sysadhater

It appears that if you have more than the PE step in your server unattend it freaks out, once i removed all of the other steps out it actually started working. one other question i had was this link: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserve...3.mspx?mfr=true references that from the boot menu you could have boot images that: Reformat the hard disks to support BitLocker Drive Encryption (using unattend), and then install Windows. • Contain the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) that you want to use when a computer fails to start. • Contain the Windows Deployment Services Image capture wizard, which creates an install image from the client computer's operating system. • Include a Windows PE image for administrators who want to perform other operations within Windows PE. is that stuff you have to make yourself or am I missing some super awesome utility.wim somewhere? -Drew

We cannot use a KMS situation because we do not have control over the end deployment's DNS or Active Directory configuration we have to use MAK and we dont need different roles, we just need to install Datacenter or Web with a different CD Key.. lol -Drew

Ah, I figured out my problem. I have two different product keys. One is for datacenter and one is for Web. If I put the one for web in the 'Server unattend' and then tell it to install web it works, and if i do the opposite it works, but if i try vice verse it doesnt work. Alternatively if i assign both a SERVER unattend that just has credentials for the domain and then apply a image unattend that has the full install mojo it logs into the domain and totally ignores the image specific unattend. At least I know now what the problem is. Its the disparate key between the editions that fouls it up. It is kind of silly that you cannot have a 'server unattend' that just tells the system to auto-login and then have it fall back to the image un attend or that it wont somehow merge the two into one file or something... guess its looking like norton ghost for another 10yr edit: i wonder if there isn't some way to add the four options I need to the boot.wim and by pass the menuing altogether. the only options i need are: Datacenter x86 Datacenter x64 Web x86 Web x64

Right, my point/problem is that the Windows Deployment Services "Section" of the XML requires you to specify what image you want to install if you include it, which means that it wants you to specify which edition ahead of time (it says in the documentation that you shouldn't leave that blank...) -Drew

Hi there, first time ever trying to do deployments right, i've used ghost for a long time but i'm getting kind of tired of it so I decided to go with WDS for 2008, so far I like it quite a bit. Here is the scenario I am shooting for, and maybe someone can tell me if i what i want is possible: Step1: User boots server Step2: User hits F12 at 'Press f12 for network service' prompt Step3: User selects X86 or X64 depending on preference Step4: User selects Appropriate edition of Windows Server 2008 Step5: User presses CTRL-ALT-DEL to login to new Windows Server 2008 machine that was auto installed. What I dont want. I dont want the user to have to login to the domain, I dont want the user to have to do the partitioning, I dont want the user to have to answer any question regarding the setup of the system other than x86/x64 and the particular Edition. The problem I am running into is the way I am "reading the documentation" it seems like you can only apply one type of unattend file, either a CLIENT unattend file or a "PER INSTALL IMAGE" unattend file and not both. Or can you apply both? The issue as I see it, is if you apply the settings in the Windows_Setup_Windows_Deployment_Services in AIK on the INSTALL_IMAGE unattend file, it wont get read until after you've authenticated into the domain as the user hasn't even selected the INSTALL IMAGE they want yet, and if you put all of the information about the INSTALL IMAGE you want to install into the CLIENT unattend file for say the SERVERCORE install image and then you select say DATACENTERV than will it not screw it up? The second question I had was regarding 'injecting' drivers into the WIM files, does anyone know how to do this? Thanks, -Drew