GRitchie Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Hello, Anyone have any tips for speeding up MDT? Currently it all works fine, however the only things I want to speed up are mainly the initial setup. So, instead of me having to select the task sequence, it automatically picks it. I don't want to have to type in the domain, it should automatically do it for me? Just so I can skip these tedious steps! All I want to have to do is type in the credentials for connecting to network shares (if this is compulsory) Then enter the name for the machine and then select the software to install! Any ideas on how to make it THIS easy? Thanks!
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) You can make it zero touch if you are so inclined... This assumes on one task sequence that you want to pick, all applications in one application pack and computers already have the correct name (reimage), otherwise if you want to pick the name just change commented sections below bootstrap.ini [noparse] [settings] Priority=Default [Default] DeployRoot= SkipBDDWelcome=YES KeyboardLocalePE=0809:00000809 UserID= UserPassword= UserDomain= [/noparse] rules.ini [noparse] [settings] Priority=Default Properties=MyCustomProperty [Default] ;This is for using exitsing name UserExit=UserExit.vbs OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()# SkipComputerName=YES ;This is for picking name at image time ;SkipComputerName=NO ;ComputerName=-> ;End of naming SkipBDDWelcome=YES OSInstall=YES OrgName="" FullName="" SkipTimeZone=YES TimeZone=085 TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time SkipLocaleSelection=YES GeoID=0XF2 UserLocale=en-gb KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809 SkipUserData=YES UserDataLocation=NONE ;Task sequence ID SkipTaskSequence=YES TaskSequenceID=W7_SP1_WAR SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES SkipProductKey=YES SkipBitLocker=YES ;I know you can set elsewhere, but we picked here... SkipAdminPassword=YES AdminPassword= DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER DoNotCreateExtraPartition=YES SkipApplications=YES ;UID of the application pack containing all your apps Applications001={1182ad04-4c82-46fc-94b7-10d00cb47d7b} ;Really oddly I found that if I didn't put account details in hear then it didn't work if hidden, but worked fine if not hidden and just clicked through... odd world SkipDomainMembership=YES JoinDomain= DomainAdminDomain= DomainAdmin= DomainAdminPassword= ;OU during and after image, but if machine already exists it seems to leave alone in what OU it is already in. StagingOU=OU=xxx,OU=xxx,DC=internal MachineObjectOU=OU=xxx,OU=xxx,DC=internal SkipCapture=YES DoCapture=NO SkipSummary=YES SkipFinalSummary=YES FinishAction=RESTART [/noparse] We put windows update before and after application install and set a reboot at end in the task sequence. UserExit.vbs goes in \Scripts and is only needed for picking up existing computer name. This assumes you are UK based with UK keyboards, change as required Change SkipXXXXXX=Yes to SkipXXXXX=No for those sections you want to pick, it will just default to whatever is set above It should go without saying, but... Backup both rules.ini and bootstrap.ini before you startUserExit.vbs Edited April 4, 2014 by AlexB 1
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Ah - excellent. I will give this a shot later on today! Thank you very much for this!!
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Thanks! So if I want to manually enter the computer name, I can leave this script and that section to SKIP=NO?
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Sounds like a really stupid question, but where do I locate the rules.ini and bootstrap.ini files?
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) Within the Deployment Workbench, right click the "MDT Deployment Share " on the left tree and click properties. rules.ini is the Rules tab, bootstrap.ini is a button at the bottom of this tab. Note that changing the bootstrap.ini causes the wim/iso to be regenerated after you Update Deployment Share, so replace your current wim (probably in WDS) with the newly generated one. For naming with choosing use the below. I'd still copy the vbs file and keep the commented section... you never know what you'll do in the future [noparse] ;This is for using exitsing name ;UserExit=UserExit.vbs ;OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()# ;SkipComputerName=YES ;This is for picking name at image time SkipComputerName=NO ComputerName=-> ;End of naming [/noparse] Edited April 4, 2014 by AlexB
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Oh, forgot to say. I started down this line for exacting the same reason... far too many windows to click through where most of them only want the default settings anyway!
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Yeah - exactly! Just configured now, testing it in 30 seconds, I'll tell you the outcome.
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Hmm, this seems to have enabled ALL settings for me to click through?
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Did you update the deployment share and use the new wim/iso?
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 I think the issue was I didn't change the name of the task sequence - retrying now!
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Scratch that - still no luck! If you'd prefer to email it might be easier back and forth? :-)
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 This is okay isn't it? [settings] Priority=Default Properties=MyCustomProperty [Default] ;This is for using exitsing name UserExit=UserExit.vbs OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()# SkipComputerName=NO ;This is for picking name at image time ;SkipComputerName=NO ;ComputerName=-> ;End of naming SkipBDDWelcome=YES OSInstall=YES OrgName="Dowdales School" FullName="Dowdales School" SkipTimeZone=YES TimeZone=085 TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time SkipLocaleSelection=YES GeoID=0XF2 UserLocale=en-gb KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809 SkipUserData=YES UserDataLocation=NONE ;Task sequence ID SkipTaskSequence=YES TaskSequenceID=WINDOWS7 SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES SkipProductKey=YES SkipBitLocker=YES SkipAdminPassword=YES AdminPassword=****** DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER DoNotCreateExtraPartition=YES SkipApplications=NO ;UID of the application pack containing all your apps Applications001={1182ad04-4c82-46fc-94b7-10d00cb47d7b} ;Really oddly I found that if I didn't put account details in hear then it didn't work if hidden, but worked fine if not hidden and just clicked through... odd world SkipDomainMembership=YES JoinDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL DomainAdminDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL DomainAdmin=Administrator DomainAdminPassword=********** SkipCapture=YES DoCapture=NO SkipSummary=YES SkipFinalSummary=YES FinishAction=RESTART
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 I don't mind, but it might be useful for those that come after use with similar problems to see the whole thread. Regardless of whether you post here or private message, if you could post a copy for your rules.ini and bootstrap.ini .... looks like you beat me to saying that, looking now...
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 the rules.ini looks fine, best guess is the bootstrap.ini... Possibly [settings] Priority=Default Not set to default? I've never tried having these bits different, so not sure if it matters - - - Updated - - - Oh and comment out ;UserExit=UserExit.vbs ;OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()# If you haven't copied the UserExit.vbs file in that could be causing the file to stop parsing.
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Okay, I'm getting somewhere slowly. I've just adjusted some things and ran it again. It STILL asks for me for network credential things, and it now doesn't ask me which apps to install. I'll have a play around and if I can't get anywhere I'll reply again. Thanks!
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 This is my bootstrap.ini Anything wrong here? [settings] Priority=Default [Default] DeployRoot=\\NEWBACKUP\DeploymentShare$ SkipBDDWelcome=YES KeyboardLocalePE=0809:00000809 UserID=Administrator UserPassword=********** UserDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Again, looks fine, so my money is on the UserExit.vbs. So comment out, or if that doesn't work, remove both ;UserExit=UserExit.vbs ;OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()#
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 This is currently my rules.ini I can't see any issues really? All it does is ask me to press start new installation, enter the network credentials and then type in the computer name. Upon pressing finish, it doesn't even install the OS?? [settings] Priority=Default Properties=MyCustomProperty [Default] ;This is for using exitsing name ;UserExit=UserExit.vbs ;OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()# ;SkipComputerName=NO ;This is for picking name at image time SkipComputerName=NO ;ComputerName=-> ;End of naming SkipBDDWelcome=YES OSInstall=YES OrgName="Dowdales School" FullName="Dowdales School" SkipTimeZone=YES TimeZone=085 TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time SkipLocaleSelection=YES GeoID=0XF2 UserLocale=en-gb KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809 SkipUserData=YES UserDataLocation=NONE ;Task sequence ID SkipTaskSequence=YES TaskSequenceID="WINDOWS7" SkipAppsOnUpgrade=NO SkipProductKey=YES SkipBitLocker=YES SkipAdminPassword=YES AdminPassword=******** DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER DoNotCreateExtraPartition=YES SkipApplications=NO ;UID of the application pack containing all your apps ;Applications001={1182ad04-4c82-46fc-94b7-10d00cb47d7b} ;Really oddly I found that if I didn't put account details in hear then it didn't work if hidden, but worked fine if not hidden and just clicked through... odd world SkipDomainMembership=YES JoinDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL DomainAdminDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL DomainAdmin=Administrator DomainAdminPassword=************* SkipCapture=YES DoCapture=NO SkipSummary=YES SkipFinalSummary=NO FinishAction=RESTART
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) Okay, I'm getting somewhere slowly. I've just adjusted some things and ran it again. It STILL asks for me for network credential things, and it now doesn't ask me which apps to install. I'll have a play around and if I can't get anywhere I'll reply again. Thanks! Right, this bit is all about the bootstrap.ini Basically the rules.ini handles everything after the first 2 screens and "Welcome" and "Login". This can be updated without affecting the boot file, but the Welcome (controlled by SkipBDDWelcome) and the network login (control by UserID, UserPassword and UserDomain) and set by bootstrap.ini and only gets updated if you use the newly generated boot images. Usually called LiteTouchPE_x86.iso and LiteTouchPE_x86.wim (32bit). If you don't want to replace the exitsting boot image yet, just burn LiteTouchPE_x86.iso to a blank CD and boot from that (Found at \Boot) Edited April 4, 2014 by AlexB
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 If I do want to overwrite the existing LiteTouchPE_x86.iso how do I do this (as in, the one on WDS). It's just I'd prefer to overwrite it with one that has service pack 1 on it as well.
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 This is currently my rules.ini I can't see any issues really? All it does is ask me to press start new installation, enter the network credentials and then type in the computer name. Upon pressing finish, it doesn't even install the OS?? [settings] Priority=Default Properties=MyCustomProperty [Default] ;This is for using exitsing name ;UserExit=UserExit.vbs ;OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()# ;SkipComputerName=NO ;This is for picking name at image time SkipComputerName=NO ;ComputerName=-> ;End of naming SkipBDDWelcome=YES OSInstall=YES OrgName="Dowdales School" FullName="Dowdales School" SkipTimeZone=YES TimeZone=085 TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time SkipLocaleSelection=YES GeoID=0XF2 UserLocale=en-gb KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809 SkipUserData=YES UserDataLocation=NONE ;Task sequence ID SkipTaskSequence=YES TaskSequenceID="WINDOWS7" SkipAppsOnUpgrade=NO SkipProductKey=YES SkipBitLocker=YES SkipAdminPassword=YES AdminPassword=******** DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER DoNotCreateExtraPartition=YES SkipApplications=NO ;UID of the application pack containing all your apps ;Applications001={1182ad04-4c82-46fc-94b7-10d00cb47d7b} ;Really oddly I found that if I didn't put account details in hear then it didn't work if hidden, but worked fine if not hidden and just clicked through... odd world SkipDomainMembership=YES JoinDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL DomainAdminDomain=STAFF.INTERNAL DomainAdmin=Administrator DomainAdminPassword=************* SkipCapture=YES DoCapture=NO SkipSummary=YES SkipFinalSummary=NO FinishAction=RESTART Okay, I think we are getting there then. Try TaskSequenceID="WINDOWS7" without the quotes (TaskSequenceID=WINDOWS7) and check that this is definately the right task sequence ID, it the the ID column within the Tash Sequences window
AlexB Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) If I do want to overwrite the existing LiteTouchPE_x86.iso how do I do this (as in, the one on WDS). It's just I'd prefer to overwrite it with one that has service pack 1 on it as well. The LiteTouchPE_x86 is just the boot image to talk to the deployment server, all it contains (as far as I know) is the bootstrap.ini to find the deployment share and network card drivers to get your hardware to be able to talk to the deployment share. So replacing the LiteTouchPE_x86 has no effect on what you are deploying, Win7, SPxx, Win 8, etc... To replace the existing LiteTouchPE_x86.wim in WDS, load the WDS console, expand down to Boot Images. For now, right click in the main window and Add Boot Image, broswe to \Boot and double click LiteTouchPE-x86.wim. Go through the rest of the steps calling it something like, new boot image. This will mean the initial WDS boot screen will ask you the choose between your existing and the new (in case it goes wrong, we haven't changed the old one this way) and if it all works you can just right click and disable the old one later. Edited April 4, 2014 by AlexB
GRitchie Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Ah, I see - so how would I apply the updates? (i.e Service Pack 1)
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