Since Microsoft unceremoniously announced the “immediate retirement” of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (something that isn’t surprising since it really hasn’t been updated in any significant way since 2013 and leverages obsolete technologies such as VBScript and MSHTA), some of you are probably looking for a replacement.
As many of you are probably aware, I’ve been working on a replacement at 2Pint Software for over two years now. That replacement is named DeployR. Rather than filling up my blog feed with a large number of DeployR posts, I chose instead to post the information to the 2Pint Software blog, but below are links and brief summaries for each of the posts.
One important item to point out before getting into those: We have a series of online seminars scheduled starting tomorrow, February 3rd, and continuing through the middle of the year. You can find the full list here:
https://2pintsoftware.com/events/list#Webinar
For tomorrow’s event, sign up here:
https://2pintsoftware.com/events/list/deployr-getting-started
Here’s the list of blog posts that I’ve posted on the 2Pint blog:
Introducing DeployR 1.0. After two years of development, the DeployR product is now available to handle those bare metal OS deployment scenarios that you all still need. Looking for an MDT replacement (now that it is officially retired)? We can help.
The core of DeployR: OS images and enabling OS customization. Whether you use custom images or what Microsoft provides for bare metal OS deployment, DeployR can handle that. And when that OS boots for the first time, there are multiple of options for how to continue the provisioning process: just like MDT or SCCM, hand the device over to Autopilot, and more.
DeployR makes managing drivers better. Managing per-model drivers is probably everyone’s least favoriate activity. DeployR strives to make this as easy as possible by supporting both “bring your own” driver packs and “download from the OEM” automation. Learn more about how this works and the roadmap forward as we continue making improvements.
Of course DeployR can install your apps. Installing apps is a common thing to do in a task sequence. You provide the content and the command line, and DeployR takes care of it in the most efficient way possible. You can even use your existing .intunewin files or PSADT packages to make things as easy as possible. And yes, of course we can install a list of apps in the order that you specify…
DeployR loves Windows Autopilot. DeployR specializes in bare metal OS deployment; Windows Autopilot (working with Intune) focuses on customizing and configuring the OS so that it’s ready for productive use by the end user. So it’s perfectly natural to use the two together. Let’s talk about how, as well as the unique capabilities that DeployR can enable for Windows Autopilot customers.
DeployR is built to be secure. When development on DeployR started, we knew that we needed to build a solution that would be secure regardless of how it was used: in a dedicated lab, on a corporate network, or even connected directly to the internet. Let’s explore some of the features and design choices that help with this.
DeployR integrates with the 2Pint Software suite. Since 2Pint Software has been around for over a decade, there are other products that complement DeployR very well. Let’s take a look.
Out of Office Hours 