[mdt] WDS MDT senior moment

I'm trying to set up MDT and WDS, but I'm obviously missing a fundamental basic step.

 

I can deploy a Windows image from WDS and it installs and boots as it should to a test physical machine, but I'm missing something with MDT.

 

I only imported x64 OS as that's what I have available to me at the minute. When I try and update the deployment share it fails as it doesn't find the x86 boot file.

 

I guess because of that, it doesn't pick up the task sequence, so none of my customisations get applied. I think the deployment is still ignoring MDT completely, but I'm not sure what the missing link is.

Update: Microsoft changed ADK* so that Windows PE is an add-on

 

Now that I've downloaded that and installed on my deployment server, MDT finds it and generates a boot file. Hopefully I'll soon be able to give an update that WDS now picks up the task sequence....

 

*In 2018 - it's been a while

And now I've come up against this issue:

 

http://www.edugeek.net/blogs/simpsonj/2377-mdt-adk-failure-5616-15299-verify-bcdbootex.html

 

Now I remember why I didn't change anything once I had it working at my last place. MDT and WDS are great when they're working, but it's painful getting there.

I've spent all day failing to fix this. OS deploys but won't boot. I've tried physical machine and both a type 1 and type 2 hyper v machine with no customisations.

 

Variations of verify BCDBootEx errors

 

I found some stuff about a big in the ADK, relating to not correctly identifying whether it's UEFI or legacy boot, but I installed the patch and get the same errors.

 

Any suggestions? Currently looking at doing what I can to automate a vanilla OS deployment by WDS and then running MDT from within the running client to add further customisations. Very clunky workaround though and I'd really like to get MDT working properly.

 

Thanks in advance.

Apply the fix from Microsoft to program files. If you have already created the deployment share, copy the new x86 DLL to DeploymentShare\Tools\x86 and the x64 DLL to DeploymentShare\Tools\x64.

 

Update the deployment share, making sure the option to completely regenerate the boot image is selected. Once MDT has built the image, load it into WDS and see how you get on.

 

I've never needed to use the mentioned script to get MDT working once I installed the patched DLLs.

 

Would it be worth creating a new deployment share (for testing) once you've installed the patches?

Thanks for the suggestions. I had already tried copying the DLLs into the location you mentioned as I was trying to keep the existing deployment share. I think I'll try starting from scratch tomorrow.

Apply the fix from Microsoft to program files. If you have already created the deployment share, copy the new x86 DLL to DeploymentShare\Tools\x86 and the x64 DLL to DeploymentShare\Tools\x64.

 

Update the deployment share, making sure the option to completely regenerate the boot image is selected. Once MDT has built the image, load it into WDS and see how you get on.

 

I've never needed to use the mentioned script to get MDT working once I installed the patched DLLs.

 

Would it be worth creating a new deployment share (for testing) once you've installed the patches?

Hi @computer_expert

 

I'm starting again, so I have uninstalled ADK, MDT and WDS and deleted the deployment share.

 

Do you mean after installing the ADK, copy the KB application into C:\Program Files and run it?

 

Edit: I think I've found the answer to this. Using https://www.deploymentresearch.com/building-a-windows-10-21h2-reference-image-using-Microsoft-deployment-toolkit-mdt/

Edited October 4, 2022 by jmak

I built a MDT server today using the Win11 ADK and did the following:

 

Install Windows 11 22H2 ADK and windows PE addon from here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install
1. Install MDT x64 from here - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54259
   
2. Patch the DLLs as described above
   
3. Create the deployment share
   
4. Use mkdir to create a blank folder as the W11 22H2 ADK causes MDT console to crash (due to x86 ADK no longer being shipped in W11 22H2) [1]
   

   mkdir C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\x86\WinPE_OCs

   
   

5. Unticked the x86 support in the deployment properties (also untick the x86 iso image generation)
   
6. Applied the HTA applications workaround from here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/configmgr/mdt/known-issues
   
7. Loaded the latest VLSC windows 10 ISO into MDT
   
8. Configured Customsettings.ini/bootstrap.ini with my site specific settings
   
9. Imported applications to be deployed during task sequence
   
10. Created task sequence to deploy W10 image imported in step 8
    
11. Updated the deployment share to generate the litetouch image
    
12. Loaded MDT boot.wim into WDS on a server
    
13. Boot the client into MDT, run the task sequence (...and 1st time round, watch it fail to install the imported applications due to a typo in a silent install command. Oops!)
    

 

[1] (search for Ismael here)

Edited October 4, 2022 by computer_expert

This link might help (version numbers are different of course):

 

Building A Windows 10 1909 November 2019 Update (19H2) Reference Image with MDT – Mike Galvin - Technical Consultant

 

Gareth

I built a MDT server today using the Win11 ADK and did the following:

 

Install Windows 11 22H2 ADK and windows PE addon from here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install
1. Install MDT x64 from here - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54259
   
2. Patch the DLLs as described above
   
3. Create the deployment share
   
4. Use mkdir to create a blank folder as the W11 22H2 ADK causes MDT console to crash (due to x86 ADK no longer being shipped in W11 22H2) [1]
   

   mkdir C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\x86\WinPE_OCs

   
   

5. Unticked the x86 support in the deployment properties (also untick the x86 iso image generation)
   
6. Applied the HTA applications workaround from here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/configmgr/mdt/known-issues
   
7. Loaded the latest VLSC windows 10 ISO into MDT
   
8. Configured Customsettings.ini/bootstrap.ini with my site specific settings
   
9. Imported applications to be deployed during task sequence
   
10. Created task sequence to deploy W10 image imported in step 8
    
11. Updated the deployment share to generate the litetouch image
    
12. Loaded MDT boot.wim into WDS on a server
    
13. Boot the client into MDT, run the task sequence (...and 1st time round, watch it fail to install the imported applications due to a typo in a silent install command. Oops!)
    

 

[1] (search for Ismael here)

Came back to say thank you. All working now. The trick was installing the patch before creating the deployment share.

 

I've got my basic deployment working, now tinkering to automate more.