SCCM updates: User Experience - Reboot notifications
Here is the User experience for the update process as I understand it:
1. System tray balloon appears saying 'software changes are required'
2. System tray balloon appears saying 'downloading and installing software'
3. System tray balloon appears saying 'Restart required: Recently installed updates require your machine to be restarted'
4. *It is here I would like the larger temporary notification reboot window to appear but it doesn't.
5. Permanent notification reboot window appears and stays on the screen
I would like option 4 to be possible. Without this it seems quite easy for users to miss seeing the balloon notification and therefore not know that a restart is coming.
It would be good if there was an option in Client Settings > Computer Restart to automatically show the temporary restart notification window. It would also be good if there was an option here to permanently set the 'SCNotification.exe' in Notification Area Icons to 'show icon and notification' to further improve the visibility to users of pending restarts so they know to save their work before they leave their computer for lunch or when they go home.
I've attached an image of the temporary notification window I am talking about
Thanks,
Andrew
andrewjohnporter
shared this idea
AdminMark Silvey - ConfigMgr Product Team
(Admin, System Center Configuration Manager)
responded
Updating to started since this just shipped in the 1902 technical preview.
101 comments
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JC1600
commented
Glad to see these new notifications features in 1902 TP! :)
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/get-started/2019/technical-preview-1902
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Greg Isett
commented
Since you have the fast channel... and you’ll soon have customizable reboot notifications. Could we send a message to clients via fast channel to cause them to display a popup box containing not the reboot message but the text we send via fast channel?
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andrewjohnporter
commented
When I spoke with the SCCM team in December they said they were looking into it but I imagine it's a difficult one to tackle because of the differing opinions of what people what the notifications to be like.
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Anonymous
commented
Hello Andrew, for when is this scheduled?
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ConfigMgrRSC
commented
Integration with the windows 10 notification center would also be very useful :)
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Anonymous
commented
I would agree that the little notification that pops indicating a reboot is needed doesn’t stay up long enough most users miss it. If when the initial reboot notification opened the reboot countdown window above the clock and stay there until the user clicks hide and then stays for the specified time like it currently has the option would be better.
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Anonymous
commented
Please increase the maximum reboot countdown. We requrire a countdown in the order of two weeks to allow academics running long simulations time to complete them.
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Jeff
commented
If possible, just though.. also roll in option to do full scan on reboot prior to doing a full evaluation cycle on restart / prior to initiating any further installs.
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Tim
commented
Displaying all notifications each time the screen is unlocked or the users log in might help here also.
Bright, obnoxious high contrast colors too. -
Tim
commented
A fully customizable notification process would be great.
Up to 6 different notifications
1. Available
2. Downloading
3. Installing
4. Reboot pending
5. Scanning Post reboot status, more updates waiting or no updates pending.
If more updates waiting, repeat the notification until none are pending.Ideally each notification step would have customizable text and a pop up timer (how long to keep the pop up alive) as well as a options to allow user interaction (close or not close pop up), how many times and how often to repeat.
A transparent notification across the desktop with a timer until reboot or deadline would be amazing too!!
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L U
commented
Anonymous (2019-01-11), wouldn't you want the updates 'availability' to be notified clearly well before the deadline when they install; that is, make a long 'available' window before the deadline? Get them installed before your researchers commit to a long simulation. You really don't want the updates to be applied during the simulation but pending restart for such a long time while the system is doing production work where you have so much invested. Updates pending-restart can cause crashes.
If you use a special collection for those machines with the long simulation workloads (deploy to them with long 'available' window with a later 'deadline') and use the main collection for the rest (with a shorter 'available' window to get the updates in sooner), then I think you'll get a better result.
To achieve that, we need noisy 'available' notifications. -
Anonymous
commented
Please increase the Maximum reboot countdown to be more like two weeks rather than 24 hours.
We have researchers that run long simulations, and a 24hr countdown risks them losing long simulations. -
Tstolswo
commented
A method to identify the specific cause of a reboot notification would also be quite handy.
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Anonymous
commented
This should be a priority honestly. The balloon notifications have been an issue for years, and we really need the ability to have more persistent notifications. We've resorted to making updates required in our environment, and we hide all notifications to users because the balloon notifications just don't cut it. Ideally I would want to be able to launch the "View Required Software" window in place of the Toast notification. Currently the user needs to click the balloon for that window to pop up, but by default that balloon only shows up for 5 seconds, and the users never click it.
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Ben Walter
commented
I agree with this. My users don't notice the initial system tray notification, and then complain that they have not been given enough time when the main restart window appears. If I was to set the main notification to appear immediately, they would complain that the message gets in the way and they can't hide it.
Ideally we would like the restart window to appear immediately, but with the option for the user to click postpone for a configurable number of minutes. Then the window would keep reappearing until the user either clicks reboot, or they are forced to reboot by the final permanent notification.
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Kelly Walsingham
commented
Allow more options like defferal for up to 2 hours and even have the number of hours allowed to be managed at the client settings level. And option to add customizable text so you can warn users that once they click restart it could take up to 20 minutes to apply all patches as it restarts etc.
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L U
commented
PowerShell AppDeploy Toolkit has interesting smarts regarding notifications, not just for potential restarts, but managing user expectations around applications that must be closed during product installs. A truly integrated solution would look at the technical/user interaction of product install from end-to-end, not just at restart.
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L U
commented
We have Available period before Deadline. Would like clearer messages at time of Available, cusomizable to repeatedly and persistently inform users of our schedule and what to expect, to encourage co-operation for earlier, less painful compliance.
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Bob Clements
commented
Specific to the Windows 10 IPU: I would like to see an option for users to 'Schedule my upgrade (or maintenance)'. When selected, users get a date/time picker (similar to Outlook appointment scheduling). From there they can choose a time that does not surpass the scheduled deadline. The default required time is 90 minutes, but admins can configure the value in the properties of the TS.
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Sven Mattheus
commented
Believe there are 2 things which could be improved:
1. SCNotification (especially / at least when indicating a pending reboot) should go not only to Win10's Action Center, but more important: should remain a "visible" icon on the Taskbar (in the foreground by default / not hidden away!) - so that a user is better aware of the pending reboot.
2. Leverage Win10 user configurable settings like "Active Hours and Restart Options " into the SCCM agent ( e.g. "Business Hours" ) for a more seamless experience. Users do not understand why they should configure these settings in 2 different locations...