How can I install System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ?

Introduction

 

Today at Tech Ed Europe 2013 in Madrid, Brad Anderson announced the availability of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager preview (amongst other things). In this post I will focus on installing the R2 preview release on Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 (which just so happens to have Cu2 installed). In the past, R2 releases for System Center products traditionally add cool features to an otherwise complete product so this is going to be exciting.

 

Note: This is a Preview release and therefore should not be installed in production, you should only test this preview version of R2 in a LAB.

 

Step 1. Get the goodies

 

You can get the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager R2 Preview release from here. Once you’ve downloaded the bits extract them to somewhere like C:\SC2012_R2_Preview_SCCM_SCEP

 

extracted files.png

 

Once done, download Windows ADK 8.1 from here.

 

Step 2. Uninstall Windows ADK 8.0

 

Before you install R2, you’ll need to satisfy certain prerequisites, and one of those is ADK 8.1, and as part of that you’ll need to uninstall Windows ADK 8.0, it’s not sufficient to simply install ADK 8.1 over ADK 8.0.

 

Open control panel and locate Windows Automated Installation Kit, click it and choose Uninstall (it’s the one with version 8.59.25584).

 

uninstall WADK.png

 

Once uninstalled, no need for a reboot.

 

Step 3. Install Windows ADK 8.1

 

Now that you’ve removed the previous version, download the new ADK to support Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2 from here.

 

Run adksetup and accept the .NET 4.5 FrameWork agreement, make sure you’ve 2.25 GB free space on your C:\ drive before attempting to continue otherwise you may get a strange ASIA failure message (if you do get any failures, check %temp% for the .net installation logs to see why it failed.)

 

net framework.png

 

reboot when requested

 

reboot after .net 4.5.png

 

after the reboot, login and you’ll see the specify location screen for the new Windows ADK installation

 

specify location.png

 

click next through the wizard and select at least the following 3 components

  • User State Migration Tool (USMT)
  • Windows Deployment Tools
  • Windows PreInstallation Environment (Windows PE)

3 things to install.png

 

and the installation should continue…slowly but surely…

 

installing ADK 8.1.png

 

click close when done.

 

Tip: Installation of the ADK will produce several logs for the separate components in %temp%\adk if you have any issues with the installation of the ADK open those logs individually in CMTrace to look for any errors during the installation.

 

ADK 8.1 done.png

 

 

Step 3. Install R2

 

Now that we’ve fixed Windows ADK, browse to the extracted System Center 2012 Configuration Manager R2 files and click on splash.hta to start the wizard

 

System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager setup.png

 

and click on Install to start the installer, you will be presented with the before you begin screen, click next

 

before you begin.png

 

and then you’ll see the available setup options on the Getting started screen, it should auto detect that you have a primary installed and that you are upgrading the site

 

getting started.png

 

you can choose whether to input your license key or not, I entered the key it works fine

 

install the licensed edition of this product.png

 

accept the EULA to continue

 

eula.png

 

and place checkmarks in the products listed for Prerequisite licenses

 

prerequisite licenses.png

 

choose to download the setup prerequisites locally or from a previously downloaded location

 

prerequisite licenses.png

 

and then select the server languages that Configuration Manager will support

 

server language selection.png

 

and then the client languages

 

client language selection.png

 

review the settings summary

 

settings summary.png

 

and the Prerequisite check will complete, it may list warnings (which are usually ok to ignore) or errors (failures, which you must fix). Click Begin install to continue (in the screenshot below I’ve modified a system collection, it’s ok, and it’s ok to continue)

 

prerequisite check.png

 

time for a siesta (if you are in Madrid :-)) while it installs, as this will take some time…,

 

R2 installing.png

 

click on View Log to view the installation in CMTrace

 

cmtrace of r2 installation.png

 

Once the installation of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager is done you’ll see the following, I’d recommend you scroll up and down to verify all listed components are green, close the wizard when you can.

 

close the wizard.png

 

and start the new console via the new Start menu link, notice the R2 reference

 

Microsoft System Center 2012 R2.png

 

the console appears, congratulations you’ve installed System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager. Notice the new build number.

 

build number 7884.png

cheers

niall.

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