- What is microsoft toolkit how to#
- What is microsoft toolkit install#
- What is microsoft toolkit drivers#
- What is microsoft toolkit Patch#
- What is microsoft toolkit software#
While a free product, using MDT will incur some indirect costs.
What is microsoft toolkit drivers#
Moreover, MDT allows for dynamic driver selection by querying the target physical machine for make and model, and then deploying hardware drivers for that specific model computer (example: Dell Latitude D430) to the target machine. These drivers are maintained by the vendors and updated frequently. These drivers are wrapped in CAB files that can be imported directly into the MDT Workbench. For this reason, Microsoft consultants generally recommend adopting the thin or hybrid image approach.įinally, it’s important to note that hardware drivers are often provided by major notebook and desktop vendors like Lenovo, Dell, HP, etc. However, it should be noted that adoption of thick images creates additional complexity since it will require numerous reference virtual machines and the maintenance of applications on these machines.
What is microsoft toolkit Patch#
The system administrator should only have to patch virtual machines on occasion, and updates to applications will be infrequent. Once the MDT environment is set up, hardware drivers and applications are imported, task sequences are created, and reference virtual machines are configured. Its integration with Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines is straightforward, although ease of use favors Hyper-V since it is a Microsoft product and has more direct integration with WIM and VHDX image files.Īnother perk: Ongoing maintenance is minimal. Because this is a Microsoft product, it is practical for any Windows-based IT shop.
Phone support is available at additional cost but should not be necessary. As such, product support will come by submitting questions to Microsoft’s TechNet forums where they will be answered by qualified MDT specialists. The primary advantage of adopting MDT is simply that it is a free product supported by Microsoft.
Now that we have a basic understanding of the inner workings of MDT, let’s dig into some of the benefits.
What is microsoft toolkit install#
In MDT 2013, a new task sequence was adopted known as a “Post OS Installation Task Sequence.” For physical machines that already ship with a fully patched operating system, a Post OS Installation Task Sequence can be used to install third party applications, unattended. Applications can be “added” to the Deployment Workbench (MMC snap-in) on the MDT server, which can then be added to a task sequence. A hybrid approach to image deployment is to install applications after the operating system is installed and patched. Sometimes a company has already adopted a set of standard applications for a specific department, so a “thick” image may be more useful since they would already contain the applications on top of the fully patched operating system. When the reference virtual machine has no third-party applications installed on top of the operating system, this is known as a “thin” image. This installation media contains a Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) which is used to push an image to the target machine without interference from the underlying operating system. When the system administrator is ready to deploy an image on a target machine, he or she will mount the LiteTouch ISO to a USB stick and boot to that media. The image is captured in a standard WIM (Windows Image Format), at which point the fully patched image can be deployed to a target physical machine.
That image can then be captured using a “Sysprep and Capture” task sequence. For example, a task sequence can be created that will deploy an operating system and perform Windows updates on a reference virtual machine.
What is microsoft toolkit how to#
Image deployment in MDT is defined by task sequences, which are a set of instructions that tell the program how to create or deploy an image. In this post, I’ll briefly define the scope and capabilities of MDT, as well as summarize its benefits and potential costs. It runs on a dedicated Windows Server (physical or virtual) and contains a set of Visual Basic Scripts that direct MDT to execute instructions on the target machine. MDT, unlike its big brother System Configuration Manager (SCCM), is a free product by Microsoft and is relatively simple to use.
What is microsoft toolkit software#
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is a software package primarily used to deploy images to a large number of physical machines.
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