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SLW 23: A brief history of Windows Deployment with Michael Niehaus
Episode 23
Saturday, 20 September, 2025
Michael Niehaus, an IT and software development veteran with quite a long history at Microsoft, talks about his career from his early days as a mainframe system programmer to his deep involvement with Microsoft products. He describes how he moved from programming in assembly language to IT roles involving client-server models in the early days of personal computing in the 1990s. This ultimately led to his work with Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) and the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator, the latter of which evolved into the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). A significant focus of this episode is the development and evolution of deployment tools and the underlying techniques, from Kickstart to VBScript to PowerShell. Michael recalls encountering PowerShell and emphasises its potential as a powerful backend for various Microsoft products in the very early days. As strange as it may sound today, the release of Vista retrospectively represented a 'giant leap' in terms of new tools, techniques and enhancements, especially for OS deployment. Michael discusses the introduction of WIM files, WinPE and AutoUnattend.xml, among other things. He reflects on the challenges and innovations involved in shifting to WIM files, and on the effectiveness of Windows PE. He highlights their significance in Microsoft's operating system deployment strategies. Turning to contemporary issues, Michael and Thorsten discuss concerns about Microsoft's Windows Update Service (WSUS) and the impending discontinuation of related technologies. Finally, Michael talks about his role at the new company 2Pint, where he works on products such as DeployR, a successor to MDT.
