What is Software Center (Configuration Manager 2012 R2)?

Software Center (Configuration Manager 2012 R2) has replaced SCCM 2007 (Run Advertised) for managing The University of Akron licensed software for Windows computers. This program is not available on Mac computers. Software Center may be used to install new software or upgrade existing software without waiting for downloads.

How to use Software Center (Configuration Manager 2012 R2)

  • Software Center (Configuration Manager 2012 R2) will be accessible by double-clicking the "Software Center" icon on your desktop


  • You can also access Software Center from the Start Menu under "Microsoft System Center 2012 R2"

    CM-Software Center Win Start Menu
  • When Software Center opens, you will have a list of available software under the "Available Software" tab

    Software Center 1

Note: You can select one or more applications then click Install
 

  • The "Installation Status" tab will show the progress of the applications being installed If the application does not install correctly, you will have an option to Reinstall


  • The Installed Software Tab is not presently used but as we obtain new software deployments the use of this tab will display software that have been installed correctly on the machine. Installed content in the Installed Software tab will give you the option to uninstall, as you can see in the bottom right-hand corner of the image below:

Software Center 3




  • Work Information can be set to tell SCCM what hours you are using in the office. SCCM can be configured to automatically deploy and install Software and Updates outside of your normal business hours. If your machine has not installed its update by the deployment manadatory deadline your machine will install updates regardless of the work information scheduled hours.


 

Mandatory Software Installs

  • When a mandatory deployment is deployed, it is an optional until the date displayed at the top. Typically Updates are released on a Monday and become mandatory a week later. Once the deadline passes, however, the installation will be forced through automatically. You will see a balloon that will notify you that a mandatory deployment is scheduled. If you click on that balloon, it will give you the following screen where you can choose what you want to do in regards to the new software deployment:

  • If you choose Apply all required changes now, the install will happen immediately, which may cause the computer to restart.
  • If you choose Apply all required changes outside of my business hours it will honor the outside business hours schedule set in Software Center under the Options tab.

Business hours are set to 5am-10pm Monday-Friday by default. You may click the "View my configured business hours" link to view what you currently have them set as in the Software Center. You can see the default business hours set in Software Center in the snapshot below:

 Software Center - Mandatory 2

If the prompt is ignored, it will force an install after 3 days at the time stated in the message box.

 

  • You can set your preferences for how Software Center applies changes to your machine by going into Options > Computer maintenance. If you would like all changes to be applied outside of your specified business hours then you need to make sure the first box under Computer maintenance is checked as shown in the image below:

    Software Center - Mandatory 4

Make sure to hit the Apply button in the bottom right-hand corner to save any changes you have made to the options in Software Center.

 

Windows Updates

  • The Monday after the second Tuesday of the month Information Technology Services releases Microsoft updates and other third party updates to Campus. There is a second deployment scheduled exactly two weeks later for any patches that were released outside the normal release schedule. When these monthly updates become available the user will see this notification. They will see this notification once per day until the deadline gets closer. It will then repeat more often until the deadline.

Software Center - Updates

  • The Software Center will have the updates available and will show the deadline to install.

 

Users can click Schedule (bottom of Software Center under Installation Status) to install the updates before the deadline is reached.

Software Center - Schedule button

  • Users have the option for the install to take place at that time (they can choose when they need to reboot after the installation), or after business hours. If they choose after business hours they should choose 'Restart automatically after installation if needed.' The computer will reboot after two hours.

Software Center Schedule

  • After the install, users will see this notification:

  • Users have the option to 'Restart now,' or to remind them later. The users must restart the computer before the deadline or the computer will install updates and restart once the deadline is reached.

  • Users can also right click the 'Software Changes' icon and click 'View Required Software.'

  • Users will have the same options. They can have the updates install at the current time or schedule them after business hours.

  • After the deadline, the updates will install and give users two hours to reboot until it reboots automatically.

 

  • Restarts are required for security updates to take effect.