MDT / WDS - ADK update for Windows 11 ??

[timbo343]

We have been running MDT and WDS for windows 10 without any issues and today I thought i'd uninstall ADK 10.1.10586 and install 10.1.26100.

 

Is that all I need to do or do I need to do something after that as it seems that the image isn't properly deploying now and when I go into the Deployment shares > properties > Windows PE I get an error... eek!

 

Bear in mind we only really touch MDT / WDS once a year and major changes like this were changed years ago.

[3s-gtech]

You need to rebuild and deploy the boot images.

[timbo343]

4 minutes ago, 3s-gtech said:

You need to rebuild and deploy the boot images.

Thanks, on both the capture and deploy shares as we have one for each?

[3s-gtech]

I’ve never used Capture, but I would guess so.

[timbo343]

Currently getting errors with wdscommonlib.dll and imagelib.dll but it seems like others have had the same issue:

 

Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/MDT/comments/p32trm/mdt_errors_while_after_moving_to_a_new_server/

 

 

This is how I resolved this:

Get hold of a Windows 11 ISO (x64)

Mount the ISO and in the sources folder there are 2 files you will need wdscommon.dll and imagelib.dll

Copy these files to your mdt deployment share > tools > x64 folder (e.g on mine this is E:\DeploymentShare\Tools\x64)

Update your deployment share

Replace your Boot Image in WDS

 

MS known issues - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/configmgr/mdt/known-issues

 

Also had this too which creating the x86 folder has fixed - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/871191/mdt-and-adk-setup-for-windows-11-cause-error-in-mm

[timbo343]

All this has worked to get the image on but the task sequence isn't working and it's not renaming the PC as noted in the deployment steps.

[3s-gtech]

Can you create a new TS for testing?

[timbo343]

I've kind of gone backwards on this so re-looking over what i've done tonight as the image now isn't going up to the MDT server - gah!

[timbo343]

I keep getting this when I'm trying to capture an image and have no idea why. This all used to work until i started messing with it and Updating the deployment Share takes about 45 mins!

 

[3s-gtech]

Have you gone through:

https://oofhours.com/2024/12/17/capturing-a-windows-11-image-with-mdt/

[timbo343]

1 hour ago, 3s-gtech said:

Have you gone through:

https://oofhours.com/2024/12/17/capturing-a-windows-11-image-with-mdt/

Thank you, I'll give that a go!

[timbo343]

12 hours ago, 3s-gtech said:

Have you gone through:

https://oofhours.com/2024/12/17/capturing-a-windows-11-image-with-mdt/

I've been through the article, the only thing I had to do was update the XML.

 

I've also followed this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WSF9q4flUQ - after creating a brand new capture share.

 

What is interesting is, I've got a Win11-22H2-Edu ISO and that has sysprep'd and captures without any issues - I'm starting not to feel as thick or stupid as much as I did this morning.

 

I'll be trying Win11 24H2 LTSC and Win11 24H2 EDU again to see what results those give.

 

I do see on VLSC that a new version of Win11 Education has been released dated April 2025.

[timbo343]

Win11_22H2_EDU captures and deploys out to workstations without any issues.

 

Now to test Win11_24H2_LTSC...

[timbo343]

Win11_24H2_LTSC does not sysprep nor does it capture, it gives the "Run deployment wizard to install a new operating system". Is there some kind of trick to get Win11 LTSC to capture in MDT?

 

Now on to Win11_24H2_EDU...

 

... 24H2_EDU will not sysprep either, just like LTSC it gives an error about the registry item not being set to IMAGE_STATE_GENERALIZE_RESEAL_TO_OOBE. The registry key location is KEY: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\State.

 

Going to have a read of this and see what i'm missing - https://www.deploymentresearch.com/building-a-windows-11-24h2-reference-image-using-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-mdt/

[timbo343]

Just tested Win11_23H2_EDU with the same settings I used with 22H2 and 24H2. 23H2 sysprepped and captured as expected so it feels like there is an issue with 24H2.

[3s-gtech]

There may well be. As I don’t capture I haven’t encountered an issue with 24H2 that way. Do you strip anything from the build?

[timbo343]

Just now, 3s-gtech said:

There may well be. As I don’t capture I haven’t encountered an issue with 24H2 that way. Do you strip anything from the build?

 

Nope, they are vanilla from install but I've installed them on a VM without network connection. 

[FragglePete]

Never bother capturing anymore, just deploy with the latest ISO and remove, tweak, add as needed as part of the Task Sequence.

 

Pete

[timbo343]

Just got win11_24H2.6_EDU to sysprep and after a bit of hacking away at the WinPE upload, it's actually being pushed up to the MDT Server!! It's only taken a week!!

 

I'll comment back on here with what I did as I've tried all sorts.

[timbo343]

So, here is what I did - happy for people to add how it could be made better.

 

- In powershell ran 

manage-bde -off C:  

to turn off bitlocker on C drive.

 

To view the status use 

manage-bde -status c:

 

The percentage will continue to drop down to 0%.  Wait for it to say "Fully Decrypted". The virtual machine I was working on had TPM disabled too.

- Used the local administrator account to sysprep and removed all other local users along with their User Profiles from System > Advanced System Settings > User Profiles so that only Default Profile and Administrator were listed.

 

- Jumped into Services.msc and disabled Windows Update.

 

- In powershell ran 

get-appxpackage "*WidgetsPlatformRuntime*" | Remove-appxpackage -allusers

 

As soon as that runs, run LiteTouch. Now this could be added to the Task Sequence so it removes it as part of the LiteTouch. The system will then sysprep and restart.

 

If sysprep does fail, look in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\panther. There is a log file which tells you what is failing. Either Bitlocker or an appxpackage.

 

Note: During initial testing, I did run

winget uninstall "Windows web experience pack"

and agreed to the prompts. After that had ran, I ran 

get-appxpackage "Microsoft.Winget.Source" | Remove-appxpackage -allusers

This completely removed Widgets from the system but I'm not sure what else it removed.

 

Once the system has restarted, it booted into WinPE to the Run the Deployment Wizard to install a new Operating System or Exit to Command Prompt.

Here I clicked on Exit to Command Prompt.

Run Diskpart

Run List disk

Run Select Disk 0

Run List Part (to show the partitions - this is optional)

Run Select Part 3 (which is the primary partition)

Run assign letter=c

Run Exit

Run startnet.cmd to kick capture of sysprepped machine.

 

 

[tayyab12]

Right a step closer, thanks for your help guys but now another issue is that it reboots into litetouch again. like it does the loading files screen but then goes into the litetouch login as if it was imaging a pc. usually on my current build it goes on to the next step of Create WIM. Not sure what is going on here. everything like the custom ini file and ts is the same as it has been with 23h2 so not sure what else i need to change.

 

Custom ini file:

 

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
UserExit=UserExit.vbs
OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()#
FinishAction=REBOOT
OSInstall=Y
SkipCapture=NO
DoCapture=YES
SkipTaskSequence=NO
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerBackup=YES
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
SkipDeploymentType=NO
SkipDomainMembership=NO
SkipUserData=YES
SkipLocaleSelection=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipTimeZone=YES
SkipFinalSummary=YES
EventService=http://SERVERNAME:9800
 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2025 by tayyab12

[timbo343]

On 22/05/2025 at 20:46, timbo343 said:

So, here is what I did - happy for people to add how it could be made better.

 

- In powershell ran 

manage-bde -off C:  

to turn off bitlocker on C drive.

 

To view the status use 

manage-bde -status c:

 

The percentage will continue to drop down to 0%.  Wait for it to say "Fully Decrypted". The virtual machine I was working on had TPM disabled too.

- Used the local administrator account to sysprep and removed all other local users along with their User Profiles from System > Advanced System Settings > User Profiles so that only Default Profile and Administrator were listed.

 

- Jumped into Services.msc and disabled Windows Update.

 

- In powershell ran 

get-appxpackage "*WidgetsPlatformRuntime*" | Remove-appxpackage -allusers

 

As soon as that runs, run LiteTouch. Now this could be added to the Task Sequence so it removes it as part of the LiteTouch. The system will then sysprep and restart.

 

If sysprep does fail, look in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\panther. There is a log file which tells you what is failing. Either Bitlocker or an appxpackage.

 

Note: During initial testing, I did run

winget uninstall "Windows web experience pack"

and agreed to the prompts. After that had ran, I ran 

get-appxpackage "Microsoft.Winget.Source" | Remove-appxpackage -allusers

This completely removed Widgets from the system but I'm not sure what else it removed.

 

Once the system has restarted, it booted into WinPE to the Run the Deployment Wizard to install a new Operating System or Exit to Command Prompt.

Here I clicked on Exit to Command Prompt.

Run Diskpart

Run List disk

Run Select Disk 0

Run List Part (to show the partitions - this is optional)

Run Select Part 3 (which is the primary partition)

Run assign letter=c

Run Exit

Run startnet.cmd to kick capture of sysprepped machine.

 

 

Just to add to this, i've started to add DSH Key with AllowNewsAndInterests DWORD = 0 to the registry to stop widgets appearing.

 

Run Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following:

 

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh" /v "AllowNewsAndInterests" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

 

It's possible to also set this in Group Policy:

Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets, then set "Allow Widgets" to Disabled.