Windows Deployment, Part 8: Automating our OS Deployment

 

Now we need to get our OS deployment as automated as possible.

First of all, right click on the Windows 8.1 Deployment Share and select properties.

Select the Rules tab

In the rules tab, you will see a small selection of commands to automate our install.

Copy the items here in italic and replace what you have on screen.

Note that some changes will be required:

 

This option brands the installer with your IT company’s name:  _SMSTSORGNAME=My Computer Business Ltd

If you’re not using a volume licence key, change the SkipProductKey=NO

If you don’t care what your computers called, leave SkipComputerName=YES as YES, otherwise change it to NO

This section joins the computer to the domain, using your domain (demo), your new os.rollout account, and the new OU where the computers should be stored (which you can then handily apply a GPO to!) – remember you don’t have to join the computer to the domain!!

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SkipDomainMembership=YES

JoinDomain=demo

DomainAdmin=OS.Rollout

DomainAdminPassword=Pa$$w0rd1

MachineObjectOU=OU=Computers_Deployed,DC=demo,DC=local

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The rest of the settings deal with language and skipping various confirmation screens.

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[Settings]

Priority=Default

Properties=MyCustomProperty

 

[Default]

OSInstall=Y

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

SkipCapture=NO

_SMSTSORGNAME=My Computer Business Ltd

 

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipComputerBackup=NO

SkipApplications=YES

SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipCapture=YES

SkipComputerName=YES

SkipComputerBackup=NO

ComputerBackupLocation=AUTO

SkipDeploymentType=NO

SkipDomainMembership=YES

JoinDomain=demo

DomainAdmin=OS.Rollout

DomainAdminPassword=Pa$$w0rd1

MachineObjectOU=OU=Computers_Deployed,DC=demo,DC=local

SkipFinalSummary=NO

SkipLocaleSelection=YES

KeyboardLocale=en-GB

UserLocale=en-GB

UILanguage=en-GB

SkipPackageDisplay=YES

SkipSummary=NO

SkipTaskSequence=YES

TaskSequenceID=1

SkipTimeZone=YES

SkipUserData=YES

UserDataLocation=AUTO

TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

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Next up, you will need to edit the Bootstrap.ini

Remaining on the rules page, select Edit Bootstrap.ini

 

 Copy and paste the following items into the notepad file that appears (remember to change the settings based on your environment, and to save when complete!)

---

 

[Settings]

Priority=Default

 

[Default]

DeployRoot=\\DC\DeploymentShare$

UserID=OS.Rollout

UserDomain=demo

UserPassword=Pa$$w0rd1

KeyboardLocale=en-GB

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

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Next, as an optional task, select the Windows PE tab.

To make the install look “nice”, and company branded, select browse on each platform – select a 800 x 600 image. Remember to do this for each platform!

We’re very close to deploying our first Windows 8.1 machine!

You now need to update the deployment share and attach the resulting .wim to WDS (or indeed use the .iso on bootable media if that’s your thing).

Right click on Windows 8.1 Deployment share and select Update Deployment Share.

It’s optional and takes slightly longer, but I prefer to compress the boot image to save space on the share. There are times when you have to completely regenerate the boot images, but it’s a bit trial and error.

Any changes you make to the deployment share will need a “re-update” and “re-attach” of the .iso files.

Wait…. Possibly time for another cuppa.

Once the wizard has completed, click finish.

The last step on the server is to attach the bootable .wim to WDS – this allows our PXE clients to boot to our server and download data from MDT.

In this demo the .iso file is located here: E:\Deployment_Share\Boot

Under the default name of: LiteTouchPE_x64.wim

Open Windows Deployment Services

Drill down to servers\dc.demo.local\boot images

Right click on Boot images and select Add Boot Image…

Browse to our .wim file

Give it a meaningful name. ie Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64

Review and confirm

Wait…

Click Finish

Our deployable image will be listed:

 

Next up, lets deploy our first VM!