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Update 2102 for the Technical Preview Branch of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager has been released. Configuration Manager ships with several hundred reports by default, and you may have added more to that list. Instead of continually searching for reports you commonly use, based on your UserVoice feedback, you can now make a report a favorite. This action allows you to quickly access it from the new Favorites node.


 

Favorite reports nodeFavorite reports node


This preview release also includes:


 


Improvements to the collection relationships viewer – Starting in current branch version 2010, you can view dependency relationships between collections in a graphical format. The relationships for a collection were presented as two hierarchical trees, one for dependents and the other for dependencies. In this release, you can view both dependency and dependent relationships together in a single graph. This change allows you to quickly see an overview of all the relationships of a collection at once and then drill down into specific related collections. It also includes other filtering and navigation improvements.


 


Download Power BI report templates from Community hub – Community hub now supports contributing and downloading Power BI report template files. This integration allows administrators to easily share and reuse Power BI reports. Contributing and downloading Power BI report template is also available for current branch versions of Configuration Manager.


 


Improvements to BitLocker support via cloud management gateway – In current branch version 2010, you can manage BitLocker policies and escrow recovery keys over a cloud management gateway (CMG). This support included a couple of limitations. Starting in this technical preview release, BitLocker management policies over a CMG support the following capabilities:



  • Recovery keys for removable drives

  • TPM password hash, otherwise known as TPM owner authorization


Improvements to query preview – You now have more options when using the collection query preview. The following improvements have been made to previewing collection queries:



  • Limit the number of rows returned.

  • Omit duplicate rows from the result set.

  • Review statistics for the query preview such as number of rows returned and elapsed time.


Improvements to collection evaluation view – The following improvements were made to the collection evaluation view:



  • The central administration site (CAS) now displays a summary of collection evaluation status for all the primary sites in the hierarchy

  • Drill through from collection evaluation status queue to a collection

  • Copy text to the clipboard from the collection evaluation page

  • Configure the refresh interval for the collection evaluation statistics page


TLS certificate pinning for devices scanning HTTPS-configured WSUS servers – Further increase the security of HTTPS scans against WSUS by enforcing certificate pinning. To enable this behavior, add certificates for your WSUS servers to the new WindowsServerUpdateServices certificate store on your clients and enable certificate pinning through Client Settings. This setting ensures that your clients will only be able to communicate with WSUS when certificate pinning is successful.


 


Change foreground color for Software Center branding – Software Center already provides various controls for you to customize the branding to support your organization’s brand. For some customers, their brand color doesn’t work well with the default white font color for a selected item. To better support these customers and improve accessibility, you can now configure a custom color for the foreground font.


 


Changes for CMPivot – We’ve temporarily disabled the Simplified CMPivot permissions requirements that were introduced in technical preview version 2101. If you removed the Read permission on SMS Scripts and the default scope permission, re-add the permissions.


Improvements to client setting for Software Center custom tabs – Technical preview version 2101 included a new client setting for displaying Software Center custom tabs. There are general improvements to this feature in this technical preview release. 


 


Change default maximum run time for software updates – Configuration Manager sets the following maximum run time for these categories of software updates:



  • Feature updates for Windows: 120 minutes

  • Non-feature updates for Windows: 60 minutes

  • Updates for Microsoft 365 Apps (Office 365 updates): 60 minutes


All other software updates outside these categories, such as third-party updates, were given a maximum run time of 10 minutes. Starting in this technical preview, the default maximum run time for these updates is 60 minutes rather than 10 minutes.


 


Update 2102 for Technical Preview Branch is available in the Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager Technical Preview console. For new installations, the 2010 baseline version of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch is available on the Microsoft Evaluation Center. Technical Preview Branch releases give you an opportunity to try out new Configuration Manager features in a test environment before they are made generally available.


 


We would love to hear your thoughts about the latest Technical Preview!  Send us Feedback about product issues directly from the console and use our UserVoice page for ideas about new features.


 


Thanks,


The Configuration Manager team


 


Configuration Manager Resources:


Documentation for Configuration Manager Technical Previews


Try the Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch


Documentation for Configuration Manager


Microsoft Endpoint Manager announcement


Microsoft Endpoint Manager vision statement


Configuration Manager Forums


Configuration Manager Support

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.