Windows 10 1909 Upgrade Using SCCM Task Sequence|ConfigMgr

Running Out of updates….?? It’s Time to Upgrade your Operating System to Windows 10 1909 Upgrade. Let’s learn how to create an upgrade Windows 10 Task Sequence.

There are various Windows 10 deployment scenarios available to install the latest version of Windows 10 1909. To successfully deploy the latest operating system and choose among those options, It’s important to understand the capabilities and limitations.

In this post, I will explain to you to use the Modern deployment methods (In-Place Upgrade), which are supported by existing deployment tools such as Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM).

The in-place upgrade provides a simple, automated process that leverages the Windows setup process to upgrade from an earlier version of Windows automatically.

Patch My PC

This Process automatically migrates existing data, settings, drivers, and applications.

Microsoft has built-in extremely robust fallback options. If something goes wrong, the In-place Upgrade can easily revert the Windows Update to the previous version by going back to an earlier build.

The Process can be automated and handled remotely with deployment tools.

Prerequisites – Windows 10 1909 Upgrade

Create Windows 10 operating system upgrade package from the latest windows 10. Check the Windows 10 – Release Information

Adaptiva

Make sure that your device has enough space. Your device requires at least 16 GB of free disk space to upgrade to a 32-bit OS or 20 GB for a 64-bit OS.

Supported Deployment Tools –

You will be required to use Configuration Manager 1906 or 1910 for Windows 10 1909 upgrade.

It is always recommended to use the latest version to experience the best features.

Learn about the supported Windows 10 versions for Configuration Manager. Check Microsoft Blog.

Windows 10 Upgrade Process – Overview

The upgrade process consists of four phases- Downlevel, SafeOS, First boot, and Second boot.The computer will reboot once between each step.

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Overview – Windows 10 Upgrade Phases

What are the upgrade paths available?

You can perform an upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or a later operating system. Migrating from one edition of Windows 10 to a different edition of the same release is also supported.

Summary of available upgrade path in Microsoft Blog.

Note – In-place upgrade from Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 semi-annual channel to Windows 10 LTSC is not supported.

Why Considering an In-Place Upgrade?

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Consider in-place upgrade -Windows 10 1909 Upgrade

Limitations

The following tasks aren’t compatible with the in-place upgrade

  • Changing disk partitions.
  • We are changing the system architecture (x86 to x64 bits).
  • I am modifying the base OS language.
  • When we have dual or multi-boot systems.
  • We are changing the computer’s domain membership or updating the local Administrator group.
  • Outdated device drivers.
  • WinPE Offline operation and third-party disk encryption.

You can’t use a captured or custom image for an upgrade.

Add an Operating System Upgrade Package

You need to import the complete Windows 10 installation media for creating upgrade packages. This upgrade package will be used to upgrade an existing Windows 7 or later to Windows 10 1909, one release of Windows 10 to a later release of Windows 10.

Open Configuration Manager Console, Go to Software Library > Operating Systems > Operating System Upgrade Packages.

Right-click Operating System Upgrade Packages and select Add Operating System Upgrade Packages. (you can create a custom folder for selection)

Windows 10 1909 Upgrade
SCCM Add Operating System Upgrade Package

In Data Source, click Browse and specify the network shared path to the root folder where you extracted the source of an ISO file.

Browse to the data source for the OSD
Browse to the data source for the OSD

You can now specify to automatically import a single index rather than all image indexes in the file. Using this option results in a smaller image file.

Select the option to Extract a specific image index from the specified WIM file. Then select the Image index from the drop-down list.

SCCM Data Source
SCCM Data Source

In the General tab, provide Name, Version, and Comment. Click Next.

Add Operating System Upgrade Package Wizard
Add Operating System Upgrade Package Wizard

Review the provided information, and click Next to complete the wizard.

To create the Operating System upgrade package
To create the Operating System upgrade package.

Wait for a moment while exporting is in progress.

After successfully completion, click close to exit the wizard.

Distribute Operating System Upgrade Packages

After importing the upgrade package, you must distribuContentcontent to the distribution point. Right-click Windows 10 Enterprise and click DistContentContent.

Distribute Content
Distribute Content

Review the seContentcontent for distribution. Click Next.

Review Selected Content
Review Selected Content

Add the distribution point or distribution point groups. Click Next.

Specify the Content Destination
Specify the Content Destination

Review the selected distribution points and groups and click Next.

Added the SCCM Distribution Point
Added the SCCM Distribution Point

Review the settings and click Next.

Confirm the Settings
Confirm the Settings

Click close to complete the Distribute Content wizard.

The Distribute Content Wizard completed Successfully
The Distribute Content Wizard completed Successfully

You can monitor the content status. If it’s showing the yellow color, distribution is in progress.

In the Configuration Manager console, go to the Monitoring workspace, expand Distribution Status, and select the Content Status node. This node displays the packages.

Status of the Distribution Point
Status of the Distribution Point

If the content distribution is successful, it will appear in Green color.

Successful Distribution Point
Successful Distribution Point

Create an In-place upgrade task sequence to upgrade an OS

In the Configuration Manager console, Go to the Software Library workspace, expand Operating Systems, and select Task Sequences.

On the Home tab of the ribbon, in the Create group, select Create Task Sequence.

Task Sequence - Create Task Sequence
Task Sequence – Create Task Sequence

On the Create a New Task Sequence page of the Create Task Sequence Wizard, select Upgrade an operating system from an upgrade package and then choose Next.

Upgrade an Operating System from an Upgrade package
Upgrade an Operating System from an Upgrade package

On the Task Sequence Information page, specify the following settings:

Task sequence name: Specify a name that identifies the task sequence.

Description: Optionally specify a description.

Specify Task Sequence Name & Description
Specify Task Sequence Name & Description

On the Upgrade the Windows Operating System page, specify the following settings:

Upgrade package: Specify the upgrade package that contains the OS upgrade source files. Click on the Browse option to select the source file.

Verify that you’ve selected the correct upgrade package by looking at the information in the Properties pane.

Edition index: Select the desired edition index if there are multiple OS edition indexes available in the package. By default, the wizard selects the first index.

Product key: Specify the Windows product key for the OS to install.

Select an Operating System Upgrade Package
Select an Operating System Upgrade Package

Select an Operating System Upgrade Package form content folders. Click OK.

Select an Operating System Upgrade Package
Select an Operating System Upgrade Package

Review the selected Upgrade package, Edition index, and Product key. Click Next.

Select an Operating System Upgrade Package
Select an Operating System upgrade package

On the Include Updates page, specify whether to install required, all, or no software updates.

Then select Next. If you specify to install software updates, Configuration Manager installs only those updates targeted to the collections the destination computer is a member.

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Specify the applications to install on the destination computer on the Install Applications page, and then select Next.

If you select more than one application, specify whether the task sequence should continue if the installation of a specific application fails.

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Review the task sequence details, and click Next.

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After completion successfully, click close.

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The Upgrade Task Sequence is created successfully.

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Customize Upgrade Task Sequence

Under Software Library > Operating Systems > Task Sequences. Right-click on task sequences and select Edit.

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A task sequence will give you more granular control to:

  • Perform pre-deployment checks.
  • Pre-Upgrade –
  • Manage drive encryption state
  • Uninstall known problematic drivers and apps.
  • Post-upgrade –
  • Install additional drivers and apps.
  • Manage drive encryption state.
  • Configuration.

She recommended task sequence steps to prepare for the upgrade.

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This Check Readiness step will check whether the computer is ready for Windows 10 upgrade. You could modify these options in case you want.

Review other settings added in Task Sequence. If you have made any changes here, click Apply and OK.

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Create a device collection

Read this post to know more about Collections by Anoop.

Deploy Windows 10 Upgrade Task Sequence

Review drivers and applications that are installed on computers. Before deploying the upgrade task sequence, make sure the drivers are compatible with Windows 10.

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On the General, click Browse to select your collection where you wish to perform the deployment.

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On the Deployment Settings, select the Purpose of the deployment.
Available – The task sequence will appear in the software center. The Process will start only when the user initiates.
Required – It will force the deployment at the deadline.

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On the Scheduling tab, you can specify the schedule for this deployment.

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On the User Experience tab, leave the default selected options.

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Click Next.

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You can specify how clients interact with the DPs to reContentcontent from reference packages on the Distribution Points page. Click Next.

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Review the selected options and click Next.

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Results – Windows 10 In-Place Upgrade

Launch the Software Center from Start Menu on the target device and select Operating Systems. You will see Windows 10 upgrade task sequence is available for installation.

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Select the task sequence and click Install. Once you choose Install, no more user input will be required.

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This step will take around 60-90 minutes when the upgrade process starts, depending on the environment.

When the task sequence begins, it automatically initiates the in-place upgrade process by invoking the Windows setup program (Setup.exe) with the necessary command-line parameters to perform an automated upgrade.

After the task sequence completes, the computer will be fully upgraded to Windows 10 1909.

Resources

19 thoughts on “Windows 10 1909 Upgrade Using SCCM Task Sequence|ConfigMgr”

  1. Great article…
    Although I wonder, whats the benefit to doing it this way with a task sequence rather than using the Windows 10 Servicing/All Windows 10 Updates node and selecting the feature update to 1909?

    Reply
    • There’s limitation with servicing options while from TaskSequence we can full control the Image and do various changes on requirements. As whenever Image changes we having expectation & challenges to meet the changes according to environments. In that case TS is better option.

      Reply
  2. Can we push this task to the collection and user execute it when they’re not in the office ? (Content pre-downloaded at cccmcache) so they upgrade after hours

    Reply
  3. I have upgraded on 2 systems to test, and both systems upgraded successfully. The issue is that the start menu and taskbar got reset to default and all custom settings for the user were gone. Also, Office 2019 Enterprise gives an error when launched that it needs to “repair”. How do we retain the user settings such as taskbar and start menu? and why is Office needing a repair after the upgrade?

    Reply
  4. I have upgraded on 2 systems to test, and both systems upgraded successfully. The issue is that the start menu and taskbar got reset to default and all custom settings for the user were gone. Also, Office 2019 Enterprise gives an error when launched that it needs to “repair”. How do we retain the user settings such as taskbar and start menu? and why is Office needing a repair after the upgrade?

    Reply
  5. Hi i need install some SW after upgrade.
    I put it do post-processing but computer after restart stop processing TS.
    I need to use command because drivers problem.
    SETUP.EXE /ImageIndex 1 /auto upgrade /quiet /DynamicUpdate Disable /MigrateDrivers None /copylogs C:\temp\W10Upgrade /InstallDrivers c:\temp\drivers /diagnosticprompt enable /priority Normal

    Reply
  6. I am not receiving a change in the deployment process. It successfully installs but the SCCM/ECM console still says “in process” not successful, even though the update has completed.

    Reply
  7. Hello,
    Is there a way to have a report based on the Check Readiness?
    Cause of course all client which doesn’t pass the “Check Readiness” are under failed, and you have to inspect every one to see what exactly failed.

    Reply

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