- MDT has been removed – existing implementations will work, but a migration is required
- No additional security updates or support will be issued for future OS releases
- Reddit users have criticized the alternative solutions
Microsoft has confirmed that it will no longer support the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), which means that updates, support, and security patches/fixes are all gone.
Although existing MDT implementations should continue to work for the time being, no compatibility updates will be issued for future versions of Windows, and download packages may be removed from official channels.
Originally released in 2003, the now legacy enterprise deployment tool was used to deploy the Windows OS and apps either fully automatically, with user input, or via bootable media.
The change didn’t exactly come as a surprise — Redmond announced the deprecation in December 2024 and warned it would be retired after October 2025. “Microsoft announces the immediate retirement of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT),” the company confirmed last week on a support page.
“The MDT integration with CM and Standalone is no longer supported with Configuration Manager,” the company shared on another support page. “Customers should remove MDT TS steps, followed by removing MDT integration, to avoid TS corruption and modification errors.”
Furthermore, there had been few meaningful updates in recent years, so all signs pointed to an eventual write-off.
Microsoft suggests that MDT users should now consider using Windows Autopilot for cloud-based deployment and provisioning, or Configuration Manager operating system deployment (OSD) for on-prem infrastructure needs.
However, Microsoft admitted that there is no “direct in-place upgrade path” and that a transition would be required.
While the overall impact may be limited with many organizations having already migrated, that hasn’t stopped fans from taking to platforms like Reddit to share archived download links. Many also argued that MDT was free, had no telemetry and did not force Azure cloud adoption.
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