Setting OSDComputerName via Script

Quick post today.  Someone on the TechNet MDT Forums asked about how to dynamically set OSDComputerName during a deployment based on a set of rules.  I wrote a script to do just that almost a year ago and figured the best way to explain how to do it was just share my code... so enjoy: http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Set-OSDComputer-during-MDT-af9016bd

MDT 2013 Preview - A quick review of script changes

If you hadn't already heard, MDT 2013 Preview is now available for download.  You'll need a Connect account to access the group.  You also need to download ADK for Windows 8.1 Preview.  Johan Arwidmark has a good breakdown of support and some of the changes at his blog, as does Ronni Pedersen.    Now that the Preview is out, I wanted to dig into the script files that came with it.

Official Surface Pro Driver Pack

Just heard about this from Microsoft:

"The driver and firmware pack for Surface Pro, including all updates currently available for the device over Windows Update as of April 9th, is now live on the Microsoft Download Center.

The usage scenario for this would be to create your own custom deployment installation/image of Windows 8 for Surface Pro, enabling easier management – including Professional & Enterprise editions of Windows 8."

• Windows 8 Driver Pack for Surface Pro
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/0/7/2073C22F-2F31-4F4A-8059-E54C91C564A9/April2013SurfacePro.zip

Update: Looks like it may have come from here: http://kurtsh.com/2013/05/01/release-surface-pro-driver-pack-for-windows-8/ 

Update #2: I found the original source link for the drivers in the Download Center: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38826

Programmatically hiding the Windows 8 Start Screen during an MDT Task Sequence

I've seen this question come up a few times in the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Forum.  The gist of the request is the ability to see the MDT Task Sequence UI (step and progress bar) during a Capture or, more likely, a Deploy Task Sequence when using Windows 8 (or Server 2012).  This is complicated by the Start Screen, but can it be done...

Automating Image Building with MDT 2012u1 and Hyper-V

Happy New Year's everyone (all 6 of you reading this)!  Been a very busy month with the holiday season and I haven't had much time to post anything new, too busy playing with all the cool tech toys.  After a comment I made on the Microsoft TechNet Forum for MDT (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mdt/threads), I thought I should write this post up.  I'll show you how I've completely automated regular Image builds using MDT 2012u1 and Hyper-V.

DaRT 8 + Windows 8 via SCCM 2007 OSD

As previously discussed, it's very easy to take a DaRT 8 WIM and make it part of your Task Sequence with MDT 2012.  The next step was to do the same thing inside OSD in SCCM 2007.  Although Windows 8 is not officially supported for OSD in SCCM 2007, it works just fine (from what I've seen).  I've been imaging Windows 8 devices (physical and VM) with SCCM 2007 for about a month and haven't even installed the "Windows 8/Server 2012 Hotfix".

But can you inject DaRT 8 into Windows 8 with OSD in SCCM 2007?  Follow to find out... (the answer is yes)...

Integrating McAfee EEPC 5 with WinPE 4 and DaRT 8

We use McAfee Endpoint Encryption 5 and have the standard SafeTech and WinTech CDs for our technicians to use. Most of these are either built with BartPE, but there are a lot of sites and blogs with various information about how to get it working with a standard WinPE 3 disk (Simon Hunt's blog being the predominant one).

With the deprecation of WAIK and the introduction of ADK and WinPE 4, I figured it was time to see if I could inject the EEPC components into WinPE 4, and if that worked, DaRT 8. The advantages are obvious... a single disk with all the appropriate tools on it capable of dealing with Drive Decryption (and yes, I know we could do this with DaRT 8 if we were using BitLocker without the extra work).