[wds] Client Naming Policy Not Applying

[Zoom7000]

I've managed to get WDS and Windows 10 images up and running on my server and in the most part the images are deploying quite successfully. However, the finished PCs are not applying the client naming policy. I've set the PCs to get the name PC%03# so that should apply PC001, PC002 etc and they should go in to the PCs OU that I have created. However, they aren't going in to the correct OU, they are going in to the default computers OU and they are being given a random name.

 

Here is my unattended answer file:

 

   
       
           
               true
           
       
       
		*
           Multi Academy Trust
           My Primary School
           true
           GMT Standard Time
           XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
       
       
           
               
                   mydomain
                   mypassword
                   admin
               
               mydomain.internal
           
       
   
   
       
           en-gb
           en-gb
           en-gb
           en-gb
       
       
           
               true
               true
               true
               true
               true
               Work
               1
               true
               true
           
           
               
                   obfuscatedpassword
                   false
               
               
                   
                       
                           obfuscatedpassword
                           false
                       
                       Local Admin Account
                       Admin
                       Administrators
                       LocalAdmin
                   
               
           
       
   
   

 

Any here is my WDSClientUnattend file:

 

   
       
           
               Never
               en-gb
           
           en-gb
           en-gb
           en-gb
           en-gb
       
       
           
               
                   
                       mydomain
                       mypassword
                       admin
                   
               
               
                   
                       0
                       1
                   
               
           
           
               
                   
                       
                           true
                           1
                           Primary
                       
                   
                   
                       
                           true
                           false
                           NTFS
                           C
                           1
                           1
                           1
                           Local Disk
                       
                   
                   true
                   0
               
           
       
   

 

Any ideas why it isn't be applying?

[Oaktech]

As a temporary fix, could you set WDS to require administrator approval thus allowing a name and approve?

[Zoom7000]

As a temporary fix, could you set WDS to require administrator approval thus allowing a name and approve?

 

Do you mean ticking this box?

 

[Oaktech]

Do you mean ticking this box?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]44131[/ATTACH]

 

That's the puppy.

 

If you tick that, anything that isn't in the known clients table (which you can empty before you start so no machines are known https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/ce4ff156-863e-4734-a13f-86f8f9a00c9f/how-to-delete-existing-wds-deployied-computers-in-ad?forum=winserversetup) the deployment will wait for you to name and approve in the WDS console before continuing to build.

[Zoom7000]

So, I'm trying to approve and name the client in the pending node and I get the following error: "The format of the specified domain name is invalid"

[Oaktech]

So, I'm trying to approve and name the client in the pending node and I get the following error: "The format of the specified domain name is invalid"

 

In the WDS properties of the server, what do you have set on the Advanced and ADDS tabs?

[Zoom7000]

In the WDS properties of the server, what do you have set on the Advanced and ADDS tabs?

 

Okay, I managed to get it to work. I think the problem is that you need to restart the WDS service every time you make a change for it to apply properly. So, I've approved my test PCs/VMs.

 

Just doing some testing now, let's see what name the PC gets!

[Zoom7000]

So, I had 2 answer files. One with:

 

*

 

And the other with:

 

%MACHINENAME%

 

The image with * ignored the prestaged AD account created by WDS and created a new computer account with a random name, no GUID and placed it in to the default computers OU. The image with %MACHINENAME% applied the name that I gave during the approval process and put the computer in to the correct OU.

 

So, the 2nd answer file does what I want. The question now is, can I achieve this automatically without requiring the administrator approval? I've tried %MACHINENAME% with admin approval turned off and the build ignores the client naming policy and just gives it a default name and sticks the computer in to the computers OU.

[Oaktech]

So, I had 2 answer files. One with:

 

*

 

And the other with:

 

%MACHINENAME%

 

The image with * ignored the prestaged AD account created by WDS and created a new computer account with a random name, no GUID and placed it in to the default computers OU. The image with %MACHINENAME% applied the name that I gave during the approval process and put the computer in to the correct OU.

 

So, the 2nd answer file does what I want. The question now is, can I achieve this automatically without requiring the administrator approval? I've tried %MACHINENAME% with admin approval turned off and the build ignores the client naming policy and just gives it a default name and sticks the computer in to the computers OU.

 

The only way I know of to achieve that is to prestage the machine accounts in AD. I've found this to be more laborious than just requiring admin approval, but your experience may be different.

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770832(v=ws.10).aspx