Configure Maintenance Windows in System Center Configuration Manager

In this video we will see how to configure maintenance windows in system center configuration manager. When you deploy updates, there is no way to define an exact time for updates that should be installed. Instead, we can define a time when updates become mandatory. This could cause issues to your users and your servers if updates install at random times post the deadline. In such cases Maintenance Windows solves the issue. Maintenance windows allows admins to define time period when various Configuration Manager operations can be carried out on members of device collection. This is a very nice feature that can be very helpful.

How to Configure Maintenance Windows in System Center Configuration Manager

You can create single or multiple maintenance windows on a single collection.
Assume that a computer is member of a device collection that has a maintenance
window configured. The deployment program runs only when maximum allowed run time
does not exceed the duration configured for the maintenance window. In case the
program fails to run; an alert is generated. The deployment will be re-run during
the next scheduled maintenance window that has available time.

Then how about if a system belongs to multiple collections? In such cases it is
also subject to the maintenance windows of those collections. So the effective
maintenance windows for such system is the combined schedule specified in all the
maintenance windows of all the collections of which a system is a member.

Note – You cannot create maintenance windows for the All Systems collection. This
limitation is set by Microsoft. You have to apply the maintenance windows to other
device collections. Be aware of this when setting up your collections and maintenance
windows.

Launch the ConfigMgr console. Click on Assets and Compliance
Overview, Device Collections.
Select the collection and right click on the collection and click Properties.
Click on Maintenance Windows tab and click on New Icon. This will now bring up schedule window.

Configure Maintenance Windows in System Center Configuration ManagerSpecify a name and set the schedule as per your requirement. Choose the recurrence schedule. At the bottom, there is an option to apply the schedule to all deployments, software updates or only task sequences. Choose your desired option and click OK.

Configure Maintenance Windows in System Center Configuration ManagerClick on OK to close the properties box.

Configure Maintenance Windows in System Center Configuration ManagerNote – We can bypass or ignore the maintenance windows. Select the Software update installation check box under the Deadline behavior section on the User Experience tab of a deployment.