Michael Niehaus Blogged nice post on configuring SCCM 2012 Console with MDT automatically. Here is what it says ..

As part of the MDT installation process, you need to run the “Configure ConfgMgr Integration” wizard to add the MDT components into the ConfigMgr console and database.  But what if you want to automate that process?  Fortunately, that’s pretty easy to do using PowerShell, as the integration process really just copies some files around.

See below for the attached PowerShell script, which performs the following tasks:

• Locates the MDT installation directory.
• Attempts to find the ConfigMgr 2007 console’s installation directory.  If found, copy files and folders from the MDT installation directory to that location.
• Attempts to find the ConfigMgr 2012 console’s installation directory.  If found, copy files and folders from the MDT installation directory to that location.

So there’s not much to it.  Note that the wizard does a couple of additional tasks that aren’t covered by this script:

• Add the MDT task sequence actions into the ConfigMgr database.  This is done by editing a MOF file to specify the site server name and site code, and then compiling that MOF.  This process just needs to be done once, generally at the top-level site only.  It’s easy enough to do this one-time operation manually (using an account that has full permissions to the site server), so no real need to automate it.
• Remove the MDT extensions from an existing ConfigMgr console.  This is left as an exercise for the reader:  Instead of copying the files to the ConfigMgr console directory, you just need to remove them.

Make sure you run this script from an elevated PowerShell session, and also make sure that PowerShell scripting has been enabled using something like “set-executionpolicy bypass”.

Download the script from http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2012/09/04/automatically-configuring-the-configmgr-console-for-mdt-2012.aspx

Our engineering team has had an amazing journey this past year with two key releases to help our customers improve their capabilities for deploying Windows in their enterprises.   As you know, we released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 in April of this year to coincide with the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) and this enabled a lot of functionality asked for by you.  These are outlined in this post I made back around this release and include an all-new extensible wizard, all-new rebuilt designer, and support for all the enterprise deployment scenarios.

On the heels of the 2012 release, our team was quickly focused on enabling the UDI scenario forWindows 8 & 2012 which were soon-to-be-released.  The final “gold” bits were announced for Windows 8 & Windows Server 2012, and with that, I’m super proud that we have released MDT 2012 Update 1 which enables all the key features and support needed to deploy Windows 8 & 2012 with MDT UDI.

In today’s post, I want to make you aware of the key additional features & support added in this release for UDI.  In today’s post, I will not drill-down into the features and will save this for later more in-depth posts but I want you to start playing with them now.

Introducing USMT for Windows 8 Support

The major testing that our team had to do across the various refresh & replace scenarios was focusing on ensuring that we could effectively capture and restore your user’s data.  In Windows 8, a new version of User State Migration Tool (USMT) was released and as part of Update 1 we’ve validated that all UDI-based scenarios using this new USMT is supported.

Read complete post on http://blogs.technet.com/b/chrad/archive/2012/08/21/introducing-user-driven-install-udi-for-mdt-2012-update-1.aspx

Reliable and Flexible OS Deployment—now with support for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 RC2

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 RC1 is available for download on Connect now.

• New Connect members join the MDT 2012 RC1 program now. (Windows Live ID required)
• Existing Connect members bookmark this link to get the latest project details.

New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever!

Support for Configuration Manager 2012 RC2: This update provides support for Configuration Manager 2012 RC2 releases. MDT 2012 fully leverages the capabilities provided by Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. The latest version of MDT offers new User-Driven Installation components and extensibility for Configuration Manager 2007 and 2012. Users now also have the ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012.

Customize deployment questions: For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions.

Ease Lite Touch installation: The Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) is now integrated with Lite Touch Installation, providing remote control and diagnostics. New monitoring capabilities are available to check on the status of currently running deployments. LTI now has an improved deployment wizard user experience. Enhanced partitioning support ensures that deployments work regardless of the current structure.

Secure Deployments: MDT 2012 offers integration with the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows deployment from the start.

Reliability and flexibility: Existing MDT users will find more reliability and flexibility with the many small enhancements and bug fixes and a smooth and simple upgrade process.

Support for Windows 8: The RC1 release of MDT 2012 provides support for deploying Windows 8 Consumer Preview in a lab environment.

Key Benefits:

• Full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment.
• Improved Lite Touch user experience and functionality.
• A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users.

New Features:

For System Center Configuration Manager customers:

• Support for Configuration Manager 2012 (while still supporting Configuration Manager 2007)
• New User-Driven Installation components for Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2012
  • Extensible wizard and designer, additional integration with Configuration Manager to deliver a more customized OS experience, support for more imaging scenarios, and an enhanced end-user deployment experience
• Ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012

For Lite Touch Installation:

• Integration with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) for remote control and diagnostics
• New monitoring capabilities to see the progress of currently running deployments
• Support for deploying Windows to computers using UEFI
• Ability to deploy Windows 7 so that the computer will start from a new VHD file, “Deploy to VHD”
• Improved deployment wizard user experience

For all customers:

• Integration with configuration templates from the Security Compliance Manager Solution Accelerator, ensuring Windows is secure from the start
• A simple mechanism for running Windows PowerShell scripts during a deployment, with task sequence environment and logging integration
• Better partitioning support, creating the recommended partitioning structures on new computers and ensuring deployments work regardless of the current structure
• A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users
• Many small enhancements and bug fixes

Download the MDT 2012 RC1 release.

Tell us what you think! Test drive our release and send us your constructive feedback through the Connect site. We value your input; this is the perfect opportunity to be heard.

Tell your peers and customers about Solution Accelerators! Please forward this to anyone who wants to learn more about OS deployment with MDT, and Microsoft Solution Accelerators.

Already using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit? We’d like to hear about your experiences.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Team Blog

Deployment TechCenter

Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) Archive

Microsoft System Center

Microsoft Solution Accelerators

Reference Via http://blogs.technet.com/b/msdeployment/archive/2012/03/01/now-available-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-2012-rc1.aspx

when deplying image on to bare metal PC,sometimes it may require to get multiple partitions like C,D,E ect depends on the organization requirement.(Going down the route of making multiple partitions is like having multiple wives/girlfriends/lovers… it’s all fun and games for a while but ends with disaster).

Here are simple steps that make simpler.

1.On your task sequence,get in to Preinstall->New computer only->formate and partition disk ,on the right pane click on star burst and select 2 volumes (with specific size for each partitions) and made both as primary .(in this case,u will get 2 partitions like C,E). if you need more partitions do as per ur’s.

2.move on to the install->refresh only->apply operating System,on the right pane u can see the destination and select “specific disk and partition” disk ’0′ and partition ’1′ ,it makes the installation of OS on to the first partition which will be C drive.You can have multitple options from destination filed.

If your environment has many partitions (C,D,E) and you are supposed to just refresh the OS(XP) ,then just advertise the TS by removing install operating system->format and partition disk Task and select the destination ‘Specific Logical drive letter’ and drive letter ‘C‘ under install operating system->Apply operating system Task. So it just Install the OS freshly onto the C drive without disturbing the other drives that you have.