WDS Installation, Configuration and Simple Deployment

[jamdev12]

Hi all,

I did not know where to put this guide so if someone can help me to put it in the right place it would be great.

This is part one of what will be many guides that I can provide here. This deals with the initial installation and configuration of WDS. I had some problems and lets say Microsoft is not very helpful when it comes to documentation. Below is a step by step guide of how to install, configure and deploy WDS. So without further ado here is it;

1) A few things you are going to need to obtain. Below is a list;

a) WAIK - Windows Automated Installation Kit

"B)" Copy of Windows Vista or Windows 2008

c) Drivers you are going to put into your custom boot image

2) Once you have these things in place proceed to install WDS in native mode on your server.

3) Configure your DHCP entries on your DHCP Server to point servers or workstations to your WDS server. Remember like RIS your

WDS server does not need to be a DHCP server. Your DHCP server needs to send clients to your WDS server.

4) Make sure you disable port 67 on your WDS server and make sure your WDS server answers to any client.

5) Once your WDS server is setup install the WAIK package that you downloaded. Complete this simple install.

6) Now go to WDS > Click Boot Images > Right click > Add Boot Image and load the WINPE.WIM that is located in <INSTALLATION DRIVE>\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86. This will create the proper boot files needed for TFTP to work.

7) Create a list of drivers you want to insert in your custom image as this is the only way to capture and deploy images to your servers/workstations.

8) In the root of a drive create this directory structure below;

ROOT------>TEMP

|

|_>IMAGE

|

|_>DRIVERS

|

|_>MOUNT

9) With you Windows Vista/Windows 2008 media inserted go to the CDDRIVE:\SOURCES\ directory, there should be a BOOT.WIM file. Copy it to the IMAGE directory in the structure you created.

10) Rename this file to CUSTOMBOOT.WIM.

11) Click on Start>Microsoft Windows AIK>Windows PE Tools Command Prompt, this should open a Command prompt to the PE tools directory for the WAIK package.

12) Navigate to the location where your DRIVE:\TEMP directory is.

13) Type this command to see what images are available as part of the BOOT.WIM file you renamed to CUSTOMBOOT.WIM.

imagex /info DRIVE:\TEMP\IMAGE\CUSTOMBOOT.WIM

14) The screen you see next is an XML style configuration file telling you what images are part of this file. Look for the Tag that states <IMAGE INDEX="2">. If you don't see this tag you will have problems getting images to your servers/workstations.

15) Once you've obtain a BOOT.WIM image file that has the correct tag, we are going to mount it for modifications purposes with this command;

imagex /mountrw DRIVE:\TEMP\IMAGE\CUSTOMBOOT.WIM 2 DRIVE:\TEMP\MOUNT

16) You should see a confirmation that your image was mounted correctly. To make sure that it is navigate to the mount directory you create. You should see a list of files and folders you didn't place there before.

17) Since we are here we need to delete a specific file that gave me headaches after headaches because my images would not load correctly and on top of that Microsoft doesn't even tell you about it. Navigate to the

DRIVE:\TEMP\MOUNT\SOURCES directory. Delete the file PID.TXT.

18) Now copy all of your drivers into the DRIVE:\TEMP\DRIVERS directory you created. Windows XP/Windows 2003 drivers are ok.

19) To insert the drivers into the mounted image type in this command for every inf file that is in your DRIVERS directory;

peimg /inf=DRIVE:\TEMP\DRIVERS\xxxxxxx.inf /image=DRIVE:\TEMP\MOUNT

FYI: You can place a wildcard in the xxxxxxx position to have the peimg command try to put all of your drivers in, but sometimes it craps out so it is best to test which ones work and delete the ones that don't and then use the wildcard command like this;

peimg /inf=DRIVE:\TEMP\DRIVES\*.inf /image=DRIVE:\TEMP\MOUNT

20) Once you are done making all the changes use the imagex command to commit your changes and save your custom image;

imagex /unmount /commit DRIVE:\TEMP\MOUNT

21) Once this command is successful launch your WDS MMC>Click Servers>WDS Server>Boot Images right click on Boot Images and click on Add Boot Image.

22) Click on browse and navigate to the place where your CUSTOMBOOT.WIM is located. DRIVE:\TEMP\IMAGE. Choose it and click Open.

23) Click next and Rename this boot image to Deployment Image, Click Next and next again to finish this part.

24) Once you see your new boot image populated to the pane on the right in the WDS MMC Right Click it and select Create capture boot image.

25) Name this one Image Capture and in the location and filename field select the same directory you were copying your images before but instead of using CUSTOMBOOT.WIM name this CUSTOMBOOTCAPTURE.WIM. What will happen is that WDS will create a capture boot image with the image you just created and save it to CUSTOMBOOTCAPTURE.WIM.

26) Once you've create this Image Capture boot image right click on the Boot Images directory tree on the left hand pane > Click Add Boot Image. Navigate to the location where you made the CUSTOMBOOTCAPTURE.WIM file.

27) Click next on all the steps after this and once this done you should see 2 boot images in your MMC like so;

Boot Images ------> Deployment Image

|

|

--------> Image Capture

28) Now go to the machine you want to image. Log in with administrative privileges and make sure you have the deploy tools that came with the OS. You may need all of the files in the cab. Extract to a directory in root.

29) Issue the sysprep command below;

sysprep -mini –reseal -reboot

30) The system will reboot at this point make sure you press F12 or setup your system to PXE connected to WDS.

31) Choose the Image Capture option on your menu and follow the on screen instructions to capture the computer you want to image.

32) Once the image is done copying to the WDS server get a similar computer with nothing on it and PXE boot it. Select Deployment Image. Follow the on screen instructions to deploy the image you just recently created with step 29.

So here is part 1 of how to get WDS installed configured and deployed. This guide has provided you with a step by step instruction set. You should be able to deploy images.

Next part will deal with unattended installs within your WDS environment. I will also be providing a video soon, so keep your eyes open.

If there is anything wrong with this guide please let me know. I hope this helps a lot of people get their first WDS deployment up and running quickly and easily.

Thanks again,

Jesus

[eyeball]

Looks good! iv been meaning to test WDS with an ipv6 DHCP server for sometime so il follow your guide through as i do this and let you know if there are any errors

Cheers

[Tripredacus]

I wrote a similar guide here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/A-Step-by-Step-g...-f-t113927.html

The process for Server 2008 is very similar to 2003, but some things are just in different places.

[anyweb]

I've also done a guide for setting up WDS in Windows Server 2008, it includes screenshots of the steps required

cheers

anyweb