[MDT] Am I doing it wrong?

[aconfusedcamel]

Hey guys

 

Im new here and was hoping you could steer me in the right direction. Ive read up but im still confused, Im a bit of a noob!.

 

We are currently using ghost thick images and im investigating making the move to MDT/WDS.

 

I've been able to setup MDT/WDS in a lab, deploy Win 7, An app or two, capture a image (wim) etc but im a little confused about what is the proper way to use MDT.

 

We have several apps that need to be installed on top of windows, some apps need manual tweaks, some don’t have silent installs etc. We have different hardware models (drivers) and We don’t have SCCM and deploy software manually (sux). My question is this:

 

A. Should I be using MDT to deploy the OS, then apps, then use task sequences to do all the tweaks needed and then the user uses that PC that all the above has just been run on? Wont this take forever to insall W7, All win updates, 15+ apps? I can forsee problems getting apps to silently install, tweaks to apply etc.

 

B. Do I use MDT do deploy the OS, then manually install what’s needed, Sprep and cap and then deploy out a wim file to the users? How do I the deploy the wim file? How would driver updates work?

Any help you can render would be great

 

Regards

Camel

[ChrisH]

To build my reference image I have a task sequence that builds 90 % of the image for me, this includes installing certain application and applying tweaks via scripts etc. For the stuff I can't automate I use a pause in the task sequence and do the manual stuff there. What this means is I can start a new image build and leave it for an hour etc. I then come back apply the last manual tweaks at set it going again, this then captures the image. This needs minimal input from me. You then have your base image. Once this is acquired you just build up your collection of drivers on the workbench and you can either let plug and play take care of it or you can get the model names through WMI during installation and point it at a particular folder of drivers.

[sted]

mdt works to a large extent how you want it to work. The thinner the image the "quicker" to deploy that part but customisation will take longer. Personally i use a thinish image basically windows+updates+office+office updates(where the school has ees) but if a program dosent update often and goes everywhere no reason not to include it in your reference image. The trick is to try and have as few reference images as possible as hardware is now independant of image if you are lucky you can get away with 1 image to rule them all but your milage may vary