WDS Unattended help

[Ste_Harve]

Hi All,

 

Not sure if this would be possible but here goes. I'm wanting to automate the initial stages of WDS. The screen where you've got to select regional settings and entering the username and password.

 

Does anyone know if it's possible and if so how?

 

Cheers,

 

Ste

[Geoff]

What mode is WDS in?

[Ste_Harve]

it's in mixed. I'm still using RIS. Hoping to phase it out in next few months once i've got other images created into WIM format.

[Geoff]

You can't do an unattended install of XP in WIM format. XP doesn't understand the format of the unattended.xml file. So you'll have to stick with using legacy images for XP.

[Ste_Harve]

Think you misunderstood which section i'm on about. I'm wanting to automate the bit beofre you select the image. The regional settings and the logon bit. I want to be able to select the image myself and partition the disk myself.

 

Is that possible?

 

I know XP doesn't understand the unattend bits. I've got my XP images ready and sysprepped and on server and they work fine. Just gettig fed up of having to select language and enter username and password.

 

Cheers

[Geoff]

I don't think you can avoid that.

[DrFrankenMouse]

I know XP doesn't understand the unattend bits. I've got my XP images ready and sysprepped and on server and they work fine. Just gettig fed up of having to select language and enter username and password.

 

Cheers

 

 

You should be able to using normal unattended install methods. I can't remeber whether it's via unnattended.txt or a sif file.

[DrFrankenMouse]

You can't do an unattended install of XP in WIM format. XP doesn't understand the format of the unattended.xml file. So you'll have to stick with using legacy images for XP.

 

Isn't there meant to be some sort of conversion process or is that only for RIPREP images?

[Geoff]

You can't do an unattended install of XP in WIM format. XP doesn't understand the format of the unattended.xml file. So you'll have to stick with using legacy images for XP.

 

Isn't there meant to be some sort of conversion process or is that only for RIPREP images?

 

Oh you can convert them just fine, you just wont be able to do unattended installs of XP.

[adamchapman]

It is possible by using the unattend.xml file which is on the WDS server.

 

I found this site which talks you through it....

[Gatt]

I'm having some problems with the unattend.xml file for Vista iin WDS

 

Without using the unattend.xml, Vista joins the domain, etc but I stil need to select my locales, accept the EULA, setup a local account and choose my Time Zone..

 

BUt when I add in the Unattend file - weird things happen..

It doesn't join the domain, the PC gets a random Machine Name and the desktop resolution is at abiout 800x600 instead of the 1280x1024!

 

Doe anyone have a working Unattend.xml file for Vista Deployment via WDS (minus any keys, passwords etc..

[Richie1972]

You can quite easily automate WDS/RIS. We do it here with no problems (in fact I've even got a simple script that will clear the MBR so that when the PC reboots it will then automatically re-install.

To automate the initial part of the RIS install you need to edit the OSC files in the OSChooser folder. Simply add :

to each page you want to automatically "enter" on and it will continue to next page. You can even preload the data should you wish (the OSC files are a very limited HTML)

[theforce]

Hi I know this quite an old thread, but I'm at the same stage as the poster of this original thread. I have a syspreped image that I want to automate.

 

I'm lead to believe that a combination of unattended.xml and sysprep.sif is whats required to fully automate the process. Im going through the two files from the following website to get this done.

 

Unattended XP Installs with Windows Deployment Services | Rob's Blog

 

Hope this helps. Regards.

[Cools]

here's my XML of what your asking..

change the bits in bold.

it will skip direct to the images page after pressing F12 at PXE

 

this is 64bit

 

   
       
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
       
       
           true
           true
           
               
                   [b]
                       DOMAIN.local
                       PASSWORD
                       Administrator
                   [/b]
               
           
       
   
   
       
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
       
       
           Your School Name
           GMT Standard Time
           Owner
           false
           *
           false
       
   
   
       
           
               true
               true
               Work
               1
           
       
   
   

Edited June 17, 2011 by Cools

[RobBaxter]

OK with WDS there are now 2 different "unattend" xml files. Once which controls the Windows PE environment its self and one that controls the OS install. For the sake of argument, I'm going to assume that you know how to make a unattend file for the OS of your choice and to apply it to your image.

 

The "Windows PE Environment" however can be also automated. To lets say "not require login" and "set the local information" as you rightly requested! But! The "Boot Image" I am talking about here is the one with "Windows 7", so the assumption is that, while you have XP clients, you must have at least 1 Windows 7 client.

 

So in the WDS admin panel thing "god my brain fails me... msc panel?", under "Servers" select your deployment server and go Properties "in my case DC01", click the client tab and you will see where to apply unattend files to the boot image. YOu will need an unattend for x86 and x64 OSes... since you spoke about XP you will need 32 obviously... since I have no XP Station however, i only have 64bit, but for your help. I will paste in my .xml file now.

 

   
       
           
               en-GB
               Never
           
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB
       
       
           
               
                   
                       
                           true
                           1
                           Primary
                       
                   
                   
                       
                           true
                           false
                           NTFS
                           OS
                           C
                           1
                           1
                       
                   
                   0
                   true
               
           
           
               
                   
                       0
                       1
                   
               
               
                   
                       kingshott.local
                       ***
                       deployment
                   
               
           
       
   
   

 

Now, i have a password set in there which allows for "3 click install" of all my systems. As for your XP unattent xml, the one you had for RIS should work in the new system.

 

Anyways! Hope that helps!

Edited June 20, 2011 by RobBaxter

[theforce]

Firstly Sorry, I don't have any windows 7 clients. I am entirely Windows XP running on Windows 2003 server ( sad but true). I have an unattended.xml file linked on the WDS console for x86 machines.

 

What now happens when I pxe boot the machine that I have captured is that it finds the image I want to deploy, I select the image (i think i can automate this too, I just need to fix my unattended.xml point to the right path/imagename etc), it extracts the image and then reboots. upon reboot it goes through a series of steps where

 

I have to specify Machine name

 

supply administrator password

 

enter the windows xp product key

 

and it loads up the image that I want. Now my understanding is that the first part of the deployment is controlled by the unatanded.xml and this seems to be working (excepting for auto selecting my image), and the second part is controlled by the sysprep.sif file which doesnt seem to be working or is not connected to my xp image that I'm deploying.

 

 

Here is a copy of the xml and sysprep.sif that I am using. My image path is e:\RemoteInstall\Images\Windows XP Image\xptestcapture.wim. On WDS its sitting at the root of boot images (i haven't created any extra image groups).

 

OnError

myadmin

mydomain

mypassword

OnError

WDS - Windows XP Deployment

Boot Images

e:\RemoteInstall\Images\Windows XP Image\xptestcapture.wim

0

1

OnError

1

Primary

true

true

false

NTFS

OS

C

1

1

0

true

OnError

en-UK

en-UK

 

sysprep.sif is sitting in e:\remoteinstall\images\windowsxpimage\$oem$\$1 and looks like this

 

SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=1

MsDosInitiated="1"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

floppyless="1"

OriSrc="\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%"

OriTyp="4"

LocalSourceOnCD=1

 

[setupData]

OsLoadOptions="/noguiboot /fastdetect"

SetupSourceDevice="\Device\LanmanRedirector\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%"

 

[unattended]

UnattendMode=ProvideDefault

OemPreinstall=No

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

FileSystem=LeaveAlone

NtUpgrade=No

OverwriteOemFilesOnUpgrade=No

 

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=b6b1aa9b9bb2da02e034c60fa8ac8477eade334b884441b523fdb791c93f0a56

EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=%TIMEZONE%

 

[userData]

ProductKey=xxxx-xxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

FullName="myname"

OrgName="mycompaney"

ComputerName=%MACHINENAME%

 

[Display]

BitsPerPel=24

Xresolution=1024

YResolution=768

Vrefresh=60

 

[RegionalSettings]

LanguageGroup=1

SystemLocale=00000809

UserLocale=00000809

InputLocale=0809:00000809

 

[setupMgr]

DistFolder=C:\windist

DistShare=windist

 

[identification]

JoinDomain=%MACHINEDOMAIN%

DoOldStyleDomainJoin=Yes

 

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

ProcessPageSections=Yes

 

[RemoteInstall]

Repartition=Yes

 

[OSChooser]

Description="Windows Professional - Standard Installation"

Help="This will install Windows Professional in a standard configuration."

LaunchFile="%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%\templates\startrom.com"

ImageType=Flat

 

 

Many thanks for any advice. Kind regards.