Overview
Technical Preview 1701 for System Center Configuration Manager has just been released, and a new hardware inventory class (SMS_Firmware) and property (UEFI) are now available to help customers determine whether a computer is configured to UEFI mode.
When a computer is running in UEFI mode, the UEFI property is set to TRUE (1). Computers that are not started in UEFI mode will have a value of 0. This is enabled in hardware inventory by default.
Windows 10 Security features
Most enterprise customers want to move to Windows 10 to benefit from some of the great security improvements like Device Guard or Credential Guard. The problem is that many of these new features requires that Windows 10 is running in UEFI mode.
This update in SCCM 1701 TP will help customers to get the information they need to make the right decisions when planning the Windows 10 migration path.
For example, if you want to offer in-place upgrade to Windows 8.1 clients that are already running UEFI mode you can create a simple collection query like this:
I really hope this feature will make it in to the next release of System Center Configuration Manager Current Branch (Expected to be version 1702).
Secure Boot
To complete this story we still need to inventory the Secure Boot state. Hopefully this will be added in the future.
If you also want this feature you can vote for it here:
https://configurationmanager.uservoice.com/forums/300492-ideas/suggestions/17801059-hardware-inventory-sould-include-secure-boot-state
In the meantime Mike Terrill (@miketerrill) has a great blog on how this can be done right here:
https://miketerrill.net/2015/10/11/inventory-secure-boot-state-and-uefi-with-configmgr/
/Enjoy
