Windows 7 Imaging WDS Woes

[witch]

Trying to image some Win 7 machines - FINALLY managed to get the netbooks sorted but cannot get the desktops to work. After sysprep I try to image but no volumes appear in the list. I have had this before and re-sysprepping sorted it out, but not this time. I can't Ghost either
Any help gratefully received, these machines need sorting by friday and I am at the end of my tether

[eddyc]

What happens if you change the SATA mode in the BIOS to IDE? If not, have you tried injecting the drive controllers drivers into WDS - been playing with driver injection this week - in 2008 R2 it's easy!

[sukh]

Hi

When you sysprep'ed did you use the generalise key?

When you go into WinPE, hold the shift and F10 key, seee if you can see the volumes from here?

Sukh

[sted]

id say your boot.wim dosent have the storage controller drivers built in and needs the drivers injecting

[witch]

Oh god, not driver injecting - I can't DO IT. Where is the boot.wim? on the machine? Where would I find the drivers? On the motherboard website? Anyone got step by step instructions?
shift and F10 shows nothing
Yes I did tick the generalise box
Changing SATA mode makes no difference

[Gatt]

@witch - what version of WDS are you using?
The current version of WDS allows injection via the console through the use of Driver Groups...

[sted]

only step by step i have is the same one i gave you last time. Boot.wim is on your win7 cd copy/edit on server and inserted as a boot image into wds. drivers from wherever you can find win7 drivers for that hardware

[ChrisH]

If you use MDT to prepare your images, it makes injecting drivers very easy. It turns it into a point and click exercise. There is an initial learning curve, but once you get the hang of the basics your life will be much easier.

[sukh]

@witch - If you cant see the volume then your issue is drivers are required.

Inject drivers.

To create your derivative capture image from an existing Windows PE image that already has all the drivers injected:

•Add a Windows PE image to your server.

•Mark the image as offline (disabled).

•Mount the image using the Windows AIK toolset (ImageX and Mountrw).

•Inject all the drivers offline using PEIMG.exe. (Now your Windows PE image has all the drivers it needs.)

•Mark the image as online (enabled).

•Create the capture image based off of this Windows PE image.


Sukh

[witch]

@witch - If you cant see the volume then your issue is drivers are required.

Inject drivers.

To create your derivative capture image from an existing Windows PE image that already has all the drivers injected:

•Add a Windows PE image to your server.

•Mark the image as offline (disabled).

•Mount the image using the Windows AIK toolset (ImageX and Mountrw).

•Inject all the drivers offline using PEIMG.exe. (Now your Windows PE image has all the drivers it needs.)

•Mark the image as online (enabled).

•Create the capture image based off of this Windows PE image.


Sukh

this is where I quietly leave and return to my CV's. I really dont understand much of what you, or Sted, are saying. Might seem obvious to you but sentences like: Boot.wim is on your win7 cd copy/edit on server and inserted as a boot image into wds. drivers from wherever you can find win7 drivers for that hardware don't make any sense to me - Where is wds.drivers?
or: capture image from an existing Windows PE image that already has all the drivers injected:
Surely if I had an image with the drivers then I wouldnt have a problem, would I?
I have no idea what I am doing. I don't know if you can read music, but if you can't or can only read basic notation, imagine being given a piece of complicated music and told to play it - that's how I feel

I only have Server 2003 anyway

[sted]

if you tell me what hardware it is i should be able to create you a new boot file you just then need to add it to wds but my internet upload at home is a bit pants so may take a while

[Brpilot99]

Could you not use the w7 backup/image my machine utility to make an image of your master PC number 1 down to an external USB hard drive ... Then use the W7 disc to boot the next machine and use the reimage utility to image PC number 2 / 3 etc. Then sysprep each of the new machines offline and before plugging them into your network ....

[witch]

Thanks Sted - at the wrong school now - will be back there tomorrow.
I didnt even know there was a backup/image utility on a W7 machine - where's that then?
Might take a while with 33 of them though! thanks for the info

[sted]

not exactly convenient to back up to a hdd then restore 1 by one and if wds wont find the hdd booting off a win7 cd is just the same thing but using a cd rather than network its booting from the same file

[Brpilot99]

I didnt even know there was a backup/image utility on a W7 machine - where's that then..

W7 has an option under the backup section to create image .. I use it at home to backup my own PC ...

33 machines !!!

Probably not the best way of doing that many P'cs

Have a fab Easter break
Cheers
Brian