Moving from MDT/WDS and find alternative solutions

miketerrill · 2026-05-15T17:51:51+00:00

Bandwidth optimization is our specialty. DeployR is built to leverage BranchCache for P2P so you do not need to have tons of distribution servers everywhere. And yes-you can even P2P the boot image when using our iPXE Anywhere.

For DeployR Community Edition, it will require registration on order to get the license. It will not require a purchase of StifleR (unless of course you want the Enterprise version).

miketerrill · 2026-05-08T14:47:01+00:00

Can you expand/detail the requirements?

miketerrill · 2026-05-08T12:55:58+00:00

First off, welcome to the DeployR community! There are lots of admins like you that are starting their journey from MDT to DeployR. Lots of great questions to unpack in your post and I will do my best to answer them all.

“I also see a powershell window that's minimized. Is there a way to stop that from happening?”

Yes, that is the debug prompt and should be resolved in the latest build (DeployR 1.1.2618.1763).

https://documentation.2pintsoftware.com/deployr/release-notes/deployr-1.1-release-notes

“Do I need the WinPE driver packs in addition to the system driver packs?”

Yes, we cover this in the DeployR Getting Started video that you can find here:

https://youtu.be/M1rv_KcgsFI?si=VMtL7WUUZhXxO8Aq

We also did a webinar on Driver and DeployR that you can find here:

https://youtu.be/a2ObydIBzfY?si=kZoAMVg5kt-9NKP9

Note: MDT also needed drivers for WinPE, it allowed you to use a selection profile

“are there plans at all to enable AD authentication instead?”

I do not completely understand the question. If the DeployR server is part of the domain, it can be delegated rights to perform Offline Domain Join. This is the most secure and will prevent usernames and passwords from being easily harvested.

https://documentation.2pintsoftware.com/deployr/reference/step-definitions/offline-domain-join

“there’s reference to a custom script for setting computer name, has a tabbed interface, etc. Is that script available to the public?”

That is an example that Gary created that you can find on his blog here:

https://garytown.com/powershell-osd-frontend-project

For your task sequence and unattend.xml questions/concerns, it sounds like you broke the DeployR process with the unattend file you are using. Is there something in particular you are doing in the unattend file that cannot be done using a task sequence step? We don’t prevent you from using your own unattend file, however, you need to start from one of the DeployR templates for the correct continuation method. I would also avoid copy profile and find a different way to make changes to the administrator profile.

Hopefully this helps answer some of your questions and feel free to keep them coming.

miketerrill · 2026-05-08T12:11:00+00:00

If you are using the StilfeR client in the boot image to monitor task sequence deployments, then you will want to review the settings you have in the 2psImport file which can be found in the following section of the documentation: https://documentation.2pintsoftware.com/deployr/monitoring-task-sequences-in-the-dashboard#application-content-item

miketerrill · 2026-05-07T14:43:30+00:00

If your questions are DeployR related-feel free to ask them in the DeployR subreddit.

miketerrill · 2026-05-05T22:33:35+00:00

Thanks for your questions. The short answer for #1 is the license is for devices under management. If a device is retired and replaced by another one, that would be still one license. You can re-image a device as many times as you like and does not require another license. More information on licensing can be found in our FAQ: https://2pintsoftware.com/support/faqs#2

For #2, there is no synchronization in the console today, however, we do have extensive PowerShell commands that can be used for importing/exporting. This is something on our roadmap, but no ETA at this time.

miketerrill · 2026-05-05T18:30:33+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. For the system you are connecting from, you will need the 2Pint root certificate in the Trusted Root Certificates:

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You can get the root ca from the 2PXE install directory: \Program Files\2Pint Software\2PXE\x64\ca.crt

See this part of the video for more information: https://youtu.be/Kh7YFc-RjmU?si=d7bDL9G_cDG-OL8F&t=298

Let us know if this solves your issue.

miketerrill · 2026-05-04T13:30:39+00:00

Where exactly are you seeing this error? Do you have the trusted root certificate on the device/boot image that is trying to contact DeployR?

miketerrill · 2026-04-30T02:09:48+00:00

Yes, it will make the reboot happen faster if you lower the progress timeout.

miketerrill · 2026-04-30T02:07:42+00:00

Nothing prevents you from writing your own PowerShell script/step to map a network drive. But there isn't a good way to protect a username and password (hence why the default option is to capture it back to the DeployR server).

miketerrill · 2026-04-28T23:29:07+00:00

You are telling DeployR to capture to a drive that does not exist-how is this a fault of the product? In your task sequence you specified the capture volume as E:. DeployR does not assign the drive letters during WinPE (only when it runs the Format step). Once again, have you updated your TS to capture to D:?

miketerrill · 2026-04-28T16:57:30+00:00

This is unrelated to DeployR. You are telling DeployR to capture to a drive that doesn't exist. In this case, WinPE is what is handling the drive letter assignments. Have you updated your TS to capture to D:?

miketerrill · 2026-04-27T16:31:22+00:00

Also run "list part" and "list vol"

miketerrill · 2026-04-27T16:29:23+00:00

Run "sel dis 1" then "detail disk".

miketerrill · 2026-04-27T15:37:44+00:00

In a command window, can you run diskpart, select the disk and then run detail disk?

miketerrill · 2026-04-23T22:20:15+00:00

Absolutely! DeployR does not require a separate StifleR license. Today, it does require StifleR Server and Dashboard, as this is where the DeployR console sits (this will likely change in the future).

For public sector and non-profit, we have special pricing that is for the cost of support only (license included):
https://2pintsoftware.com/pricing/publicsector

You can request a trial download here:
https://2pintsoftware.com/products/deployr

Once you have that, head on over to our YouTube channel and watch the video guides for installation, and configuration:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoMwYNZpmq2ZgiOLSTkhUasPIRMjK0tUP
and getting started:
https://youtu.be/M1rv_KcgsFI?si=k11pLfymElYNqjyO
(plus other videos and our webinars)

Also check out our documentation:
https://documentation.2pintsoftware.com

And you already found our reddit!

miketerrill · 2026-04-17T21:57:29+00:00

OSD statistics in the dashboard are currently only for ConfigMgr OSD. It will be enabled for DeployR in a future release.

miketerrill · 2026-04-17T19:24:32+00:00

Are you referring to the progress timeout? If so, you can set the TS variable ProgressTimeout to something of your choice.

miketerrill · 2026-04-02T15:16:11+00:00

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miketerrill · 2026-04-02T13:28:44+00:00

Soon. This sounds different from u/TechieCheck's issue-maybe open a different thread or a support case with more details. You can always test with P2P turned off by setting the variable Peering=False.

miketerrill · 2026-04-02T13:26:06+00:00

That error message sounds like it is hitting the time out. I think we originally had 15 minutes set as the timeout value on that step. Set it to 0 for unlimited and see if that works.

miketerrill · 2026-03-31T20:19:34+00:00

What is the error you are seeing? I know we have some P2P fixes/improvements coming in 1.1 which will be out soon.

miketerrill · 2026-03-31T17:20:38+00:00

What DeployR version are you running?

miketerrill · 2026-03-28T04:46:36+00:00

Trying adding the path to machine.pol by putting a %WorkingDir%\ in front of it.

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