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).

Integrating DaRT 8 with MDT 2012

The second thing I wanted to do when Microsoft released MDOP 2012 (the first being to start working with App-V 5), was start working with DaRT again.  Since I'd already begun building a Windows 8 Gold Image for deployment with SCCM 2007, I wanted to see if I could simply use DaRT 8 with MDT 2012.

There are really two ways of integration DaRT with MDT 2012.  The first being to make it part of the MDT Boot Disk generated from your Deployment Share and the second to actually inject DaRT into a Deployment of Windows 8.

Introductions...

Hi!  I'm David Coulter and I currently work for Southern California Edison as, well, a geek.  I get to play with a wide range of technology, mostly focused on the desktop (MDT, SCCM, Windows 7, App-V, XenDesktop, XenApp, etc, etc, etc.)  I've always thought about a blog, but never really felt I had much to say that hadn't already been said elsewhere as what I was doing was never "bleeding edge".  With all the recent technology being released, I'm finding myself focusing on and working with a LOT of new things... and I'm having a hard time remembering it all.  So this blog is just as much for me to keep my thoughts straight as for others to read.  If you stumble across it and find it valuable, let me know. : )

Microsoft has released a slew of technology lately: MDT 2012 Update 1, Windows 8, Server 2012, SQL 2012 SP1, MDOP 2012 (including App-V 5 and UE-V), Windows Phone 8, and Office 2013.  I'm sure I'm missing a few acronyms or products, but you get the idea.  It's been a busy few weeks in Redmond.  And when Redmond is this busy releasing technology, geeks around the world are just as busy learning it, studying it, and certifying on it, and just trying to get a grasp on "what's new" and "what's changed".  I've been working with some of this in my so-called "spare time" and will share the results of things I've figured it (largely through reading other sites or poking at it until it works.

I'll mostly be starting with technology related to creating a Windows 8 image, customizing it, and preparing it for deployment via SCCM 2007.  I know it's not officially supported, but it works (even without the hotfix for SCCM 2007 R3).  Upgrading to SCCM 2012 (or even SP1) may be a ways off for others also, so hopefully this information is useful.