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Last month, Microsoft released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 Update 1 Preview. Any IT administrator curious about Windows 10 deployment should be very interested in this update. First, let’s talk about additions in this update; then, we will cover how you can get everything working with the latest Windows 10 build.
Installing MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview (in a lab environment)
New features in MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview
The biggest feature is Windows 10 support for Lite Touch Installations, along with an updated Windows ADK. Tasks, such as Roles and Features installation, have been updated to support Windows 10.
The second notable feature is Split WIM support. Offline Media support for UEFI was previously limited to 4GB WIM files. In MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview, the Update Media Content wizard automatically splits large WIM files into 4GB chunks. This is a much-requested feature.
The MDT Team highlighted three other changes. The first is revised logic in scripts. This was done to prevent Windows versions from being read out of order. Aaron Czechowski, who posted the MDT blog update, used the version check example ("10" !> “6” but 10 > 6) to show how string comparisons were changed to integer comparisons. The GetMajorMinorVersion ZTIUtility function was introduced with this change.
The final large change occurs in the Deployment Workbench. The components node has been completely removed. This welcome change will save many new MDT users from fruitlessly downloading components that they do not need.
The updated MDT Workbench showing deployment help links to TechNet
Johan Arwidmark highlighted additional changes not mentioned in the MDT blog post. The most notable include a new task sequence engine. The previous engine is from the SCCM 2007 era. The new engine comes from SCCM 2012 R2.
MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview and the Windows ADK
The MDT had an issue with the Windows 10 build numbers. The Windows 10 Technical Preview used a five-digit build number, which caused quite a few bugs. Thankfully, the MDT Team quickly released a fix. We are going to go through the installation process and apply the needed MDT fix.
Start by downloading the MDT preview from the MDT Connection Portal. Choose your version and install it. Don’t launch it yet. If you do, you will receive this error message:
ADK is not present - The Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) is required for interacting with deployment shares. Please install Windows 10 ADK.
The Windows 10 “ADK is not present” error message
You now need to install the correct version of the Windows ADK. Go to the Windows 10 Hardware development page. Scroll down and click the Download Windows 10 kits, tools, and code samples link. Sign in with your Microsoft account; you’ll have to accept the Windows 10 insider agreement if you haven’t already done so. Search for Install the hardware development kits and click that link. Search for Download the Windows ADK for Windows 10 Technical Preview and click that last link to launch and install the ADK setup.
Note: the ADK setup for this version is currently linked here. This link may break with future updates, though.
Congratulations. You’ve completed the needlessly difficult task of installing the correct version of the Windows ADK.
Finally, we need to update a few MDT source files to make the MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview compatible with the 10041 Windows 10 Build. The MDT blog outlined detailed steps here.
In a nutshell, download the MDT1503 zip file and extract the contents into the folder where MDT is installed (by default: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit). Overwrite any existing files.
Conclusion
In this guide, we covered the main new features in MDT 2013 Update 1 Preview. We also covered the extra steps needed for a correct setup in a lab environment. If you plan on deploying Windows 10, take a couple of hours and set up a virtual lab for MDT 2013 Update 1.
