November, 2011

Reliable and Flexible OS Deployment—now with support for System Center Configuration Manager 2012

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Beta 2 is available for download on Connect now.

New Connect members join the MDT 2012 Beta 2 program now. (Windows Live ID required)
Existing Connect members bookmark this link to get the latest project details.

New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever! For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 Beta 2 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions. MDT 2012 makes full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. MDT 2012 integrates with configuration templates from the Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows installation from the beginning of the deployment. Download the latest version of MDT and improve your deployment experience. Existing MDT users will find more reliability and flexibility with the many small enhancements and bug fixes and a smooth and simple upgrade process.

The latest version of MDT offers new User-Driven Installation components and extensibility for Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2012. MDT 2012 offers integration with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) for Lite Touch Installation remote control and diagnostics. Beta users now also have the ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012. MDT 2012 offers improved support for Configuration Manager 2012 while still supporting Configuration Manager 2007. New monitoring capabilities for currently running deployments ease Lite Touch Installation through an improved deployment wizard user experience, and enhanced partitioning support ensures that deployments work regardless of the current structure.

Key Benefits:

Full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment.
Improved Lite Touch user experience and functionality.
A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users.

New Features:

For System Center Configuration Manager customers:

Support for Configuration Manager 2012 (while still supporting Configuration Manager 2007)
New User-Driven Installation components for Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2012

Extensible wizard and designer, additional integration with Configuration Manager to deliver a more customized OS experience, support for more imaging scenarios, and an enhanced end-user deployment experience

Ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012

For Lite Touch Installation:

Integration with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) for remote control and diagnostics
New monitoring capabilities to see the progress of currently running deployments
Support for deploying Windows to computers using UEFI
Ability to deploy Windows 7 so that the computer will start from a new VHD file, “Deploy to VHD”
Improved deployment wizard user experience

For all customers:

Integration with configuration templates from the Security Compliance Manager Solution Accelerator, ensuring Windows is secure from the start
A simple mechanism for running Windows PowerShell scripts during a deployment, with task sequence environment and logging integration
Better partitioning support, creating the recommended partitioning structures on new computers and ensuring deployments work regardless of the current structure
A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users
Many small enhancements and bug fixes

Join the MDT 2012 Beta 2.

Tell us what you think! Test drive our beta release and send us your constructive feedback. We value your input; this is the perfect opportunity to be heard. The MDT 2012 Beta 2 will be available for beta download through January 2012.

Tell your peers and customers about Solution Accelerators! Please forward this to anyone who wants to learn more about OS deployment with MDT, and Microsoft Solution Accelerators.

Already using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit? We’d like to hear about your experiences. Please send comments and suggestions to satfdbk@microsoft.com.