdudes.com/sccm-1511-migration/ You could benifit from this by : - Review the structure of SCCM and remove the CAS - Use latest OS for site server - Use latest WSUS for O365 updates Jonathan

SD

03.20.2017 AT 03:20 PM
Hi Benoit Lecours, First of all Thanks for this great post! I am currently running SCCM 2012 R2 SP1, and looking for upgrading to 1606(Build 5.00.8412.1307) baseline version. I want to understand, whether or not I can use the similar steps of upgrading SCCM 2012R2 SP1 to SCCM 1511, for upgrading to 1606((5.00.8412.1307) baseline version? Since this is a baseline version after 1511, I believe in console upgrade won't be available, so is it recommended to follow the 1511 upgrade guide or is there any separate prerequisite required for 1606 upgrade. Also in the above post we see, KB3186654 hotfix is required as one of the fixes to the known bugs, so is that a separate download or a rollup bundled with 1606 baseline .iso download, if separate download, is that recommended to install before or after upgrade?

Ronald Tirella

12.21.2016 AT 08:32 AM
So it seems you can go from 2012 R2 SP1 direct to 1606 now and skip 1511?

Jonathan Lefebvre

12.22.2016 AT 08:44 AM
you are right! Jonathan

Ray Frangie

11.24.2016 AT 05:01 AM
Hi Guys, Trying to do a brand new SCCM 1606 Install... We've got a dedicated SQL Server running on a non-standard SQL port (and I know there's articles that say it should be done locally, but we need to keep them separate), and I cannot get the install to pick up the instance. I also read that the SQL Browser is not required (although I do have it active and it still won't work). Watching the behaviour of the setup via netstat and it only attempts to connect on TCP/1433. I cannot use ":port" or ",port" in the SQL Server name during the setup either. Can you please advise how we can accomplish this? Cheers, Ray

Subodh Kumar

11.10.2016 AT 10:57 AM
My System Center is on 1511 and trying to upgrade to 1606, few days back I did the pre-requisite check for 1606 and it was passed but now all options are disabled including Update Install Pack so how I can enable the option to do the upgrade? please advise.Thanks

Benoit Lecours

11.22.2016 AT 01:53 PM
Try restarting SMSEXEC service.

Dennis

11.10.2016 AT 05:32 AM
Installation fails for me, when checking install status, but is still installing, is this also normal behavior and just takes some time ? Means it is always stating "failed" and then "installing" again... Dont know what i should try. 😀

Benoit Lecours

11.22.2016 AT 01:55 PM
Try restarting SMSExec service and look in CMUpdate.log and dmpdownloader.log

Dennis

11.14.2016 AT 07:38 AM
Solved it after a while. Following. Deleted the Update from DB. Started the update of Hotfix 1 1606 In the CMUpdate.log i found a error which leads to a failure. Then i saw many files like *.xcs. I found those files in another folder from the Main upgrade package (i guess). i copied them to the Source dir (.\EasySetupPayload\76.....), then i ran it again, after putting all the missing files (took me several runs) the upgrade installed successfully, and also recovered my SCCM from disastrous status. Text me by mail if you need help with my steps. It worked for me, but it is probably completely unsupported. Thanks Microsoft for leaving us alone with such stupid malfunctions of this shitty piece of Software. Reagrads Dennis

priors auto care

01.09.2017 AT 10:09 AM
So that's the case? Quite a revelation that is.

Jeff Ng

10.27.2016 AT 02:11 AM
Hi, Thanks to Benoit for such awesome guide, we've upgraded to CM1606 with Hotfix (KB3186654) and it works great. But there is something weird happening in CMUpdate.log shows below: every 10 minutes since. There are no pending update package to be processed. Waiting for changes to the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\cmupdate.box" directories, updates will be polled in 600 seconds... I may be over worried as the site are running well but this has been repeating non stop for 2 days...

Benoit Lecours

10.27.2016 AT 07:29 AM
Hi Jeff, This is completely normal behavior.

Jeff Ng

10.27.2016 AT 10:35 AM
Hi Benoit, I see. Thanks again!

car ins Hollywood

05.31.2017 AT 11:44 AM
Your smile looks great. All the black and blue and trips to the orthodontist were well worth it — you look incredible! We are fans of adult braces in this family, as you know, but I was lucky enough to have them twice in my teens, so here’s hoping I don’t have to revisit it as an adult.

Michael

10.26.2016 AT 03:46 AM
After the upgrade, did your boot image version change? mine looks to be still showing 1511 version number even though I selected to update boot images.

Robert Smith jr

10.18.2016 AT 12:49 PM
Hi, I thought the in console servicing was a great idea, till now. My first two updates 1511 and 1602 prereq and install tasks went without a hitch. When the 1602 hotfix came out, it became stuck at "Checking Prerequisites" and eventually the status reported "Replication failure". This is a single primary site, nothing complicated. I followed the TechNet article and removed the update from the database (yes, I know, don't do that!). It reappeared after restarting sms_exec and checking updates again. I started researching the issue and the community seemed to feel that just going 1606 was the best way to go. Same failure. I would appreciate some guidance on this and feel that Microsoft is making it very difficult on Config Manager customers by doing away with the manual updates, as you get detailed feedback if problems are encountered. Where to turn for help?, except for getting out the credit card to pay for a support case. Worst part is it worked fine for the first two updates, but is now broken. There doesn't seem to be any way to resync / rerun prerequisite jobs or to reset the Site Servicing component to a clean state.

Jeremy W

01.06.2017 AT 03:37 PM
That's exactly what I'm dealing with right now for the auto upgrades. It wouldn't be so bad if there was a way to retry and/or transfer the files. We're actually have a lot of distribution issues with 1610 and previously issues with distribution/validation of patches on 1602. There's KBs to install that have potential fixes for these but what can you do if it won't distribute the KB? I've been working with support on these issues for almost a month with partner support. Terrible support by the way, they kept telling me I needed to rebuild the apps, packages, patches, OS images and of course that would also require us to rebuild our tasks and anything else referencing these items. That alone is a terrible "fix" let alone ignoring that we can't do that for their own packages that are distributed and managed by SCCM, including the updates.

Gordon Barker

10.14.2016 AT 05:53 AM
Hi Dudes, We’re looking to upgrade from SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 to SCCM 1606. I already understand that we’ll need to upgrade to SCCM 1511 first and then to SCCM 1606, but I’m hoping we don’t have to update all our existing console and clients twice to do this. Can you go from SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 client and consoles directly to SCCM 1606 client and consoles?. Don’t want to wait after SCCM 1511 upgrade for clients to update to 1511 before we go to SCCM 1606.

Jonathan Lefebvre

10.17.2016 AT 09:10 AM
Hi Gordon, You don't have to upgrade clients between version. the console MUST match the major version release in order to work. The local console on the primary server will auto-upgrade as part of the installation of 1511 and 1606. As for remote console, I suggest to wait until the server is up to 1606 prior to upgrade them. You may want to consider upgrading your 2012 to 1606 directly. Microsoft as released a new baseline ISO. It should be available to you on your volume licensing :https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/enterprisemobility/2016/10/12/configuration-manager-a-progress-update-on-the-current-branch-and-a-new-servicing-branch/ we haven't tested or documented to process so far. Jonathan

Goran

04.05.2017 AT 01:34 PM
Hello, I have SCCM 2012 R2 Version 5.0.7958.1401 Can I go and upgrade straight to version 1606 then? Thanks, Goran

Jonathan Lefebvre

04.05.2017 AT 09:36 PM
Hi Goran, as stated above, No. You need at least SCCM 2012 SP2 or SCCM 2012 R2 SP1. If you want to skip upgrading your old infra, I suggest you take a look at our side-by-side migration, that could apply to your case. https://systemcenterdudes.com/sccm-1511-migration/ Hope this help! Jonathan

Gordon Barker

01.18.2017 AT 06:16 AM
Thank you

Aljay

10.04.2016 AT 10:02 AM
Hi I am upgrading from 1602...I was upgrading from 1511 but when I got MS Support to assist they pushed 1602 without asking me. So I am trying to upgrade from 1602 to 1606...the prerequisites failed with one failure:[Failed]:Checking whether there are custom Client Agent Settings that enable NAP everything else has passed. is there a way for me to get through this check with clicking ignore pre-requisites on the install wizard?

Boss

12.22.2016 AT 08:54 PM
encore faut-il en trouver un de travail de nos jours c&ssruo;eqt un luxe … En ce moment je fais des ourlets le mardi pour une association bénévole, les petits riens.

Ivan

12.21.2016 AT 12:09 AM
Has anyone found a solution for this ? I am experiencing the same issue. Please Help!!

David

09.30.2016 AT 06:12 AM
Hello, If we have a Independent Primary Site version 1606 and we want expand to with CAS server. what version sccm install in the CAS server? if we can not install version 1606 and we have install version 1511 in the CAS, there would be no compatibility problems with the replication primary site? Thanks.

Jonathan Lefebvre

09.30.2016 AT 09:14 AM
Hi David, You will need to use the CD.latest to install your CAS. follow the information here : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt703293.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396 "To expand a stand-alone primary site: When you are expanding a stand-alone primary site by installing a new central administration site, you must use Setup and the source files from the CD.Latest folder from the primary site to install the new central administration site. When run from a copy of the CD.Latest folder from the primary site, it uses installation source files that match the version of the primary site. For more information see Expand a stand-alone primary site) in Use the Setup Wizard to install sites" Jonathan

David

10.03.2016 AT 07:17 AM
Thanks Jonathan. It has served me very helpful reply. David

Ricardo

09.21.2016 AT 11:33 AM
We are attempting to upgrade ConfigMgr from 1602 to 1606 and it keeps getting stuck in "Installing" state. We tried restarting SMS_Executive service with no luck. We also tried running the CM_UpdatePackageSiteStatus so that it sets the state back to "Available" and tried the install again, repeatedly getting stuck in the "Installing" state. The installation files downloaded to (1.7GB) EasySetupPayload folder. We don't see any errors in logs besides seeing "Waiting for changes to the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\cmupdate.box" directories, updates will be polled in 600 seconds..." in the CMUpdate.log file. hman.log shows no errors that stick out either. Anyone out there have any ideas? Willing to post more information as needed. Thanks.

Flemming Nielsen

10.14.2016 AT 05:58 AM
Hi Ricardo Have the same problem, and have opened a case by Microsoft Have you find any solutions Flemming

MarkA-G

08.27.2016 AT 02:15 AM
Maybe someone can confirm this: I have test site that I update prior to production. I updated my test site to 1606 and now can't connect with the newer console to my production 1602 Site.

Jonathan Lefebvre

08.29.2016 AT 08:06 AM
Hi Mark, historically, the console must be at the same 'major release' level as the site. With SCCM 2012 that would mean same service pack. With SCCM CB, that mean same CB version. Jonathan