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ConfigMgr 2012 R2 Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2? Understanding Your Upgrade Options

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With the recent release of ConfigMgr 2012 Service Pack 2 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 Service Pack 1 in preparation for Windows 10, there has been a lot of confusion arise in the community around which Service Packs are required to be applied to your environment.

To help assist you in determining which Service Pack(s) you will need to apply in your environment, please refer to the below table.

Before upgrading your environment please ensure you review the Planning to Upgrade System Center 2012 Configuration Manager article to ensure you meet all requirements.

 

Starting Version Desired End Version Service Pack 2 Required R2 Service Pack 1 Required
ConfigMgr 2012 RTM ConfigMgr 2012 SP2 Yes No
ConfigMgr 2012 RTM ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 Yes Yes
ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 ConfigMgr 2012 SP2 Yes No
ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 Yes Yes
ConfigMgr 2012 R2 ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 Yes No
New install ConfigMgr 2012 SP2 Yes No
New Install ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 Yes Yes

 

PLEASE NOTE:

  • If you planning on enabling R2 features as part of your upgrade by running the R2 Service Pack 1 update, please ensure you are licensed for R2 features.
  • If you are already running R2 there is no need to run the R2 Service Pack 1 update as the R2 features will already be enabled in your environment.

 

There are also a number of great post already published outlining the complete upgrade process - Installing ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1

 

This has been a quick post and all information is provided as is.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 18, 2015
    Thanks Ian. This makes it all alot clearer!
  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2015
    This doesn't account for the fact that both of the products version numbers are identical apparently. So are they different products in all fairness or are they the same product?
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2015
    Can you please clarify this sentence?

    "If you are already running R2 there is no need to run the R2 Service Pack 1 update as the R2 features will already be enabled in your environment"

    Was there supposed to be a superscript 1 or something that this specific statement relates to, or are you saying there is generally no need to update to R2 SP1?
  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2015
    @Glenn

    I found this information on the Planning to Upgrade page, which cleared up my confusion:

    Service pack 2 provides a bundle of updates and fixes that apply equally to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 and System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager. The same update is applied to either product to bring your deployment the benefit of these updates while maintaining your current version.

    The version of your site after upgrading to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2 depends on the pre-upgrade version:

    - System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager: After installing service pack 2 your new site version will automatically update to System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1.

    - System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1: After installing service pack 2 your new site version will be System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2.
  • Anonymous
    August 06, 2015
    I am gonna be honest, I am still confused about the versioning. What is the difference (clearly spelled out) between ConfigMgr 2012 SP2 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1?

    I am currently running version 5.00.7958.1000 Build number 7958, which is ConfigMgr 2012 R2. Now, I know I donwloaded CU5, but what isnt it releected on my console that way? My client version on an endpoint is 5.00.7958.1604. Not sure why the difference.

    In looking into the versioning and updates that are released, I am not sure what I should be running. I am due to go live and flip from 2007 in a few weeks.

    What is the advantage of one over the other? Can someone please definitely tell me what version I should be running? I want to be running on the latest and greatest before conversion.

    Thanks.
  • Anonymous
    September 18, 2015
    I love this.. to upgrade R2 to R2 SP1, SP2 is required, but not R2 SP1. Why is a raven like a writing desk? lololol
  • Anonymous
    March 03, 2016
    Is licensing a factor in this upgrade? (Referencing the "Please Note" section above). Our upgrade from SCCM 2012 Sp1 to sp2 went without incident. We have the correct build number; 5.0.8239.1000. When we run the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 sp1 it runs without errors but the site does not upgrade. About System Center Configuration Manager still shows "System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2" and the R2 features we are needing are still not available. Do I need a new License Key to enable the R2 features?
    • Anonymous
      March 07, 2016
      I don't believe the install (or individual features) is blocked with an 'unlicensed' key. You'll need to dig further into the site upgrade logs.