[wds] Windows Deployment Service

[Resolver]

I'd set up a WDS test server and test workstations a few months ago and had everything working nicely, including unattend.xml and sysprep.inf configuration files.

 

Last week, I set up a new server and grabbed some computers in need of a standard image. But now I can't get it working!! If I capture an image, I can redeploy it to the same box and reboot successfully to test the image, but If I deploy it to a different computer, as soon as it boots, I get a bluescreen.

 

I think the problem is that I'm not using a standard hardware platform. In my initial testing, I used two identical computers. This time I built the image on an HP, then deployed it to a Dell, which failed. Then I grabbed two Dells, but they were different models. Finally, I found two Dim 170L's but when it failed on that too, I noticed the one 170L's motherboard had been replaced with an Asus instead of the standard Dell one.

 

So, my long winded question is, how much wiggle room is there in deploying images across different models of computer hardware?

[Gatt]

Which OS are you trying to deploy? XP is a bit picky about which hardware it can be redeployed to.. if its BSODing then its most likley not liking some of the drivers or the HAL of the destination PC

I think there is a way to make it HAL independant but its been a while since I deployed XP - best advice would be to check out MDT 2010 as this allows you to imject drivers via task sequences for different types of make & model

 

Vista and Win7 are more relaxed about hardware, in fact the default action of SYSPREP in Vista/7 is to remove ALL drivers from the image - the only thng that really matters is whether its x64 or x86..

[Resolver]

XP image from a Dell restore disk, since most all of our computers are Dells, and I've had good luck in the past using Dell Discs in other manufacturers machines, so long as I had a valid license to activate it with.

[CaptainJack]

Just so you know, there is no way to unmarry a Windows XP image from the HAL. We overcame this issue by modifying the sysprep.ini file before running sysprep on the XP box, but it took two tries to do it. I put up a blog posting on how to handle the multiple HAL issue with WinXP. It means running sysprep twice, but it seems to be working for us. Here's the link to my entry: Deck 16 – Engineering | Navigating through IT Let me know if this helps.

[CaptainJack]

I'm modifying the previous post. The link to the specific article on my blog is here. The previous one will take you to the front page. This link will save you time.