So each month I try to cover what’s new in the tech preview version of Configuration Manager. This month however, was a little different. Microsoft dropped the proverbial bomb of Tech Preview 1802 in mid-Feb and it was a big one, no fewer than 21 new features to cover off and a combination of life and work kind of got in the way this month for me. I hit the upgrade button on the day and this is probably the first time I’ve managed to get back and look at it. This month therefore will be split out into bite size blog posts and perhaps the odd video covering off all the great new stuff that Microsoft have made available for us to play with.

If you want to read the official post then check it out here – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/get-started/capabilities-in-technical-preview-1802

The official docs on this stuff just seem to get better and better but there’s nothing quite like getting hands on with the new features.

In quick summary we have the following headline features:

• Transition Endpoint Protection workload to Intune using co-management

• Configure Windows Delivery Optimization to use Configuration Manager boundary groups

• Windows 10 in-place upgrade task sequence via cloud management gateway

• Improvements to Windows 10 in-place upgrade task sequence

• Improvements to PXE-enabled distribution points

• Deployment templates for task sequences

• Product lifecycle dashboard

• Improvements to reporting

• Improvements to Software Center

• Improvements to Run Scripts

• Boundary group fallback for management points

• Improved support for CNG certificates

• Cloud management gateway support for Azure Resource Manager

• Approve application requests for users per device

• Use Software Center to browse and install user-available applications on Azure AD-joined devices

• Report on Windows AutoPilot device information

• Improvements to Configuration Manager Policies for Windows Defender Exploit Guard

• Microsoft Edge browser policies

• Report for default browser counts

• Support for Windows 10 ARM64 devices

• Changes to Phased Deployments

See what I mean? The team has obviously had a productive January!

I’ll come back to this post as I work through the features and link the above items to the relevant post as and when I can. In the mean time go ahead and hit the Install button on your tech preview if you haven’t already.