I’ve had the great pleasure to present in October, once again, in one of the main Microsoft events in Argentina, Code Camp 2011. This time with two new tracks: “Desktop of the Future” and “Standardizing Windows Server 2008 R2 images”.

As I mentioned earlier in older posts of mine, Code Camp is an event organized and developed by Microsoft Academics which is held in some important universities of Buenos Aires, this time the selected institution was, as a few years back, Universidad Abierta Interamericana (UAI).

The event contains over 50 tracks presented by students and professionals not only as IT but also as developers. Some of the main topics this year were: Windows Azure, Cloud Computing, SQL Server 2012, Mango and Windows Phone, XBOX and Kinect, VDI, Deployment solutions and so on.

Regarding my topics, the tracks were focused on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) integrated with App-V; and a deep dive into Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to automate Windows Server’s deployments.

Desktop of the Future

I’ve presented this session (the original Spanish name: “El Escritorio del Futuro”) with Emiliano Estevez, friend and colleague of mine in Algeiba IT where he works as the Services Director.

This track introduces Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology as a result for some current demands in today’s business. By reviewing some of the basic concepts of VDI, we’ve completed the main steps to prepare the Virtual Desktops infrastructure in our company using Hyper-V and Remote Desktop Services (RDS).

We’ve also introduced App-V as the main solution to optimize application management in virtual desktops scenarios, and also with the highly important “Shared Cache” feature to save a lot of money in storage. And finally we had a quick glance about Server App-V, the new technology included in SCVMM 2012 to virtualize server’s applications.

The presentation can be downloaded from this link.

Standardizing Windows Server 2008 R2 Images

This track (the original Spanish name: “Estandarizando Servidores Windows Server 2008 R2”) was presented with another colleague in Algeiba IT, Alejandro Barrionuevo, who’s working as an IT Consultant.

In this session, we’ve reviewed with Alejandro the main benefits of using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010, combined with other free tools, to standardize and automate the deployment for Windows Server 2008 R2 OS. We had a quick look about understanding the Solution Accelerators from Microsoft.

We had a detailed look about the process involved in this automation, including some practical demos about using MDT 2010 task sequences, scripts and also editing MDT files used in the deployment process for a complete automated deployment.

The presentation can be downloaded from this link.

Microsoft has just released as a public beta the newest version of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 with a few important updates:

• Supporting System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012.
• Using Lite Touch Installation (LTI), great improvements in the client side look-n-feel.
• Also for LTI, behind-the-scenes enhancements for partitioning, UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), and user state migration.
• Some minor bugs fixed.

MDT 2012 Requirements

Same as MDT 2010:

• Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 2.0. You can download it from here.
  Note: The download page indicates that the WAIK version is “1”; but don’t worry, the actual version is 2.0.
• MSXML 6.0
• PowerShell.
• .Net Framework 3.5 SP1. Available for download here.
  Note: Even though .Net Framework 2.5 SP1 is not a requirement for MDT 2010 installation; one of its features, User-Driven Installation (UDI), does requires the latest Microsoft Framework installed.

MDT 2012 Look-n-Feel

For what I’ve seen so far, the user experience of the Deployment Workbench console is pretty much the same.

Also, the “Help Topics” are the same used in MDT 2010. But don’t worry, this is completely normal in this Beta version.

MDT 2012 Beta 1 Download

The beta is available in this link from Microsoft Connect, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be testing it soon enough.

To check my previous posts about step-by-step deployments using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), please check the articles in MDT Category.

Cheers!

Other posts in this series:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Now that we’ve reviewed in Post I of this series how we can complete the initial configurations in MDT 2010, added a clean Windows 7 image and the task sequence to deploy it; and in Post II we’ve imported Microsoft Office 2010 into MDT and configure it for a customized, silent and unattended; in this third part of this series we are going to work directly in the capture and deployment process.

We’ll review how to deploy Windows 7 to a machine, achieving in the same deployment the automated installation of Microsoft Office 2010 and right after that, also automated, capturing that operating system. With a new a customized Windows 7 image we will add it to MDT 2010 for later deployments.

The interesting part about having this customized image imported in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is that it can be our base image for all of our users. If you have several type of users in your organization, I’m pretty sure you can find some applications all of these types of users share (Microsoft Office is a good example); using MDT you can deploy this base image plus adding in the Task Sequences the automated deployment of the applications for each user.

Deploying and Capturing Reference Image

Since we have already the Task Sequence created for deploying Windows 7 + Microsoft Office 2010, we only need to use the LiteTouch media created in the Deployment Share to run the deployment wizard.

In my case, I’m going to use the WIM file with a Windows Deployment Services (WDS) server already running in my environment; this way I don’t have to use any local media in the client machine, just using a network connection will do.

1. In the WDS console, right click “Boot Images” and select “Add Boot Image”.

2. Select the LiteTouchePE WIM files existing in the Deployment Share directory of our MDT 2010.

3. Complete the WDS wizard.

4. In the client machine, we can boot from network using F12.

5. Select the LiteTouch Pre-installation Environment (PE).

6. Once the boot image is loaded, we can see that the LiteTouch wizard appears. Select “Run the Deployment Wizard to install a new Operating System”.

7. Type in the domain credentials from which you have access to the Deployment Share created by MDT 2010.

8. Select the Task Sequence created. In my case there’s only one “Deploy Windows 7 Clean Image”. Click on “Next”.

9. Enter the computer name and click on “Next”. Since we are capturing it, the name here has no relevance; the sysprep process will wipe all this information.

10. Select “Join a workgroup” and click on “Next”. If you are going to capture this image, DO NOT SELECT “Join a domain”; if this option is selected the capture step is disabled.

11. Since we are not migrating any user data, select “Do not restore user data settings”, click on “Next”.

12. Select the options in “Language and other preferences”.

13. Select the “Time Zone”.

14. Select the option “Capture an image of this reference computer”, and specify the options for the location and name of the WIM file to be created. Click on “Next”.

Remember that the location can be any shared folder available in the network (the credentials inserted earlier must have read/write permissions to this folder).

15. Review the details and click on “Begin”.

With that, the Task Sequence starts running. The first step will format the hard drives for the operating system deployment.

The operating system installation will start next.

And after a new reboot, the Task Sequence completes the work with the operating system installed and with the user logged in; Microsoft Office 2010 64-bit starts the installation completely automated and silent.

The installation takes a few minutes, and if you want to verify the process completed successfully just access the Start Menu before the machine reboots again.

Before the reboot, the sysprep process starts running which will erase all of the specific information from this operating system related to the machine (computer name, Product Key, SID, etc.).

Once the computer is rebooted, the process for creating the WIM file for this operating system starts; and of course sending that file to the destination folder we’ve chosen.

That process can takes several minutes to complete so you just have to be patient.

Importing the Captured Image into MDT 2010

Once the image has been captured, the importation process is simpler:

1. Open the MDT Console, expand the MDT Deployment Share, right-click “Operating Systems” and select “Import Operating System”.

2. Select “Custom image file” and click on “Next”.

3. Specify the path of the captured WIM file and click on “Next”. Also I’m selecting the option “Move the files to the deployment share…” to optimize disk space.

4. Select “Setup and Sysprep files are not needed” and click on “Next”. Since we’ve already prepared this operating system, there’s no need to include these files.

5. Specify the name for the destination folder and click on “Next”. In my case, I’m using “Windows 7 Pro x64 + Office 2010”.

6. In the summary page click on “Next”.

7. And in confirmation click on “Finish”.

With that, the operating system is imported to MDT 2010.

Creating the Task Sequence for Deployment

We now have the customized operating system imported into MDT, now we just need to create the Task Sequence to deploy it. The procedure is even simpler and we should now be familiarized with the environment to complete it without any problem.

1. Right-click “Task Sequences” and select “New Task Sequence”.

2. Complete the Task Sequence data. Remember to use a different “Task sequence ID” than the selected earlier, in my case “WIN7OFFICE2010”.

3. Select “Standard Client Task Sequence” and click on “Next”.

4. Select the operating system we’ve imported “Windows 7 Pro x64 + Office 2010” (I’ve changed the name for a more friendly one). Click on “Next”.

5. You can specify the product key in this step. Click on “Next”.

6. Complete the “OS Settings” and click on “Next”.

7. Specify the Administrator password or you can skip it. The administrator password set (if we did it) in the image we’ve captured maintains even if we executed sysprep. Click on “Next”.

8. Review the “Summary” and again the process should take a few seconds, once its completed click on “Finish”.

Deploying the Reference Image

We have completed all the configuration steps, and the only thing missing is deploying this image to the client.

1. In a client machine, boot from the network and select the LiteTouchPE boot image we’ve added earlier.

2. Run the “Deployment Wizard” in the same way we’ve executed before.

3. Specify credentials. Click on “Next”.

4. Select the task sequence to deploy the reference image, in my case “Deploy Windows 7 x64 + Office 2010”. Click on “Next”.

5. Join the machine to the domain if you prefer to. Click on “Next”.

6. Since we are not migrating profiles, select “Do not restore user data and settings”. Click on “Next”.

7. Select Language and Time Zone. Click on “Next”.

8. Since the image already has Microsoft Office 2010 installed, there’s no need to install it again. Click on “Next”.

9. Click on “Begin” and the installation process will start.

The operating system will complete its installation in a few minutes.

With that we’ve completed the third part of this series, I’m hoping I’ll prepare a few more about automating even more the deployments and add a few more features in the scenario.

I hope you found this useful.

Other posts in this series:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

After completing the first post of this series where we’ve installed and configured MDT 2010 Update 1, added a Windows 7 clean image to the Deployment Share and created the Task Sequence to deploy it; in this second part of “Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010” we are going to work with Microsoft Office 2010 application.

In this post we will add Microsoft Office 2010 as an application in our Deployment Share, and configure the environment to achieve a silent and unattended installation for this suite.

The unattended possibilities for deploying applications in MDT always depend on the application we are using, fortunately Microsoft Office is highly prepared to accomplish this unattended installation, and with the possibility to customize it by easily selecting the features we would like to install in Config.xml answer file.

Adding Microsoft Office 2010 to MDT

Adding applications to Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 requires only running a simple wizard which should not be any problem.

Note

We do need of course the Microsoft Office 2010 binaries, and since we would like to use the unattended possibilities complemented with MDT 2010, we are going to need the installation files we can find in the Office 2010 DVD.

The stand alone installer (for example: en_office_professional_plus_2010_x64_515489.exe) can be used but we cannot edit the properties in MDT console.

Let’s start with the wizard:

1. In the MDT console, expand the Distribution Share we’ve created right-click “Applications” and select “New Application”.

2. Select “Application with source files” and click on “Next”.

3. Complete the information for this new application and click on “Next”.

4. Select the source directory where we can find the “setup.exe” file.

In my case I’m using the DVD which contains the x86 and x64 versions, since we can only add one architecture at a time, you must select one sub folder. And considering we are deploying a 64-bit operating system, I’m going to install the 64-bit Microsoft Office 2010 version.

5. Specify the directory name to be stored, in my case “Microsoft Office 2010 x64”. Click on “Next”.

6. In “Command Line” type “setup.exe” for the installer file to be executed, the “Working directory” can be left with the default option.

7. In “Summary” review the options selected and click on “Next”.

The importation process will start and should not take much longer.

8. Once completed, click on “Finish”.

With the application added we can double click it to access its properties.

As you can see importing a Microsoft Office product includes a tab in the MDT properties called “Office Products” which contains options to simplify the unattended process.

Configuring Office 2010 Unattended Installation

Now that we have the application imported, we can configure a silent, unattended and customized installation of Microsoft Office 2010 within a few steps:

1. In the properties section, select the “Office Products” tab.

2. Select the following options and click on “Apply”:

“Office product to install”: The version you are using, in my case Professional Plus “ProPlus”.
“Office languages”: Language available, in my case “en-us”.
“Product Key”.
“Customer Name”.
“Display Level”: “None”. With this, in the installation process we won’t see any window running.
“Accept EULA”: Enabled.
“Always suppress reboot”: Enabled.

All these options are stored in one file: Config.xml; which is used of course as an answer file for the unattended installation for Office 2010. In this file we must also set the features we would like to install, and the type of installation.

For more information, take a look to this link: Config.xml file OptionState ID values for Office 2010.

3. Click on “Edit Config.xml” to view and edit the unattended installation file. You will see something like this:

We are going to edit this adding the features we would like to install. Here’s an example of the Config.xml file I’ll be using in this series, download it in this link.

I’m ignoring the lines with “<!—” since they are used for comments and examples.

<Configuration Product=”ProPlusr”>
<Display Level=”None” CompletionNotice=”No” SuppressModal=”No” AcceptEula=”Yes” />
<COMPANYNAME Value=”Augusto Alvarez” />
<Setting Id=”SETUP_REBOOT” Value=”Never” />
<AddLanguage Id=”match” />
<AddLanguage Id=”en-us” ShellTransform=”Yes” />
<PIDKEY Value=”xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx” />
<OptionState Id=”AccessFiles” State=”absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”ExcelFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”GrooveFiles” State=”Absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”OneNoteFiles” State=”Local” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”OUTLOOKFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”PPTFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”PubPrimary” State=”Absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”WORDFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”XDOCSFiles” State=”Absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”SHAREDFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”TOOLSFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”EXCELFiles” State=”Local” />
</Configuration>

In this example the following features are being installed: Word, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Office Tools (like Office Picture Manager, HTML source editor, etc.) and Shared Files. All of this is using the “Local” type of installation, which in this scenario is usually a better choice than “Install on first use”.

Adding Office 2010 to the Task Sequence

With the application imported and the unattended file in place, we just need to edit the Task Sequence we’ve created in the first post to use this application.

1. Expand the Distribution Share, “Task Sequences” and double click on the task sequence we’ve created earlier “Deploy Windows 7 Clean Image”.

2. In the last phase of the task sequence, “State Restore”, click on “Install Applications” and select “Install a single application” where you can select Office 2010 using the “Browse…”

With that, we have Microsoft Office 2010 64-bit added to MDT 2010 and configured for a customized and unattended installation within our Windows 7 deployment process.

In the next post, we will not only deploy this Windows 7 + Office 2010 but we will also prepare for an automated capture of this image and upload it to our MDT 2010.

Other posts in this series:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

As I mentioned a few days ago, I had the chance to present for the fourth time in a row in the most important academic event from Microsoft, here in Buenos Aires, Code Camp 2010.

As last year’s event, Code Camp 2010 had over 50 conferences running all day regarding not only IT stuff but also developing, gaming, software architecture, cloud computing, etc.

Here’s a short summary of my presentations: “Hyper-V en Windows Server 2008 R2 e interoperabilidad con Linux” (“Hyper-V R2 and interoperability with Linux”) and “Windows 7 Para todos” (“Windows 7 for Everyone”).

Hyper-V R2 and Linux

I presented this topic with another IT geek Guillermo Sanchez, where we started with an overview about hypervisors architecture, Hyper-V basics and then some interesting demos with Linux virtual machines.

The main idea in this presentation was talk about Hyper-V Integration Services working in Linux virtual machines: Benefits and how to install IS in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and Red Hat. Plus, some bonus features about virtual machines backups and interoperability with other platforms.

The presentation can be downloaded from this link.

Also, Guillermo posted the video on his blog.

Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7

The main idea of this conference was talk about how simple is migrating Windows XP machines to Windows 7 using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010, including also the migration of user profiles maintaining even Internet Explorer history.

We’ve started talking about common scenarios and problems we usually find in the migrating process of operating systems. Using the MDT 2010 console I had the chance to show the simple process for creating the necessary environment to achieve a migration: How to create a deployment share, import an operating system, create a task sequence, automate deployments with CustomSettings.ini and Bootstrap.ini, using MDT database.

And of course a live demo where we refreshed a Windows XP machine with a functional profile (My Documents, My Pictures, IE Favorites, etc) to a Windows 7 machine with the same profile imported.

The presentation can be downloaded from this link (Code Camp official site) or directly from here.

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

I’ve started (finally!) re-editing a set of posts created a while ago: “Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture Customized Windows 7 Images”: Part I, Part II and Part III. Within those posts we had the chance to review some step-by-step procedures to create customized images of Windows 7, including Microsoft Office 2007 and achieve an automatic deployment; using always the Beta version of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010.

Now we are going to evaluate some interesting step-by-step procedures for automated deployment of Windows 7 + Microsoft Office 2010 using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010.

The current version of this free deployment tool is Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 with Update 1. This latest update brings some nice improvements:

• Comprehensive tools and guidance to efficiently manage large-scale deployments of Microsoft Office 2010.
• A new User-Driven Installation (UDI) deployment method that utilizes System Center Configuration Manager. UDI lets end users initiate and customize an OS deployment on their PCs—via an easy-to-use wizard.
• Automatically detects the true supported platforms for drivers, reducing deployment issues.

As in the previous set of posts, using the final and latest version of MDT 2010, we will use the Lite Touch Installation (LTI) for the deployment of Windows 7. For the Zero Touch Installation of Windows 7 we can use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SP2.

Note: Only using SCCM 2007 with SP2 is the supported platform for deploying Windows 7; prior this release, the environment is not supported to use Configuration Manager Operating System Deployment (OSD).

What We Are Going To Do?

These posts will represent a step-by-step procedure for the following tasks:

• · Install and configure Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 – Update 1.
• · Create a Task Sequence and deploy clean Windows 7 images.
• · Adding and configuring Microsoft Office 2010 in MDT 2010 for deployment.
• · Creating and capturing a reference image of Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010.
• · Automatic deployment of the customized Windows 7 images with Microsoft Office 2010 installed.

Requirements

Before starting with any procedure we need to review the requirements for the environment. In my case I’ll be using:

• Active Directory and DNS infrastructure working and operational.
• DHCP configured with Windows Deployment Services (WDS).
• Windows Deployment Services (WDS) configured.
• Windows 7 source files.
• Microsoft Office 2010 installation files.

Note: This previous post of mine shows how WDS must be configured to work together with DHCP.

As in software and features necessary:

• Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 2.0. You can download it from here.
  Note: The download page indicates that the WAIK version is “1”; but don’t worry, the actual version is 2.0.

• · MSXML 6.0.
• · PowerShell.
• · .Net Framework 3.5 SP1. Available for download here.
  Note: Even though .Net Framework 2.5 SP1 is not a requirement for MDT 2010 installation; one of its features, User-Driven Installation (UDI), does requires the latest Microsoft Framework installed.

Here’s a message you will see when you try to run the UDI launcher:

MDT 2010 Installation

As for all the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit versions, the installation is a straight forward procedure: Just download, execute the installer and complete the installation wizard.

Once installed, we can access any of the components from the “Start Menu”.

One of the coolest options we can find in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (and in most of Microsoft platforms) is the idea of designing the User Interface as places to find everything you need to know about what to do next.

“Getting Started”: All the steps involved to get MDT 2010 functional.

“Documentation”: All necessary links to start working with the tool.

Also another important section is “Components” where we can verify that all necessary requirements were installed (plus other optional installations).

Adding a Clean Image to MDT 2010

With the application installed, we can now start working directly with the operating system deployment. The configurations needed in MDT 2010 maintains as the Beta version and the older versions of the Deployment Toolkit.

The process is the following:

1. Create the distribution share.

2. Add operating system files to the distribution share.

3. Create a task sequence for the reference computer.

Creating the Distribution Share

1. In the MDT Console, right click on “Deployment Shares” and select “New Deployment Share”.

2. In the wizard, click on “Browse”.

3. Select a folder where you want to store all the binaries (applications, operating system, etc.) MDT will use. As a recommendation use a separate partition.

4. Click on “Next”.

5. Accept the name of the “Share Name” and click on “Next”.

6. In the next page we can add a short description for the distribution share. Click on “Next”.

7. Ensure that the option “Ask if an image should be captured” is checked and click on “Next”.

8. Another option we can select in this stage is if we are going to let users who are deploying an image can set the local administrator password. In large environment this is normally not recommended since not all users in charge of the deployment should be local administrators of the operating systems.

Click on “Next”.

9. Leave deselected also the option for “Ask user for a product key”. This option will be set in the task sequence of each operating system deployment. Click on “Next”.

10. Review the “Summary” page and click on “Next”.

11. Wait for the process to complete and click on “Finish”.

Once the process completes, we should see this in our MDT 2010 Management Console.

Adding Windows 7 Operating System

Once the deployment share is created, the next step is to add the files from the Windows 7 image. In my case I’ll be using a Windows 7 64bits image.

1. In “Deployment Shares”, expand the deployment share we’ve just created, right click “Operating Systems” and select “Import Operating System”.

2. Since this is a clean image from the Windows 7 media, select “Full set of source files” and click on “Next”.

3. I’m selecting the D:\ directory since I have attached the Windows 7 media in this drive. Click on “Next”.

4. Select the “Destination directory name” and click on “Next”.

5. In the “Summary” page click on “Next”.

6. Once the process is complete, click on “Finish”.

In my case, the images added will look like this in the MDT console.

Creating the Deployment Task Sequence

Now we have the distribution share with a clean image of Windows 7, we can create a task sequence to deploy the operating system.

1. In “Deployment Shares”, expand the deployment share created, right click “Task Sequences” and select “New Task Sequence”.

2. Insert a “Task Sequence ID”, I’m using “WIN7”. And a “Task Sequence name”, in my case “Deploy Windows 7 clean image”. Click on “Next”.

3. Accept the default option in “Template”: “Standard Client Task Sequence”. Click on “Next”.

4. Select the operating system to deploy. Since I have several options, I’ll be using “Windows 7 Professional”. Click on “Next”.

5. The “Product Key” section can be used to not specify a key at this point. Click on “Next”.

6. Complete the information about the registered user and click on “Next”.

7. In my case I’m also selecting the local Administrator password. Click on “Next”.

8. In the “Summary” page click on “Next”.

9. Once the process is complete we can click on “Finish”.

Note there’s an option of “View Script”, which we can use to retrieve an automated script to use for every time we want to create a similar Task Sequence (we only need to change the values used)

Once the Task Sequence is added, we should see something like this:

10. The process is completed once we update the Deployment Share. In the Deployment Share name, right click and select “Update Distribution Share”.

11. Leave selected the option for “Optimize the boot image updating process”. Click on “Next”.

12. Click on “Next” on “Summary”. This process can take a few minutes since it will be creating new files, including the boot images “LiteTouchPE_x86.iso” and “LiteTouchPE_x64” which can be used for the clean operating system deployment.

Within this process the Distribution Share is populated with several files which will be used in the operating system deployment. Even though we didn’t use the option, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit also includes the section for “Out-of-box Drivers”.

The drivers section includes a simple wizard where we can add device drivers into the operating system deployment. Using only the “.inf” files from these drivers, we can add the components directly; but always remember to use the “Update Distribution Share” once those are added; with that the drivers are injected automatically.

In the next post we will add Microsoft Office 2010 to MDT 2010, the Task Sequence involved and configuring this application for a silent install.

Stay tuned!

Other posts in this series:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

This is going to be the last part (at least for now) for this step-by-step guide for customizing and deploying Windows 7 images with MDT 2010. On the previous posts we’ve learned how to run the firsts configurations on MDT, adding operating system files and creating a task sequence for the reference image (Part I); and also adding Office 2007 to the reference image and making it a silent installation (Part II).

The third post it’s going to be just to deploy the reference and customized image, and then capture it into a .wim file, that we can later deploy using MDT or add it to Windows Deployment Services (WDS).

Deploying Reference Image

Since we already have our boot environments, ISO and WIM files; and that we have the Windows Deployment Services role installed, I’ll start using it: I’m going to add the LTI boot image to WDS that will let me create and capture the reference image.

Note: You can also use the ISO file too boot from a CD or, if it’s a virtual machine, mounting it; but using WDS keep the things a lot easier.

1. Open WDS snap-in > “Boot Images” > “Add Boot Image”.

2. Browse the MDT distribution share, inside the “Boot” folder. And select “LiteTouchePE_x64.wim”. Click “Open”.

3. Finish up the boot image wizard.

4. Now on the computer you are going to use as the reference, boot from the network to receive WDS boot image. And select the LiteTouchePE image you added.

Note: For proper WDS configuration with DHCP and boot images, check this post.

5. Once the boot files are loaded, a new wizard will be prompted. Select your “Keyboard Layout” and click on “Next”.

6. Insert the domain credentials that will be used to access the shared files used by MDT 2010. Use a domain admin account to avoid any inconvenient.

7. Select the task sequence to be executed: “Deploy Windows 7”.

8. Enter a computer name. A random one is created by default.

9. Leave the option “Join a Workgroup”.
IMPORTANT: Do not add it to a domain, otherwise you won’t be able to capture the image you are about to deploy. A machine joined to a domain it’s not a good idea to be captured, because if the sysprep task is removed from the deployment, you will have several issues about the Security Identifiers (SID) within the domain.

10. Since we are not migrating any image, this is a fresh deployment select “Do not restore user data and settings”.

11. Select your location and keyboard layout to be configured on the reference image.

12. Select the “Time Zone”.

13. Select the application you are going to install “Microsoft Office 2007”.

14. You can skip BitLocker configuration if you want to and set “Do not Enable BitLocker for this computer”.

15. Leave selected the option “Capture an image of this reference computer”. And insert the filename “WIN/_REFERENCE.wim”. Click on Next.

16. Here you’ll find a summary of the options selected. Click on “Begin” and the installation process will start.

Creating and formatting partitions

OS installation and final settings

Installing Office 2007 silently

Creating WIM file and send it to the server

Notice that this tasks could take several minutes, depending on your hardware. Try to not interrupt the process. After all this, the WIM file is created and stored in “%distribution%\Captures”.

Adding the Reference Image to MDT 2010

You actually have two options to start using this image:

- Add it to WDS and start deploying it from there. But you don’t get a chance to make any other changes to that image, unless you create a new one.
- Add it to MDT 2010 as a new customized OS. You can add or modify new task sequences to this new machine, for example, adding a new application or enable/disable other features that will be included directly in the deployment.

We are going to take option 2 for now, since the WDS option does not require any other task other than “Add Install Image” from the console.

1. “Deployment Workbench” > “Distribution Share” > “Operating Systems” > “New”.

2. Select “Custom image file” and click on “Next”.

3. Browse for the WIM file that was created and click on “Next”.

4. Leave selected “Setup and Sysprep files are not needed”.

5. Select the directory name: “WIN7_REFERENCE”. And click on “Finish”.

Once you click Finish a process starts working checking the integrity of the file and several other tasks, it could take several minutes to complete. Be patient and the image should appear as a valid operating system.

Creating the Task Sequence

Now that we have the image of the OS, we are going to create the task sequence that will be using that image.

1. “Deployment Workbench” > “Task Sequences” > “New”.

2. Insert “Task Sequence ID”: “Win7_Target”. And name “Deploy Captured Image – Windows 7”.

3. Select “Standard Client Task Name”. Click on “Next”.

4. Select the reference OS just added from the list.

5. Leave selected “Do not specify product key at this time”.

6. Complete the OS settings like it was done before.

7. Specify Administrator’s password and click on “Finish”.

Deploying Reference Image to a Client

We’ve now configured everything that was needed for this reference image, so we can start deploying it to a client. The process will be the same that we used for creating the reference image, the only twist regarding the previous configuration is that we are going to join to the domain this machine.

1. Boot from the network on the client machine. Select again “Lite Touch Windows PE (x64)”.

2. The wizard will prompt again. Select your “Keyboard Layout”.

3. Specify domain credentials to access the network shares.

4. Now we are going to select the task sequence created to deploy the customized image “Deploy Captured Image – Windows 7”.

5. Select the computer name.

6. Join the machine to the domain.

7. On the summary section click on “Begin” to start.

Notice that the option to capture the image was not present because we selected that we are going to add this machine to the domain.

The deployment process begins.

Once it’s done, you’ll see this message. Check “Details” for more information.

Office 2007 installed with all the components.

Conclusions

• If you are not familiarized with this deployment tool, it’s a great chance to start with MDT 2010.
• Automated deployment tools will give you a lot of profit and flexibility once you get the chance to get to know, manage and maintain them. For more info about it, check my other Windows Deployment Services posts.
• Even though this is just a MDT Beta version, did not bring me any stability problems. We expect to get to know more about the functionalities once it gets to a RC version or RTM.
• Check the MDT help included in the installation, you’ll find almost everything you need to know there (most of the sections are the same as in MDT 2008).

Well that’s pretty much it for now about Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1 and Windows 7.

I hope that you find these posts helpful.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images – Part I

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images – Part II

Cheers!

IMPORTANT: Updated versions from this series using Windows 7 + Microsoft Office 2010 in automated deployment with MDT 2010 can be found here:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

If you want to learn about MDT 2010 then testking 350-018 online training is the best source to get latest updates on Microsoft deployment toolkit and become skilled at using testking 642-456 reviews and testking 70-270 tutorials.

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

On the first post of this series, we’ve managed to install MDT 2010 and its requirements, prepare distribution share and task sequence, add Windows 7 image to use it as reference and create the deployment point. We are now going to add Office 2007 as an application to be deployed included in the OS image and complete the environment to generate the reference image.

The process of adding an application like Office 2007 it is quite simple, the only trick is to get the application to install silently (or unattended) without requiring for user intervention , we’ll see how that works.

Adding Applications to MDT 2010: Office 2007

We’ll add the application using also a simple wizard, but the interesting part comes when you get the chance to modify default settings on the Office 2007 package:

1. “Deployment Workbench” > “Distribution Share” > “Applications” > “New”.

2. Select “Application with source files”.

3. Complete the data about the application.

4. Select the “Source Directory”. Since I have it on the hard drive, I’ll check “Move the files to the distribution share instead of copying them”.

5. Keep the directory name as suggested: “Microsoft Office 2007”.

6. On “Command Details” introduce the name of the executable for Office 2007: “setup.exe” and click on “Finish”. We’ll add the special arguments to achieve silent installations in next steps.

With that performed the Office 2007 is added as an application in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. MDT also detects automatically the options available for Office products, this way we can modify them in a simple way.

Office 2007: Silent and personalized installation

To achieve this, we are going to use the mentioned feature of MDT to generate a “Config.xml” file that is used for personalizing installations of Office 2007. This XML is a very flexible option that we can modify according to our needs and generate ourselves custom and unattended Office suite installations.

1. Access the Application Properties from the “Deployment Workbench” console. And get to the “Office Products” tab.

2.  Now we are going to select the following options:

Office 2007 Product to Install: Enterprise (this is the version that I’m using).
Office 2007 Languages: en-us.
Product Key: If applies, select your PID.
Customer Name: Augusto Alvarez
Display Level: None. This will generate the silent installation.
Accept EULA: Checked.

3. Click on “Apply”.

This will generate the XML file that you can check it clicking on “Edit Config.xml”. You should see something like this (notice that the first section it’s just a sample):

You can check also on “Details” tab that “setup.exe” command line has been modified to use the recently generated XML: “setup.exe /config Enterprise.WW\config.xml” (Enterprise.WW is the folder where the XML file is stored)

This XML file will install all the components of the Office 2007 Enterprise suite. If you want to continue customizing the components to be installed, check this example of Config.xml that selects only Word, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint and remove remaining components.

Config.xml Example

<Configuration Product=”Enterprise”>

<Display Level=”none” CompletionNotice=”no” SuppressModal=”no” AcceptEula=”yes” />
<USERNAME Value=”Augusto Alvarez” />
<AddLanguage Id=”match” />
<AddLanguage Id=”en-us” ShellTransform=”Yes” />
<OptionState Id=”AccessFiles” State=”absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”ExcelFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”GrooveFiles” State=”Absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”OneNoteFiles” State=”Local” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”OUTLOOKFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”PPTFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”PubPrimary” State=”Absent” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”RMSFiles” State=”Local” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”WORDFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”XDOCSFiles” State=”Local” Children=”force” />
<OptionState Id=”SHAREDFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”TOOLSFiles” State=”Local” />
<OptionState Id=”EXCELFiles” State=”Local” />

</Configuration>

For more information about Config.xml customization check this link: Config.xml file in the 2007 Office system.

Adding Office 2007 to the Task Sequence

With the previous steps we have already added the Office suite and configured to a silent installation. Now we need to introduce it on the task sequence prepared on the previous post.

1. “Deployment Workbench” > “Task Sequences” > “Win7” > “Properties”.

2. Access the tab “Task Sequence”. Here are all the steps involved in the process, you can check all the options (most of them did not appear on the Task Sequence wizard) and change their values or disable specific steps.

3. The step that we are interested in is “State Restore” > “Install Applications”. Select “Install a single application” > “Microsoft Office 2007”. Click “OK”.

If you later want to add more applications to the same task sequence, use the same step on this task sequence, select “Add” > “General” > “Install Application”. The application must, of course, added already to MDT.

Now the installation of Office 2007 it’s included on the “Deploy Windows 7” sequence and will occur silently with the parameters included.

On the next post we’ll see how to boot and generate the Windows 7 image that will be captured and ready to be deployed on your environment.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images – Part I

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images – Part III

Cheers!

IMPORTANT: Updated versions from this series using Windows 7 + Microsoft Office 2010 in automated deployment with MDT 2010 can be found here:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

With testking 642-446 study guide, you will have the chance to learn step by step procedure to create customized descriptions for window 7. Sign up for testking 642-383 online training and get testking 70-662 free tutorials to learn about MDT 2010 to prepare, install and capture customized images for window 7.

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit team released the first beta of their next version: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1 (you can access to the Beta program from Microsoft Connect and download the build). This new version includes several improvements, but perhaps the most important ones are related to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 compatibility.

Some of the New Features

• Support for deploying: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Hard Link Migrations using USMT 4 (User Migration Toolkit).
• Integration with new Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 2.0 toolset such as BCDBOOT and Windows PE 3.0.
• DISM tool (Dism.exe) included with WAIK 2.0 replace three other tools on previous version: Pkgmgr.exe (Package Manager), Intlcfg.exe (Internal Settings Configuration Tool) and PEimg.exe (WindowsPE Command Line tool ).

If you are planning to implement Windows 7 on your environment (check this link about the review I made about Windows 7 functionality) or you want to start to get to know Microsoft Deployment Toolkit in this new version; I’ve prepared this step-by-step guides that will cover almost everything you need to know about MDT 2010 and automated Windows 7 deployment, with personalized images.

These posts will cover the Lite Touch Installation (LTI) type of deployment of Windows 7 (Zero Touch Installation with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 it’s not currently supported with these Beta versions).

What we are going to achieve? Add Windows 7 to MDT, include applications (Office 2007) to be deployed within the operating system to generate a reference image. And finally we’ll capture this reference image (in a single .wim file) and make it available for a massive deployment with MDT 2010 Beta 1.

Requirements

Note: LTI deployment does not require Windows Deployment Services (WDS) to be fully operational to actually work, but we are going to take this as a requirement to implement WDS for PXE boot for only WindowsPE images.

Environment

• Active Directory and DNS
• DHCP properly configured for WDS.
• Windows Deployment Services (WDS) configured.
• Windows 7 source files.

Note: This previous post of mine shows how WDS must be configured to work together with DHCP.

Server

• Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta
• Windows Automated Installation 2.0 (WAIK).
  You can download WAIK 2.0 from this link (English).

Installation

You won’t have any problem installing MDT 2010 Beta 1. There’s only a simple wizard to complete.

To verify that the installation completed successfully and all the necessary components are installed: Open “Deployment Workbench” snap-in from Start Menu, and check “Information Center” > “Components” > “Installed”.

MDT 2010 First Configurations

These initial configurations don’t differ from MDT 2008:

1. Create the distribution share.
2. Add operating system files to the distribution share.
3. Create a task sequence for the reference computer.
4. Create a deployment point.

Create the Distribution Share

This is the folder where the MDT files (OS, applications, drivers, etc) will be kept.

1. Open “Deployment Workbench”. Right click on “Distribution Share”  > “Create a Distribution Share Directory”.

2. Select a folder. Click on “Finish”.  Recommendation: Use a separate partition like “E:\Distribution”.

Add Windows 7 Operating System

Here we are going to add the OS to be deployed and create the reference image.

1. On “Deployment Workbench” > “Distribution Share”, right-click on “Operating Systems” > “New”.

2. Choose the type of OS to add. Select “Full set of source files” and click on “Next”.

3. Select the Source Directory. In my case, I have the Windows 7 x64 files copied in the hard drive, so I also mark the option “Move the files to the distribution share instead of copying them”. Click on “Next”.

4. Select a directory name. And click on “Finish”.

Now all the files will be moved to the Distribution Share folder and should appear as available after it completes.

Create the Task Sequence

This is where we define the steps involved in the installation process for the target computer.

1. “Deployment Workbench” > “Distribution Share” > “Tasks Sequences” > “New”.

2. Enter a “Task Sequence ID”: “Win7”; and a “Task Sequence Name”: “Deploy Windows 7”.

3. Select “Standard Client Task Sequence”.

4. Select the version of the OS to be deployed, in this case “Windows 7 ULTIMATE”.

5. Enter the OS settings. “Full Name”, “Organization” and “Internet Explorer Home Page”.

6. Specify Administrator’s password. And click on “Finish”.

Create a Deployment Point

Here we’ll define the rules and parameters involved in the deployment.

1. “Deployment Workbench” > “Deploy” > “Deployment Points” > “New”.

2. Since we are going to use the distribution share on this computer, select “Lab or single-server deployment”.

3. Select a deployment point name “LAB”.

4. Leave deselected the options for this upgrade scenarios.

5. Select “Ask if an image should be captured”.

6. Leave deselected the option “Ask user to set the local Administrator Password” (already included on the task sequence).

7. Leave deselected the option “Ask user for a product key”.

8. On the next step, the Distribution (“Distribution$”) folder should be selected as the Share. Click on “Next”.

9. Select “Automatically determine the location on the network”. And click on “Finish”.

Now the deployment point is created, we now have to generate the boot media from the deployment point; this media will be used to create the reference computer.

10. “Deployment Workbench” > “Deploy” > “Deployment Points” > “LAB” > “Properties”.

11. Check on the “General Tab” the “x64” option for “Platforms Supported”. Also you can verify on “WindowsPE” tab other options like drivers or background image.

12. Now to generate the boot files:“Deployment Workbench” > “Deploy” > “Deployment Points” > “LAB” > “Update”.

This last step could take several minutes to complete, so be patient. It takes a while generate from scratch the ISO and WIM files used to boot environments. After it completes, you can find LiteTouchPE files inside “%distribution%\Boot\”

Notice that I haven’t used the option “Out-of-Box Drivers”. Windows 7 contains almost every hardware driver available on the market, you won’t get much problem with this. But MDT has a simple and effective way to handle device drivers, using “Groups” where you can add specific files depending on your need. For example: You could have a group of drivers with all the files for specific model of notebooks devices, other for desktop.

We’ll be reviewing how to handle applications, most specific Office 2007, within an MDT deployment on the next posts.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images – Part II

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images – Part III

Cheers!

IMPORTANT: Updated versions from this series using Windows 7 + Microsoft Office 2010 in automated deployment with MDT 2010 can be found here:

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part I

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part II

Deploying Windows 7 + Office 2010 Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 – Part III

Learn about different IT solutions with testkings online training. Download the testking 640-553 tutorials and testking 220-702 study guide to get step by step guidance on using MDT 2010 Beta