[wds] WDS help needed

[timbo343]

Would anyone with WDS on server 2008R2 experience be able to help me out on this please.

 

We have got a Windows 7 image and we use a program called "MySysprep" which runs along side sysprep and allows us to give the computer a name after the machine has been syspreped while initial setup is running. Basically, MySysprep looks at the unattend.xml file and configures the machine for the network adding it to the relevant OU etc... To be fair, it works a treat.

 

Ok, bear with me on this one as i go through the process that we do when capturing and deploying the image:

 

So we have a sealed image which has been sealed with sysprep and MySysprep... we boot the machine with a USB key with contains winpe and imagex. Once the machine has booted, we run the command net use i: \\{nameofserver}\reminst\images /user:admininstrator {password} to map a network share to store the .wim file. Once this command has completed we run imagex. The command we use is imagex /capture c: i:\test.wim "test_image" /compress maximum.

 

After the image as been captured we add the image into the WDS server into the image files. The boot file we are using is just off the windows 7 cd.

 

Now here where the problem lies. When we try to deploy the image back to the client, we PXE boot the client to talk to the server which is fine and the image goes on, extracts and completes. Once the image has been extracted and the machine reboots, the machine boots into setup (the black screen with the little white bar at the bottom of the screen) and MySysprep is trying to run (as it is displayed in the top right hand corner) but we dont see the only box which we add the computer name into, instead the windows oobe runs and we cant add a computer name at the setup stage.

 

Does WDS support disk imaging in the way we need to do it or am i missing something?

 

If we deploy the image via imagex using the command imagex /apply i:\test.wim 1 c: the sealed image works without any problems. When using WDS, does it use a different xml file?

 

Thanks

[Gatt]

Not sure what MySysprep is, but I'd recommend you look at MDT 2010 as this will make capturing reference images and then allow them to be redeployed fairly easily

[timbo343]

MySysprep http://www.tsaysoft.com/mysysprep2/ is a little exe which runs with sysprep which allows us to add a computer name to the sealed image when its deployed.

[Gatt]

Ah right.. I've always used WDS to set the PC name by setting WDS's Pending Devices so I can prestage the PC

Then switched to MDT which gives me a prompt to enter it into...

[timbo343]

hmmmm, right ok. Looks like ill be having a little play with that then....

 

I take it with MDT you can upload and download your own images of machines, just like ghost etc?

Edited April 15, 2011 by timbo343

[Gatt]

Yeah and a lot more.. I didn't use it for image based installs as it can be scripted to install windows & Apps automatically as well as driver injection

[john]

You not bought that book I told you about Tim or was that Lee I told about the MDT book that I bought after it was recommended on here.

 

You need to visit me at the other side of the county and see my MDT, its ace and to say its free

 

Ping me on monday (text if possible or work email) and I'll give you the ISBN off the book its a complete step by step guide to setting up MDT for deploy, capture, manage and sort images out and its ace

[timbo343]

I remember you mentioning it and i looked into it but never bought it, being a tight yorkshireman and trying other methods first. I have found someone selling a second hand one so might buy that one. I have got MDT2010 installed on a laptop but dont have any wim images with me at the mo. Just out of interest, how are the wim images deployed via MDT2010?

[john]

I remember you mentioning it and i looked into it but never bought it, being a tight yorkshireman and trying other methods first. I have found someone selling a second hand one so might buy that one. I have got MDT2010 installed on a laptop but dont have any wim images with me at the mo. Just out of interest, how are the wim images deployed via MDT2010?

 

PXE Boot via WDS and off ya go

[Gatt]

I Just out of interest, how are the wim images deployed via MDT2010?

 

As @john said, MDT 2010 will create a bootable WIM file which can then be imported into WDS.

This then boots to MDT and runs any task sequences that you create in MDT

Before moving to SCCM, this is how I did all my deployments.. Always installs everything fresh so no stale images to keep updating..

[mavhc]

I barcode scan the lan mac address off the box, add a name for that pc, use excel to create a list of wdsutil commands to prestage them, then pxe boot. WDS does the name and joining into the correct OU, the xml file specified for the WDS image does the rest

[timbo343]

Call me naive or thick but how on earth do you get the sealed wim file to deploy to the client machines?

[mavhc]

Normally you network boot them into win pe with a boot image, then either automatically or manually pick an image to deploy, there are 2 xml files to configure, one for the server, picking what image to deploy etc, and one to configure the image, join to domain etc