July, 2012

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1 Beta 1 is available for download on Connect now.

• New Connect members join the MDT 2012 Update 1 Beta 1 program now. (Windows Live ID required)
• Existing Connect members bookmark this link to get the latest project details.

This release expands your deployment capabilities with support for the latest software releases, including Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate, and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Community Technology Preview. 

New features include:

• Support for using the DaRT 8 Beta with the Windows 8 Release Preview version of the Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK).
• New “Build Your Own Pages” support for User-Driven Installation (UDI), enabling IT pros to create new wizard panes using simple drag-and-drop operations – no coding required.
• Integration with System Center Orchestrator, enabling task sequences to invoke Orchestrator runbooks at any point in the deployment process.
• Completely reworked “Roles and Features” logic, supporting both installation and removal, as well as providing a new Lite Touch wizard pane for selecting roles and features to install at deploy time.
• Support for PowerShell 3.0 to make it easier to run PowerShell scripts inside task sequences on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows PE 4.0.
• Simple monitoring functionality for Configuration Manager task sequences, leveraging the monitoring capabilities provided initially in MDT 2012 for Lite Touch deployments.
• Improved “boot from VHD” deployment capabilities, supporting both bare metal and refresh deployments.

Download MDT 2012 Update 1 Beta 1 now.

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.