Patches for ArcGIS Desktop are made available as individual MECM applications. Any time a new ArcGIS Desktop patch gets a standalone MECM application created, the patch itself also gets bundled with the full ‘4-GS – ESRI ArcGIS Desktop 10.x’ application as well, so fresh installs are always fully patched. It is important to note that the patches themselves only apply to the version of ArcGIS Desktop is was designed for, so a 10.6.1 patch will fail to install on a computer with 10.5 installed. As such, targeting these patches only to the computers that have the specific version of ArcGIS Desktop installed will be very important.
If an appropriate device collection already exists in your environment, you can follow the instructions to create an MECM deployment here.
Creating Device Collection of Computers with ArcGIS Desktop 10.x Already Installed
Open MECM, click on Assets and Compliance and navigate to your local science center’s location.
Right-click the folder and select ‘Create Device Collection’
Set the Name of the collection, and set the limiting collection to at least your Science Center’s ENT All Systems collection
Select ‘Add Rule > Query Rule’
Set the Name of the query and select Edit Query Statement…
In the General tab, click New
Press Select, then enter Attribute Class: System Resource, Attribute: Name, then OK, OK
In the Criteria tab, press the New button
Keep the default Simple value, and press Select. Then choose Attribute class: Installed Software, Attribute: Product Name
Set the Operator: is equal to, Value: ArcGIS Desktop 10.6.1. This value is what appears in the Apps and Features list
Press OK
OK again…
Optionally, you can set the schedule for how often you want the collection to update. Then press Next
Close the wizard once it is complete.
Optional: once the collection exists, you can Right-click it and select ‘Update Membership’, wait a little while (sometimes a few minutes), then select Refresh
Congratulations! Now you have a self-updating collection of computers you can use to deploy ArcGIS Desktop patches!