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Single install.wim file for Windows 2008


bakkere

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Hi,

this week I started configuring an unattended install for Wndows 2008 server. Nothing fancy, just the standard stuff, using Altiris Deployment Solution combined with bits and pieces from HP's EDP kit as the engine. I was wondering why the sources for Windows 2008 Web edition are separated from the other versions (datacenter, enterprise, standard).

I'm building my deploymentprocedure as general as can be, but it puzzles me why all the sources aren't combined in 1 install.wim. I would like to have the correct OS selected, just by preselecting the proper OS image from the same install.wim. I can do this for all versions except the web edition. The web version does have a different serial key than the other versions (who have exactly the _same_ key ) but that can't be the problem. I can select the proper key from the DS database just by embedding the right SQL statement in the unattend.xml and have Deploymenet Solution perform a 'Token Replacement' before the personalized file is copied to the to be deployed machine.

My next step is to combine the sources myself but why hasn't Microsoft done this already ? Perhaps I'll find out soon enough but perhaps others have solved this puzzle before.

Thanks in advance,

Erik Bakker

Utrecht

Holland.

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  • 4 weeks later...
hey Erik,

The issue lies with the licenscing for the different version, are you using KMS or MAK keys to license your server?

We are using MAK keys to install the software, but when the system is up-and-running it still needs activation. I heard that we will be using KMS servers for this. I 've read the microsoft documentation about this but did not quit understand the details. I think I need to reread the article once (or twice) before i will... :wacko:

My primary concern untill now was the setup of a flexible deploymentprocedure that would fit our current needs and environment. I managed to build a procedure with uses 1 (altiris) job, 1 -database driven- unattend.xml template, 1 wim file, and 1 WinPE (32 bit) PXE OS image. The engineer only needs to supply a single abbreviation (out of 32 : core/gui | 32/64 bit | web/standard/enterprise/datacenter | SP0/SP1) for the wanted OS variant. This procedure is prepared to be used in a number of different environments of witch the properties (DNS servers, ad name, target ou, WSUS server etc) and their possible values are to be stored in a separate database table. Based on the (standardized) servername, the right environment is chosen.

I was afraid the separate keys (and what it might be that made MS decide to choose this solution) would have an impact on the deployment, but that was not the case as far as I noticed.

Thanks,

Erik Bakker

Utrecht

Holland

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