[wds] Is there a way to delete existing partitions

[soveryapt]

Good afternoon all ..

 

Right, I seem to have got WDS Successfully deploying images of W7 thanks to the Sticky on it and a little jiggery pokery with the Firewall and ports on the server ..

 

Anyway, the question I have now is, can WDS remove the existing partitions on a drive? I have it set so that it formats the drive if it's a vanilla drive in there, however, if it's an existing machine with partitions on and the likes, then it just falls over unless I remove the partitions manually and then restart the PXE Boot at which point it goes through and sets the things going fine ..

 

Many thanks

Andy

[teejay]

In your windows pe phase, set will wipe disk to true. Our disk config section is:

               
                   
                       
                           true
                           2
                           Primary
                       
                       
                           1
                           300
                           Primary
                       
                   
                   
                       
                           true
                           NTFS
                           System
                           1
                           1
                       
                       
                           false
                           NTFS
                           Windows
                           2
                           2
                           C
                       
                   
                   0
                   true
               
               OnError
           

[soveryapt]

I already have it set to that, but it doesn't seem to do much.. if the disk is empty, or only has a single partition on it, it does it's job, but if there is more than one partition on it (I have some new HP Machines with HP Partitions on) then it doesn't delete them.

 

This is my disk configuration section .. Any suggestions?

 

               Always
               
                   
                       
                           true
                           1
                           Primary
                       
                   
                   
                       
                           true
                           false
                           NTFS
                           System OS
                           C
                           1
                           1
                       
                   
                   0
                   true
               
           

 

Ta

[teejay]

Change Will Show UI to OnError otherwise I don't think it runs through the unattend setting properly.

[soveryapt]

TeeJay .. I love ya! lol .. That's worked brilliantly .. Ta

[teejay]

Lol, manly hugs all round! Cough, errmmm, back to work....

[soveryapt]

Lol, manly hugs all round! Cough, errmmm, back to work....

 

Indeed! lol ..

 

Is there a way that you can also say "Install this image" in the Unattended file? Saves me having to select Windows 7 Professional from each one (there's only the one image at the moment so ..)

[teejay]

Yep, something along these lines:

            
              OnError
              
                 Windows 7 with Office
                 ImageGroup1
                 Install.wim
              
                 
                 0
                 1
              
           

[soveryapt]

Yep, something along these lines:

            
              OnError
              
                 Windows 7 with Office
                 ImageGroup1
                 Install.wim
              
                 
                 0
                 1
              
           

 

Thanks for that, I've put that into the XML File, but I still need to press Enter to tell it to go ahead with the install for the Image .. is there anyway round that? Or should that additional information of sorted that?

 

(I've replaced all the various bits with the information as per my own server).

[teejay]

Thanks for that, I've put that into the XML File, but I still need to press Enter to tell it to go ahead with the install for the Image .. is there anyway round that? Or should that additional information of sorted that?

 

(I've replaced all the various bits with the information as per my own server).

 

It should go past it, if the dialogue box is appearing it means there is an error. Double check the ImageName, ImageGroup and filename are correct.

[soveryapt]

It should go past it, if the dialogue box is appearing it means there is an error. Double check the ImageName, ImageGroup and filename are correct.

 

Meh .. double checked it and it's all right .. reapplied the unattended file to the boot image but there we go .. still not working ..

[teejay]

Hmmm, if I get chance I'll test on ours, it's not something I've used as we have 4 different images we deploy now. I was really trying to keep to 1, but wasn't acheivable, but hey it's much better than teh 30 odd images we had in RIS ;-)

[soveryapt]

Hmmm, if I get chance I'll test on ours, it's not something I've used as we have 4 different images we deploy now. I was really trying to keep to 1, but wasn't acheivable, but hey it's much better than teh 30 odd images we had in RIS ;-)

 

Yeah, that's why I've never gone for it before .. too many different machines to set for .. where as now I've managed to get a standard set of software (that I might actually put into the image once I've got the school back up and running for quicker deployment) and the odd extra thing that is only licensed for the ICT Suites ..

[Chuckster]

In your windows pe phase, set will wipe disk to true. Our disk config section is:

               
                   
                       
                           true
                           2
                           Primary
                       
                       
                           1
                           300
                           Primary
                       
                   
                   
                       
                           true
                           NTFS
                           System
                           1
                           1
                       
                       
                           false
                           NTFS
                           Windows
                           2
                           2
                           C
                       
                   
                   0
                   true
               
               OnError
           

 

 

 

Whereabouts do you apply this?

[PeteLong]

________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's some more information that might be helpful,

 

 

WDS - Unattended file - Removing /Formatting Drive Partitions

 

Pete

[SHimmer45]

Digging up a zombie thread alert...

 

having trouble with this wiping a drive and selecting an image on a test WDS (i usually use MDT but a school im helping out only have WDS)

the client appears to be ignoring the servers unattend file.