Stage latest ConfigMgr Client version into Production

Many of you have probably already noticed that ConfigMgr 1602 shipped last week, and can now be installed from the Update and Servicing node in the console. With ConfigMgr 1511, a new feature to validate ConfigMgr client upgrades was introduced. Under Hierarchy Settings for your Site, specifically in the Client Upgrade tab, there’s an option to select a Pre-production collection like shown in the picture below:

Before upgrading to ConfigMgr 1602, if you want to use this functionality and validate that the ConfigMgr client can be upgraded to the latest version in your environment, I suggest that you create a Device Collection with a set of members of your choosing. It’s worth mentioning, that devices in this Pre-production collection, will automatically, and almost immediately be upgraded to the latest pre-production client version, when the Client Update selections in the ConfigMgr 1602 upgrade wizard have been configured as below:

Once you’ve successfully updated to ConfigMgr 1602, and made the above configuration to validate the Client Update in pre-production, the Client Upgrade tab will be updated to look like this:

When you’ve successfully validated that all your devices enabled for pre-production have installed the new client, you can go ahead and stage the pre-production client version into production by right-clicking on the 1602 release under Updates and Servicing and selecting Client Update Options:

This will bring up a window asking if you’re ready to stage the pre-production client version to production. Confirm that you’re ready and click OK.

Go back to the Client Upgrade tab under Hierarchy Settings to validate that the latest client version has made it into production:

You’ve now staged the latest ConfigMgr client version in production and it will now be installed throughout your environment.