MDT 2012 Advanced (MDT 2012:Module-2)

At first glance the MDT 2012 UI may look like the previous versions but it has some hidden secrets. The properties of your deployment share control a lot about your deployments. In this session you'll learn how to control driver injection into your WinPEs (both x86 and x64) and .ISO creation. Migrating your XP workstations is completely different than installing to a bare metal machine, learn how to refresh the OS on an existing machine or replace existing machines with new while still maintaining users data and settings. In a perfect world everything should just work right? But we don't live in a perfect world and sometimes things don't work. Find out how to troubleshoot the log files to determine why things didn't work and resolve them quickly to get your deployments moving in the right direction.

Source: Microsoft Technet

Zero Touch Operating System Deployment using MDT & SCCM 2007

This video tutorial / Screencast walks you through all the steps to prepare for a zero touch installation of a Windows image using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2007:

Setup the server environment for ConfigMgr 2007 OS deployment

Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Site Settings

Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Computer Management Settings

Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Operating System Deployment Settings

Setup and use MDT integration with ConfigMgr 2007

Add a reference machine object to ConfigMgr 2007

Create a build and capture reference image for mass deployment using ConfigMgr 2007

Source: Microsoft Technet

MDT 2012—Now Available for Download!!

Microsoft Announced that, the MDT 2012 is now officially available for download.

Download the latest release of MDT 2012 to stay up-to-date on your Operating system deployment needs. New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than before.

Key Benefits:
· Support for Configuration Manager 2012
· Customizable deployment questions
· Ease Lite Touch installation
· Secure deployments
· Reliability and flexibility
· Support for Windows 8

Support for Configuration Manager 2012: 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: MDT 2012 provides support for deploying Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows Server “8” Beta in a lab environment.

MDT works with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit and Security Compliance Manager to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies—easier, faster, and at less cost.

Learn more at Solutionaccelerators


Microsoft Download Center to download MDT 2012


MDT home page

OPK - Windows 7 Deployment Made Easy

"OEM Preinstallation Kit" is very helpful and handy tool to system builders, enterprises or Small organizations who involved in redistributing the PCs in the condition of ready or distribute condition. This kit might be very useful to System builders who are involved in distributing  or reselling of the server or Desktops with pre-installed operating system and applications with customization settings.The OPK is a set of tools and documentation that help you automate Installation Operating system, installation of custom / SOE applications and applying custom settings to your server or desktop builds.

Below link Microsoft link would help you to guide A to Z of Windows 7 OPK

Windows 7 OPK

Video tutorial on "System Builder Basics" by James Kahle   

Part1 , Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5, Part6, Part7, Part8, Part9, Part10

 

 

Building a Standard Image of Windows 7: Step-by-Step Guide

Building standard Image of Windows 7 is same as installing the Windows® 7 operating system from the DVD media, but it uses an operating system image that includes customizations and applications as we wanted to customized as per our organization requirement. This process takes a bit more time to set up but can save you time in the end while deploying the Image to mass.
The guidance in section is designed specifically for small and medium business that may not have prior experience with Windows deployment or do not have enterprise deployment infrastructure.
Also see the following related documents:
Automated Installation to Upgrade to Windows 7: Step-by-Step Guide
Upgrading to Windows 7 with a Standard Image: Overview
Manual Installation of Windows 7: Overview
Automated Installation of Windows 7: Overview
Upgrading to Windows 7 for Small and Midsized Businesses

Quick video tour