Automating and Deploying Operating systems using Microsoft Deployment

Toolkit 2010 Update1 (MDT2010 Update1)

Rama Ravikanth Vijapurapu

1. Download MDT2010 Update1.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=2932

Alternatively you can also find the same below

\\hyd-fs1\ALL

Microsoft has started distributing Solution Accelerators for free these days and MDT2012 is now

available but is still in Beta stage, you can test that too if you wish.

2. Install MDT2010 Update1 (I agree – next - next - next – finish)

**DON’T install WAIK or MSXML6.0 prior to installing MDT2010 update1.**

3. Configuring MDT2010 update1

Open Deployment Work bench from start->all programs->Microsoft Deployment Toolkit ->

Deployment work bench. On the left plane, go to Information Centre -> Components and

look under description. From here select WAIK and msxml6.0. They’ll be downloaded and

installed. Restart the computer. Doing it this way is easier and is hassle free.

4. Creating a new deployment share.

Right Click and click on new deployment share and point to a location other than C:\ where

you want this deployment share to be located.

Once completed, deployment share can be as big as 30-40GB, so, please allocate space

accordingly. Once created, open deployment share folder and it’ll look something like this.

“Applications” is where all the applications you wish to deploy are stored.

Images of all machines you captures using a task sequence are stores in “captures”.

“Control” will contain the custom settings.ini and bootstrap.ini files which you will need to

edit to accomplish the automation.

Operating systems and Out of box Drivers will contain the OS and drivers respectively.

Packages will contain any packages you wish to deploy along with an OS. Example: Media

driver package for windows 7N edition.

Scripts will contain the litetouch.vbs file which will start the deployment if you are looking to

start it for application installations.

Boot will contain the .WIM files you will need for importing into the WDS server for the

entire deployment to work.

5. Importing Operating systems.

My target in this document is to provide the quickest way to get the job done. If you wish to

do your own R&D, all the documents are available in documentation section under information

centre.

You can import the OS in 3 ways. Full set of source files (direct from DVD), custom WIM files

and WDS images.

WIM files are the way I did it.

Select Operating systems folder in work bench, right click and select import new OS. Select

the option which says “Custom Image file”.

**For XP and Windows Server 2003 no setup files are needed, just the .WIM files will do, for

Windows Vista based OS (7, 2008, 2008R2) you will need setup files.

For windows vista based OS only: Copy the files in the DVD to your Hard Drive, rename the

.WIM file you created as “install.wim”, paste it in the sources folder (replacing the default

install.wim) and delete all the .clg files which typically exist below it.

Now that you have a folder containing the OS with the mentioned modifications done, you

can use it for import. At the selection of WIM file window, point to the install.wim file in the

sources folder under the OS folder you previously copied form a DVD. When it asks for the setup

files, just point it to the main folder which has all the OS files (in case of XP and 2003 you can

select “no setup files are needed”). Name the Destination directory as you please and click on

finish after reviewing your configuration.

6. Injecting the Drivers

Download the driver CAB files from the link

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/2065.dell-driver-cab-files-

for-enterprise-client-os-deployment.aspx extract the cab files to one folder and point MDT to

the folder, or, go to www.support.dell.com and download drivers(.exe), extract them into

individual folders and point MDT2010 to them. Right click on the Out of box Drivers and select

import drivers to complete the task. This action will take considerable time to complete.

7. Adding Applications

www.appdeploy.com is a resourceful website for getting the silent commands for .exe files

for various applications. If you can get an .msi file for an application, nothing like it; but, if

that is not available, then you will need to punch in commands for silent install.

From Deployment work bench, R-Click on Applications and select new application,

select application with source files, fill in the details and fill in the commands and you’re

done.

Note: You cannot point MDT to an application directly; you will need to put the

application (.exe or .msi) in a folder and point MDT to that folder.

Adding stand-alone applications: Ghost32 like applications can be added by R-

clicking on Deployment shares->properties-> Windows PE -> Extra Directory to add. For

Ghost32 application too, you will need to put it in a folder and point MDT to it.

Command lines for few of the applications I automated are as follow.

7zip 920 - 7z920.exe /S /D="%programfiles%\7-Zip\

Adobe ReaderX - AdbeRdr1013_en_US.exe /msi EULA_ACCEPT=YES /qn

Office2010 - setup.exe /config ProPlus.WW\config.xml

Live Messenger (messenger only) - wlsetup-all.exe /AppSelect:Messenger /q

Office2007 - setup.exe /config ProPlus.WW\config.xml

Visio 2007 - setup.exe /config VisPro.WW\config.xml

Java7 - jre-7u4-windows-i586.exe /s IEXPLORER=1

SAV - savinst-HYD.exe /i

Note: Office products have special features as illustrated below; you can make the

required changes here. R-click on any office application and you can make changes. Just like OCT.

8. Task Sequencing:

Now that you’ve added all the required software, you will need to create a

task sequence to suit your needs. We have Standard for OS installations, Custom for

Applications etc, Sysprep and capture for capturing images etc and so on. You can

even create sub directories in task sequences to suit your needs.

And then there’s summary and you’re done with the task sequence.

Customising a task sequence: Let’s take an example, I have selected a pre-created task

sequence and the following illustrate its properties, the expanded areas need your attention.

Validate: Set the processor speed and Memory to some minimal value.

Format and Partition Disk: You can set the partitions and their size for the OS here.

Install Operating system: Select the partition where you want to install OS.

Imaging: Disable this if you wish not to create an image of the machine.

Install Applications: Have it set to “Install multiple applications” so that when you initiate a

deployment, you can select one or many applications to go with the OS.

Custom tasks: You can have few custom task sequences in built in it, if you need any further

additions such, you can do it here.

9. Automating a deployment

You can automate a deployment by editing the customsettings.ini and bootstrap.ini

in the control folder in deployment share. Following website will give you some basic idea.

http://scriptimus.wordpress.com/

My customsettings.ini looks like this.

[Settings]

Priority=Default

Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]

OSInstall=Y

UserDomain=sumtotal SKIPS THE NETWORK JOINING CREDENTIALS SCREEN

UserID=##### SKIPS THE NETWORK JOINING CREDENTIALS SCREEN

UserPassword=########### SKIPS THE NETWORK JOINING CREDENTIALS SCREEN

SkipAdminPassword=YES SKIPS ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD SCREEN

AdminPassword=####### SKIPS ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD SCREEN

JoinWorkGroup=WorkGroup JOINS THE COMPUTER IN WORK GROUP BY DEFAULT

SkipProductKey=YES SKIPS PRODUCT KEY PAGE

SkipComputerName=NO IN THIS PAGE YOU CAN CHANGE COMPUTER NAME AND CHECK IF YOU WANT IT TO BE IN DOMAIN OR IN WORK GROUP

SkipComputerBackup=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipLocaleSelection=YES

KeyboardLocale=0409:00000409 SETS KB INPUT LANGUAGE TO EN-US

UserLocale=en-US

UILanguage=en-US SETS USER LANGUAGE TO EN-US

SkipTimeZone=YES SETS TIME ZOME TO IST

TimeZone=190 SETS TIME ZOME TO IST

TimeZoneName=India Time SETS TIME ZOME TO IST

SkipUserData=YES

SkipSummary=YES

_SMSTSOrgName=SumTotal I.T. Team SETS THE BANNER ON THE DEPLOYMENT WINDOW TO THE GIVEN NAME

EventService=http://ravikanthv-hyd:9800

Note: To start your Lite-Touch deployments automatically, enter the

credentials in thebootstrap.ini file. This will automate the initial deployment share

login. To automate login to the backup share or user state migration shares during

deployments, enter the credentials in the customsetting.ini file.

10. Removing SID for machines (sophos)

You will need to do this before running sysprep on the machine.

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/knowledgebase/12561.aspx

I don’t think it is necessary to tell you how to sysprep, but I will tell you how to

capture an image of a machine. You can do it either by using a WINPE boot disk (DVD/USB) or u can

do it using MDT sysprep and capture task sequence. Both are equally convenient, but the task

sequence worked for me sometime and didn’t other times. So I`ll tell you how to create a winpe

boot disk, it is fairly simple. Just follow the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQGujsHcq6U .

Please use this link to create a WIM filehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxC3lFjC_6Q .

11. Adding Packages:

The link below will tell you how to add packages to MDT. Packages are those files

which when added will install along with the OS. Like windows media service pack for

windows7N.

http://sourcedaddy.com/windows-7/adding-packages.html

After having done all this, you will be able to see files named LiteTouchPE_x64 and LiteTouchPE_x86

in .wim, .iso and .xml format. Import the .wim files into a WDS and you’re good to go.

I hope I covered everything in the Lite Touch domain of Deployment.

ZTI is another option which can be more automated, but, ZTI requires a little bit of VB

scripting, which, I’m not aware of. This is just a gist and a beginners view of deploying OS images,

there’s a lot more to it than this, but, my fingers hurt and you’ll be able to take this forward from

here. Thank you for reading.

Rama Ravikanth Vijapurapu

SumTotal Systems