In my last blog post, I discussed clearing Trusted Platform Module (TPM) using PowerShell and MDT. This time I’m turning my attention to another issue: field upgrading TPM from 1.2 to 2.0 specification on HP and Dell systems which support discreet TPM switching.
Systems that shipped with Windows 7 from the factory will have TPM 1.2, however, most modern systems feature a firmware based component running in a trusted execution environment on a general purpose SoC, which allows discrete TPM mode switching in real time. Customers I worked with in the past couple of months and which roll out Windows 10 intend to make use of important security advantages of TPM 2.0 specification including greater crypto agility by being more flexible with respect to cryptographic algorithms, newer algorithms, which can improve drive signing and key generation performance, a more consistent experience across different implementations and a consistent dictionary attack protection guarantee.
Before a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) can be used for advanced scenarios it must be provisioned. Windows 10 automatically provisions a TPM, but if you are planning to reinstall the operating system, you may have to clear the TPM before reinstalling so that Windows 10 can take full advantage of the TPM. In today's blog post, I will take a closer look how to clear the TPM ownership using WMI in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), allowing Windows 10 to automatically take ownership of the TPM on the next boot (TPM AutoProvisioning). Clearing the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) cancels TPM ownership and invalidates cryptographic materials created by the previous owner.
If you’ve read any of my tweets, you know that I emphasize how Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and ConfigMgr are powerful OS deployment tools which allow a high grade of customization. This blog post is another demonstration of MDT flexibility. It also shows how a small PowerShell script can quickly lead to a solution.
In order to deploy and service Windows 10 successfully, you need to carefully consider how you apply language packs. In today’s blog post I will discuss the approach that I use to deploy and service Windows 10 in a multi language environment using Microsoft MDT and one base Windows 10 image.