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Software Updates Deployment Evaluation Cycle asks the Configuration Manager client to evaluate software-update deployments it already knows about. It can start the scan and deployment workflow that leads to downloading and installing applicable updates, but it is not a command to install every available update immediately. Policy receipt, deployment settings, maintenance windows, content availability, and restart requirements still govern what happens next.
Use this guide for Configuration Manager current branch clients. Some client versions show a shortened action name, such as Software Update Evaluation Cycle; it refers to the same action.
What the deployment evaluation cycle does
A software-update deployment is created at the site and assigned to devices or collections. The client must first receive the assignment policy. The deployment evaluation cycle then evaluates assignments known to the client, initiates the associated compliance and applicability workflow, and determines whether deployed updates are needed. If they are, the client proceeds with content download and enforcement according to the deployment’s rules.
A simplified sequence is:
- The client receives deployment policy through machine-policy processing.
- The deployment agent evaluates the assignment and requests the necessary detection or compliance scan.
- Scan Agent and Windows Update Agent process the scan using the software update point path.
- Configuration Manager determines which deployed updates apply and are required.
- Required update content is downloaded when needed.
- Installation and any restart occur when the deployment’s deadline, user-experience settings, maintenance-window rules, and other conditions permit.
- The client reports evaluation, compliance, and installation state.
This workflow is described in Microsoft’s software update deployment tracking guidance and software updates overview.
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The action does not create a deployment, synchronize the software update point, refresh a collection, or retrieve a deployment assignment that the client has not received. Nor does an evaluation result alone prove that the update was downloaded, installed, or reported successfully.
Choose the right client action
| Action | What it does | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle | Requests and evaluates machine policy from the management point. | A new or changed deployment may not have reached the client, or the deployment is missing from client policy. |
| Software Updates Scan Cycle | Requests a software-update compliance scan to assess update applicability and state. | The client has policy, but applicability or compliance data appears stale or incomplete. |
| Software Updates Deployment Evaluation Cycle | Evaluates software-update assignments already known to the client and processes their deployment workflow. | The deployment is known, but its evaluation or progress in Software Center or deployment status appears stalled. |
These actions are related, but they are not interchangeable. Running deployment evaluation cannot make a client process an assignment it has never received. Similarly, a scan can refresh applicability without retrieving missing policy.
A practical decision path
- A newly deployed update is not visible: run Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle, confirm policy receipt, then run deployment evaluation. If applicability remains stale, run Software Updates Scan Cycle.
- The deployment is visible but compliance looks stale: run Software Updates Scan Cycle, then deployment evaluation if deployment state has not caught up.
- The deployment is known but has not been evaluated: run deployment evaluation and inspect
UpdatesDeployment.log. - The update is required but will not download or install: evaluation may be useful, but check content availability, deadlines, maintenance windows, user-experience settings, and restart state rather than repeatedly triggering the cycle.
Configuration Manager also has recurring client schedules. The default software-update scan schedule and deployment reevaluation schedule are each seven days; intervals configured below one day are changed to one day. Scan scheduling can include a random delay of up to two hours to spread requests to the software update point. Those defaults describe recurring schedules, not a wait imposed on a manual trigger. See Microsoft’s client settings documentation.
Run the action on the device
- Sign in to the target Windows device.
- Open Run or Command Prompt and enter
Control smscfgrc. - In the Configuration Manager client applet, open the Actions tab.
- Select Software Updates Deployment Evaluation Cycle (or the shortened equivalent shown by that client) and choose Initiate Action.
- Check the client logs to see whether evaluation and subsequent steps succeeded.
This is in the Configuration Manager client applet, not Software Center. Software Center is the user-facing place to see available software and updates; the applet exposes client actions. The local path is also shown in the HTMD Blog article on this client action.
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Trigger evaluation remotely
Configuration Manager console notification
For an online client that can receive client notifications, select a device or collection in the Configuration Manager console and use Client Notification > Evaluate software update deployments. This requests the corresponding evaluation action remotely. It does not retrieve missing machine policy, so retrieve policy separately if the client has not received the deployment. See Microsoft’s client notification guidance.
PowerShell and the SMS_Client WMI method
Microsoft documents the SMS_Client WMI class method TriggerSchedule. The schedule ID for Software Updates Assignments Evaluation Cycle is {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000108}. Run locally on the client in an elevated PowerShell session:
Invoke-CimMethod `
-Namespace 'rootCCM' `
-ClassName SMS_Client `
-MethodName TriggerSchedule `
-Arguments @{
sScheduleID = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000108}'
}A legacy WMI invocation is:
([wmiclass]'rootccm:SMS_Client').TriggerSchedule(
'{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000108}'
)Microsoft documents the method and schedule identifier in the TriggerSchedule reference. Check the returned result: 0 indicates the method succeeded; a nonzero result indicates an error. A successful method return confirms only that the trigger request was accepted, not that evaluation completed or updates installed.
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For automation, keep actions explicit rather than conflating policy retrieval, scan, and assignment evaluation. A script that chooses among common client actions can use these IDs:
$ScheduleIds = @{
MachinePolicy = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000021}'
UpdateAssignments = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000108}'
UpdateScan = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000113}'
StateMessage = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000111}'
}
Invoke-CimMethod `
-Namespace 'rootCCM' `
-ClassName SMS_Client `
-MethodName TriggerSchedule `
-Arguments @{ sScheduleID = $ScheduleIds.UpdateAssignments }Verify identifiers against current Microsoft documentation and test with the client versions your organization supports. Remote CIM or PowerShell remoting additionally depends on connectivity, permissions, firewall and remoting configuration; it cannot reach an offline device. For Configuration Manager scripts or large collections, log target devices and return codes, phase or throttle execution, and avoid triggering a large fleet simultaneously.
Follow the workflow in client logs
Client logs are generally under C:WindowsCCMLogs. A healthy path often looks like this: policy receipt, assignment evaluation, scan request, Windows Update Agent scan, applicability results, content transfer, enforcement, and state reporting. The exact entries vary by client version and deployment conditions.
| Log | What to check | What it helps establish |
|---|---|---|
PolicyAgent.log |
Policy download and assignment policy receipt | Whether the client received policy. |
PolicyEvaluator.log |
Policy compilation and evaluation | Whether received policy was processed. |
Scheduler.log |
Trigger scheduling and deadline activity | Whether the client scheduler created or fired the relevant trigger. |
UpdatesDeployment.log |
Assignment activation, evaluation, enforcement, and deployment state | Whether the deployment agent evaluated and acted on the assignment. |
ScanAgent.log |
Scan requests and software update point selection | Whether a scan was requested and where it was directed. |
WUAHandler.log |
Windows Update Agent search and scan results | Whether the update search completed or encountered an error. |
UpdatesHandler.log |
Scan, download, and installation activity | Whether work progressed beyond assignment evaluation. |
UpdatesStore.log |
Compliance state from scans | Which updates were assessed as required or installed. |
ContentTransferManager.log and DataTransferService.log |
Content transfer jobs | Whether download requests were created and completed. |
CAS.log |
Cache and content access | Whether content was available to the client. |
ServiceWindowManager.log |
Maintenance-window evaluation | Whether an installation was blocked by a maintenance window. |
RebootCoordinator.log |
Restart coordination | Whether restart state affects completion. |
StateMessage.log |
State messages sent to the management point | Whether client state was reported. |
Microsoft’s Configuration Manager log reference details these logs. Do not treat a line in UpdatesDeployment.log as proof of a completed installation: follow the evidence into scan, content-transfer, maintenance-window, restart, and state-message logs as appropriate.
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- The client lacks the assignment policy. Run machine-policy retrieval and inspect
PolicyAgent.logandPolicyEvaluator.log. - The update does not apply. Product, architecture, language, operating-system version, applicability rules, supersedence, or an already-installed state can make an update not required. Check
UpdatesStore.logand scan logs. - The deployment is Available rather than Required. Evaluation can make an update available in Software Center without automatically installing it.
- The deadline is in the future. Evaluation can succeed well before enforcement is due.
- A maintenance window is not open. Installation may wait for a suitable window unless deployment settings allow installation outside it. Check
ServiceWindowManager.logand deployment settings. - Content cannot be obtained. The update may be required but unable to download because it is not distributed, a distribution point is unreachable, the boundary group or location is unsuitable, or the client cannot access the source. Inspect
UpdatesHandler.log,CAS.log, and transfer logs. - User-experience or restart settings affect enforcement. Notifications, deferrals, restart suppression, and pending restart state can delay completion. Inspect
RebootCoordinator.logand the deployment configuration. - The client or scan path is unhealthy. A trigger does not repair a broken Configuration Manager client, WMI provider, WSUS/SUP connection, Windows Update Agent, certificate, proxy, or scan metadata. Check
ScanAgent.logandWUAHandler.log, then investigate the relevant client or update-service health issue. - State reporting is delayed. Installation or compliance may have changed locally while the site or console still shows older state. Check
UpdatesStore.logandStateMessage.log.
Software-update content is downloaded to the client cache regardless of the configured maximum cache-size setting, according to Microsoft’s software update deployment guidance. That does not guarantee content is available: it can still be unreachable or no longer cached and need to be downloaded again.
Symptom-to-action troubleshooting
| Symptom | First step | Next evidence to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| New deployment is absent | Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle | PolicyAgent.log, PolicyEvaluator.log |
| Deployment is visible, but applicability or compliance is stale | Software Updates Scan Cycle | ScanAgent.log, WUAHandler.log, UpdatesStore.log |
| Deployment is known but evaluation has not progressed | Software Updates Deployment Evaluation Cycle | UpdatesDeployment.log, Scheduler.log |
| Update is required but is not downloading | Check deployment evaluation, then troubleshoot content | UpdatesHandler.log, CAS.log, ContentTransferManager.log, DataTransferService.log |
| Update downloaded but is not installing | Check deadline, deployment options, and maintenance window | ServiceWindowManager.log, UpdatesDeployment.log |
| Installation completed but status looks wrong | Refresh evaluation or scan as appropriate; verify reporting | UpdatesStore.log, StateMessage.log |
| Remote trigger does not reach clients | Check client online status and notification path | Console client activity and, where applicable, CcmNotificationAgent.log |
| Updates repeatedly become required or reinstall | Check reevaluation behavior and whether an update is being removed | Client settings, applicability, and UpdatesDeployment.log |
Operational notes
Use the cycle to request evaluation, not as a substitute for diagnosing why the workflow is blocked. For a single client, a manual trigger is a useful troubleshooting step. Across a collection, large numbers of simultaneous scans or evaluations can create avoidable load on clients and update infrastructure; phase or throttle automation and verify results from logs and deployment state. For end-to-end deployment behavior, see Microsoft’s software update deployment documentation.
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