Doing an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 Build 1511 to 1607

This month Windows 10 Build 1607 (Anniversary update) is released. This is the third Windows 10 Build, next to 1507 (RTM) and 1511 (November update). Where servicing within ConfigMgr wasn't possible from 1507 to 1511, this is possible now. Expect some notes from the field soon, where systems in my company will be updated from 1511 to 1607. Hope to have some good results again :)

From a customer I got some update cons already. Let's have a look at few disappointments so far:

-Drivers working in 1511 doesn't have to be working in 1607. Maybe some hardware must be replaced, because it's not supported anymore. Think about some VGA or NIC drivers;

-Universal apps removed in the Operating System before, will be back after an in-place upgrade. They must be removed in the image before upgrading or removed again after the upgrade;

-Default apps set for Webbrowser, Email or PDF (for example) will be reset after an in-place upgrade. They must be configured again after the upgrade or set by an User Environment solution;

But the hardest thing: some Group Policy set in Pro edition earlier, is available for Enterprise edition only now.
-Configure Spotlight on lock screen
-Turn off all Windows Spotlight features
-Turn off Microsoft Consumer features
-Do not display the lock screen
-Do not require CTRL+ALT+DELETE & Turn off app notifications on the lock screen
-Do not show Windows Tips
-Force a specific default lock screen image
-Start Menu layout
-Turn off the Store application
-Only display private store within the Windows Store app
-Don't search the web or display web results

So when using Pro 1511 already, and you want to manage some features above, you need Enterprise 1607 in future. That's the biggest disappointment for some companies I guess.

Hope to experience the in-place upgrade myself soon. On two home systems I did an rollback earlier because of driver malfunction. There will be some benefits added later too I guess :)

Sources:

Group Policies that no longer apply to Windows 10 Professional Version 1607

Group Policies that apply only to Windows 10 Enterprise and Education Editions

Update 25-8: Windows 10 users moving from version 1511 to version 1607, dubbed the "anniversary update," may find applications installed on their systems that they'd previously removed.
Windows 10 Anniversary Update Restores Deleted Apps
Windows 10 1607: Keeping apps from coming back when deploying the feature update

Doing a Windows 10 upgrade with ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1

Recently I did a Windows 10 upgrade with ConfigMgr 2012 R2. I used the new Windows 10 upgrade task sequence in ConfigMgr Technical Preview 3 before, but this one was new for me. Looking at Microsoft Technet there is a task sequence and multiple scripts available to do the job. With these components you can start an in-place Windows 10 upgrade right away, without the need to wait several weeks (or months) before ConfigMgr vNext is released.

On Microsoft TechNet the following posts are found:
How to upgrade to Windows 10 using the task sequence in System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
and
Revised content for the Windows 10 in-place upgrade via task sequence for Configuration Manager
Within these posts the upgrade path can be found with the files (task sequence and scripts) needed.

Just create a deployment on the task sequence, and choose Install. In this case I choose an available deployment, so users can start the deployment when needed.

Before Windows 10 installation a Presetup takes place. This runs a corresponding Windows PowerShell script (PreSetup.ps1) to perform a variety of necessary actions prior to running Windows Setup.

This is where setup is actually run from the media package to automatically upgrade Windows. Both Windows media and scripts will be downloaded in the _SMSTaskSequence folder.

Windows restarts into a low-level mode to perform the upgrade and there are two possible outcomes: Upgrade completes successfully or Upgrade encounters a problem and rolls back the system to the down-level operating system.

In my case the Upgrade completes successfully. It was done in around 50 minutes. Additional steps can be added to this group as needed, such as Install Applications or Run PowerShell Script. The Install Software Updates step is provided as an example. The Cleanup step just removes the local staging directory.

Just great to have this functionality in ConfigMgr 2012 R2 too!