Microsoft rolls new BitLocker tool, remote booting with DaRT in MDOP 2011 R2

Microsoft on Monday rolled out R2 of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2011, the company's client-side management suite for Software Assurance subscribers which includes Asset Inventory Service (AIS) 2.0, Diagnostic and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) 7.0 and Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM).

The last major update to MDOP was in mid-March, and it included Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 SP1, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) 2.0, Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) 4.0, AIS 1.5, DaRT 6.5, and Microsoft Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) 3.5.

This release was followed by beta releases of MBAM and a new version of DaRT in March and April.

This means today's release is the first completed product to include Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring, which is meant to streamline and simplify BitLocker provisioning and maintenance for customers using the drive encryption software.

The new version of DaRT adds a net boot option, which lets IT groups put the DaRT image on a network server and have users boot from that instead of their local HDD/DVD/USB drive. This way, remote recovery or image updating is centrally managed and does not require physical media to be brought down to the user's machine.

MDOP 2011 R2 can be downloaded today from Microsoft's Volume Licensing site, TechNet and MSDN, and Windows Intune customers can add MDOP 2011 R2 to their subscription.