Update 1908 for the Technical Preview Branch of System Center Configuration Manager has been released. Based on your UserVoice feedback, you can now run a task sequence with the high performance power plan. This option improves the overall speed of the task sequence. It configures Windows to use its built-in high-performance power plan, which delivers maximum performance at the expense of higher power consumption.

TS performance power plan infographic

Learn more about Task sequence performance improvements for power plans.

This preview release also includes:

Local device express query evaluation for CMPivot standalone - When using CMPivot outside of the Configuration Manager console, you can query just the local device without the need for the Configuration Manager infrastructure. You can now leverage the CMPivot Azure Log Analytics queries to quickly view WMI information on the local device.

Additional software update filter for ADRs - As a result of your UserVoice feedback, now you can use Deployed as an update filter for your automatic deployment rules. This filter helps identify new updates that may need to be deployed to your pilot or test collections.

Use Delivery Optimization for all Windows updates - Previously, Delivery Optimization could only be leveraged for express updates. With this technical preview, it’s now possible to use Delivery Optimization for the distribution of all Windows Update content for clients running Windows 10 version 1709 or later.

Improvements to console connections node - In the Console Connections node, The Last Console Heartbeat column has replaced Last Connected Time. The Last Console Heartbeat column gives administrators more information for determining which console connections are currently active.

Copy and paste task sequence conditions - If you want to reuse the conditions from one task sequence step to another, based on your UserVoice feedback, you can now copy and paste conditions in the task sequence editor.

Improvements to task sequence search - This release includes additional improvements to the version 1907 feature to search the task sequence editor.

Improvements to OS deployment - This release includes the following improvements to OS deployment:

Based on your UserVoice feedback, configure the default keyboard layout for a boot image.

Based on your UserVoice feedback, the Run Command Line step now includes an option to Output to task sequence variable .

step now includes an option to . When importing an OS upgrade package, you can Extract a specific image index from install.wim file of selected upgrade package .

. Based on your UserVoice feedback, you can now use PowerShell cmdlets to automate the management of duplicate hardware identifiers.

Update 1908 for Technical Preview Branch is available in the Configuration Manager Technical Preview console. For new installations please use the 1907 baseline version of Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch available on TechNet 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 directly from the console. You may also use our feedback channels through the Feedback Hub app for product issues, and our UserVoice page for ideas about new features.

Thanks,

The Configuration Manager team

Configuration Manager Resources:

Documentation for System Center Configuration Manager Technical Previews

Try the System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch

Documentation for System Center Configuration Manager

System Center Configuration Manager Forums

System Center Configuration Manager Support