Cumulative Update 3 for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 is available

The most important part of this update is that adds support for Windows 8.1. It is not stated in the KB but I guess it adds support also to Windows Server 2012 R2 from client side of course. The full list:

Supported Platforms

This update adds support for Windows 8.1-based client computers in Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1. Windows 8.1 is added to the supported platform list for the following features:

  • Software distribution
  • Software update management
  • Compliance Settings
Issues that are fixed
Operating System Deployment

This cumulative update includes the following updates:

Additionally, this cumulative update fixes the following issues:

  • The reimaging of an existing client computer may result in a policy being invalidated. This issue can occur if the SMS Agent Host service restarts before all Data Transfer Service (DTS) jobs are completely processed. Additionally, the PolicyAgent.log file on the reimaged client will contain entries that resemble the following:

    [CCM_Policy_Policy5.PolicyID="ScopeId_GUID/Application_GUID/CA",PolicySource="SMS:PRI",PolicyVersion="1.00"] is pointing to invalid DTS job [{DTS_JOB_GUID}]. Will attempt to re-download.

  • Install Application Task sequences may take longer to complete if they are run from stand-alone media instead of a local distribution point. This issue can occur when multiple task sequences use large content files (for example, several hundred megabytes).
Windows PowerShell

This cumulative update fixes the following issue:

  • The Add-CMDistributionPoint cmdlet incorrectly sets the value of the ServerRemoteName parameter to the name of the first installed site server. This issue could lead to clients accessing content on the site server instead of the intended distribution point server.
Software Distribution

This cumulative update fixes the following issues:

  • Modern applications deployed to users of Windows 8 computers may fail if a non-administrator is logged on and has mapped a network drive. The AppDiscovery.log will contain entries that resemble the following:

    In-line script returned error output: Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the ‘FileSystem’ provider failed.

  • A deployment created at a child primary site and then deleted from the central administration site may remain active on the child primary site.
  • A pull-distribution point may crash when it tries to download packages. The PullDP.log stops recording any activity when this issue occurs.
  • Packages migrated from Configuration Manager 2007 to 2012 Configuration Manager may not download to pull-distribution points unless the Update Distribution Points wizard is used. Error messages that resemble the following are logged in the PullDP.log file:

    CPullDPPkgJob::LoadJobFromXML() could not load any content jobs from XML!
    CPullDPPkgJob::LoadJobFromXML() could not fully load job! Malformed or incomplete XML. Job has failed.

Windows Intune

This cumulative update fixes the following issues:

  • An ampersand (&) character in the Company Namefield of the properties of the Windows Intune subscription page prevents the creation of policy files. Additionally, error messages that resemble the following are logged in the Policypv.log file:

    XML Parsing: line 2, character 315, illegal name character

  • The TEMPDB folder for a site database may grow quickly after "Windows Intune Subscription and Connector" is enabled.
Endpoint Protection

This cumulative update includes the following update:

Site Systems

This cumulative update includes the following update:

Additionally, this cumulative update fixes the following issue:

Reporting

This cumulative update fixes the following issues:

  • Reports are not displayed when a user does not have EXECUTE permission on the fnGetSiteNumberobject. When this issue occurs, you receive errors that resemble the following:

    An error has occurred during report processing. (rsProcessingAborted)
    Query execution failed for dataset ‘FirstMatchingAppOrCollection’. (rsErrorExecutingCommand)
    The EXECUTE permission was denied on the object ‘fnGetSiteNumber’, database ‘database_name‘, schema ‘dbo’.

  • Computer Activity Data is missing from Power Management reports for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 clients.
Software Updates

This cumulative update fixes the following issue:

  • Software Updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 may have the Downloaded value incorrectly set to No on child primary sites, although the value is set correctly to Yes on the central administration site. This issue occurs because of a replication timing issue.

The update can be downloaded from here.

System Center 2012 R2 VHDs Download

Besides downloading ISO files you can also try System Center 2012 R2 by directly downloading VHDs that offer installed Windows Server 2012 R2 and instructions on how to enable System Center 2012 R2. Here is the full download list:

Note: The download requires registration.

Note: Links are now working.

Install All System Center 2012 R2 Preview Components and Windows Azure Pack Preview (Part 8 Configuration Manager)

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The last component of System Center 2012 R2 is Configuration Manager.

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Some prerequisites have to be installed:

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Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager – Clients for Additional Operating Systems

As SCCM 2012 R2 Preview was released a couple of days before the additional clients are also released with Preview Label. The clients bring a lot of support for non-Windows operating systems and can be download from here.

Improvements:

Mac Client:
The following Mac versions are supported in this release:

  • Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
  • Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)
  • Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)

The following scenarios are supported through the Mac client in Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager Preview:

  • Discovery – Discovers Mac OS X system in Active Directory and through network discovery
  • Hardware Inventory – Provides hardware inventory and auditing of computers running Mac OS X, including a list of installed software similar to add/remove programs for Windows systems.
  • Settings Management – Ensures computers running Mac OS X comply with company policies using scripts and preference list management.
  • Application Deployment – Distributes required software via app model.
  • Software Updates Management – Distributes patches utilizing Software Distribution and Settings management features.

UNIX/Linux Client:
The following UNIX and Linux versions are supported in this release.

  • AIX Version 7.1, 6.1, 5.3
  • Solaris Version 11 (SPARC and x86) , 10 (SPARC and x86), 9 (SPARC)
  • HP-UX Version 11iv2 (PA-RISC and IA64) , 11iv3 (PA-RISC and IA64)
  • RHEL Version 6 (x64 and x86) , 5 (x64 and x86), 4 (x64 and x86)
  • SLES Version 11 (x64 and x86), 10 (x64 and x86), 9 (x86)
  • CentOS Version 6 (x64 and x86), 5 (x64 and x86)
  • Debian Version 6 (x64 and x86), 5 (x64 and x86)
  • Ubuntu Version 12.4 LTS (x64 and x86), 10.4 LTS (x64 and x86)
  • Oracle Linux 6 (x64 and x86), 5 (x64 and x86)

The following scenarios are supported by the UNIX and Linux clients:

  • Hardware Inventory – Hardware inventory can be viewed through Resource Explorer and can be used to create collections of UNIX and Linux computers.
  • Software Inventory – Through hardware inventory the list of natively installed software can be gathered from the UNIX and Linux computers – similar to add/remove programs for Windows systems.
  • Software Distribution – Deploy new software, update existing software and apply OS patches to collections of UNIX/Linux computers (using a package and program). Run arbitrary maintenance scripts on a collection of UNIX/Linux servers.
  • Secure and Authenticated Communications
  • Consolidated Reports

Description of Cumulative Update 2 for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1

Even a little late SCCM 2012 SP1 also received its CU2. A lot of bugs are fixed and some more support for Linux systems are added. You can download the update and read the full list of changes here.