Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is now available for download on Microsoft Connect. BDD 2007 provides end-to-end guidance and automation for large scale deployment of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System.

BDD 2007 RC1 is feature complete and has been updated to support the released version of the User State Migration Toolkit (USMT) 3.0. BDD 2007 RC1 includes a new version of the standalone task sequencer derived from System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Documentation is now complete and has also released to web at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/bdd/2007/default.mspx.

This release supports Windows Vista and Windows XP imaging and deployment. For more information, please see the Release Notes included with BDD 2007 RC1.

Where to Find BDD 2007

BDD 2007 RC1 is available as an open beta download, visit http://connect.microsoft.com and navigate to the Downloads page for the "Business Desktop Deployment 2007 (RC1) for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system" program. Dependent tools such as the Windows AIK and USMT3 are downloaded from the Workbench.

Please send your comments and feedback to cisfdbk@microsoft.com or through the Connect site.

Feel free to forward this mail to anyone who may be interested.

Thank you for participating in the Business Desktop Deployment 2007 (RC1) for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system program

BDD Team

Solution Accelerators - Management and Infrastructure

It's the first major conference since the release of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System, so it should be an interesting show.

I'll do my part.  I have a full day of preconference sessions on Monday, and seven other sessions throughout the week.

If you're in Barcelona this week, be sure to look me up.

Soon enough, it will be here.  Are you prepared?  If you want to read more about Windows Vista, check out this month's TechNet Magazine, available online at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/.  I have an article in this issue, entitled 10 Things You Need to Know about Deploying Windows Vista.  I hope it gives you some things to think about.

Interested in deploying Windows Vista or the 2007 Office system?  You can listen and watch my TechNet webcast Friday, September 29.  The details:

Title: TechNet Webcast: Deploying Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System Using BDD 2007 (Level 300)

Presenter: Michael Niehaus

Attendee Registration URL: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032306976&Culture=en-US

So tonight I will be working on the demos for tomorrow's session.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute :-)

We've been busy adding capabilities into BDD 2007 Beta 2, now available for download.  See the full announcement below.

-Michael Niehaus
 BDD 2007 Developer
 Systems Design Engineer
 Core Infrastructure Solutions
 mniehaus@microsoft.com

BDD 2007 Beta Updated for Windows Vista RC1

Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 Beta 2 is now available for download on Microsoft Connect. BDD 2007 provides end-to-end guidance and automation for large-scale deployment of Microsoft® Windows Vista™ and the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

BDD 2007 Beta 2 has been updated to support Windows Vista RC1 and now includes guidance and automation for Zero Touch Installation (ZTI) using Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 as well as image creation of Microsoft Windows® XP desktop images.

BDD 2007 Beta 2 extends Beta 1 with the following key features:

• Zero Touch Installation (ZTI) using SMS 2003 (requires OSD Update build 3726) in addition to Lite Touch Installation (LTI) when SMS 2003 is not in place.
• Windows XP desktop image creation.
• x64 hardware (running Windows XP or Windows Vista).
• BDD Workbench installation of the Windows AIK during first use.
• Windows Deployment Services images for Refresh, Replace, New, and Upgrade scenarios.
• BDD Workbench now builds the set of files needed for SMS 2003 OS Deployment Feature Pack package creation.
• Office 2007 deployment is integrated into the BDD Workbench to build the source share, create, and populate the application selection screens.
• New OS source move feature—faster than copy when adding a new OS to Workbench and the source is the same drive—primarily added to enhance demos and training.
• Application grouping with dependency checking.
• Product ID key handling for Windows XP and Windows Vista deployment scenarios.
• Removable media deploy points and better filtering to reduce media size.
• Fewer restrictions on version mixing of newer WAIK and Vista releases.  Version checks now performed and detected issues are displayed.
• User State Migration Tool (USMT) update for Windows Vista RC1.

This Beta release of BDD 2007 is not feature complete; some documents in this release are legacy documents from BDD 2.5 and are currently receiving updates for Windows Vista. Release versions of BDD 2007 will add complete documentation and support for Windows XP image deployment, language pack deployment using ZTI and multiple partition handling. For more information, please see the Release Notes included with BDD 2007 Beta 2.

Where to Find the Accelerator

BDD 2007 Beta 2 is part of the Windows Vista Tech Beta and TAP programs. It is also available as an open beta download.

Visit http://connect.microsoft.com and apply for the Business Desktop Deployment 2007 (Beta) for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system program.

Please send your comments and feedback to cisfdbk@microsoft.com.