March, 2012

Are you passionate about creating software that is essential to the adoption of Microsoft’s “Big bet” products and services such as Windows Azure, the next version of Windows, Office 365, Windows Intune, Hyper-V Cloud, and System Center 2012? Are you seeking an opportunity to join a small startup-oriented, fast-paced, agile team where you will fully leverage your exceptional technical skills towards the task of shaping the vision, planning, engineering and shipping of production-ready software?

The Solution Accelerators Team is seeking a technically sharp, results-driven, customer-focused Senior Software Development Engineer who is looking to make a huge impact on future versions of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (www.microsoft.com/mdt) and new client and datacenter related solutions.

For more information, see the full job posting:

https://careers.microsoft.com/jobdetails.aspx?jid=70102

Reliable and Flexible OS Deployment—now with support for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 RC2

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 RC1 is available for download on Connect now.

New Connect members join the MDT 2012 RC1 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!

Support for Configuration Manager 2012 RC2: This update provides support for Configuration Manager 2012 RC2 releases. MDT 2012 fully leverages the capabilities provided by Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. The latest version of MDT offers new User-Driven Installation components and extensibility for Configuration Manager 2007 and 2012. Users now also have the ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012.

Customize deployment questions: For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions.

Ease Lite Touch installation: The Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) is now integrated with Lite Touch Installation, providing remote control and diagnostics. New monitoring capabilities are available to check on the status of currently running deployments. LTI now has an improved deployment wizard user experience. Enhanced partitioning support ensures that deployments work regardless of the current structure.

Secure Deployments: MDT 2012 offers integration with the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows deployment from the start.

Reliability and flexibility: Existing MDT users will find more reliability and flexibility with the many small enhancements and bug fixes and a smooth and simple upgrade process.

Support for Windows 8: The RC1 release of MDT 2012 provides support for deploying Windows 8 Consumer Preview in a lab environment.

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

Download the MDT 2012 RC1 release.

Tell us what you think! Test drive our release and send us your constructive feedback through the Connect site. We value your input; this is the perfect opportunity to be heard.

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.