If you asked people to name a feature in Configuration Manager, the first one that would spring to mind for most people other than software distribution is probably operating system deployment. This functionality is a large part of Configuration Manager and is probably the most popular and the most supported by the community in terms of extensions and assistance available.
Configuration Manager can be used to deploy both desktop and server operating systems. In this chapter, we will run through the process of creating a reference image for both Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 that we can use to build desktops and servers. We will cover the following topics:
Introduction to operating system deployment
Integrating the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
Creating custom boot images
Maintaining a driver library and packages
Creating reference images
Creating VHD files with task sequences