The D-Spot (The Deployment Spot)

Meanwhile MDT 2010 has reached Update 1, time to catch up where we left in part 2.

We will configure WDS to use PXE boot, use SQL Server to retrieve the computer name and have some beer afterwards.

PXE Boot

First configure a DHCP scope to serve the clients with an IP address. Then install the Windows Deployment Service (WDS) role on your MDT box, and configure WDS. I like to have a PXE delay of 3 seconds and I’m running DHCP on the same server as WDS. So I need to check ‘Do not listen on port 67’ and ‘Configure DHCP option 60 to indicate that this server is also a PXE server’.

 

Now we have to import the WinPE boot images, previous generated by MDT, into WDS:

Browse to the Boot-folder in the Deployment Share, and select the LiteTouch-wim-file(s) (I’m importing the x64 version only, as I don’t use Windows 7 x86 for now):

Boot your client machine and hit F12 to boot into PXE, or choose boot from network card in the BIOS.

We still have to choose a computer name during deployment:

Using MS SQL Server (Express) you can fully automate this!

Preparing SQL Server

In my test lab I will use SQL Express 2008 SP1. Open SQL Server Configuration manager, set SQL Server Browser to automatic and start the service:

Enable Named Pipes in SQL Server Configuration Manager:

Restart the SQL Server service:

Start SQL Management Studio and create a Security Login (I’ll use my MDT domain-join-user):

 

Add the db_datareader and db_datawriter permissions for the domain\svc-join user to the MDT database:

Create a database

Open the Deployment Workbench and Create a new database:

   

We have finished creating the MDT database.

Now we have to configure CustomSettings.ini before we can use the database:

By clicking Configure Database Rules, you actually adding extra lines to CustomSettings.ini in order to make a connection to the database. Select what you need:

Take a look at your CustomSettings.ini file (by right-clicking the DeploymentShare > Properties > Rules tab):

You can modify CustomSettings.ini further. To join a domain for example:

SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinDomain=thedspot.local
DomainAdmin=svc-join
DomainAdminDomain=thedspot.local
DomainAdminPassword=*
MachineObjectOU=OU=Computers,OU=Unmanaged,DC=thedspot,DC=local

Obtaining Computer names from the SQL database

Hit Computers > New to add a MAC address and corresponding computername (OSDComputerName):

 

Our LiteTouch deployment succeeded:

The computer name was retrieved from the database and domain join was successful.

Please find other parts here:

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 1

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 2

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 4

Suddenly my deployment environment had issues connecting to the deployment share while performing a MDT 2010 LTI Refresh scenario.

Log files BDD.log and LiteTouch.log says this: Unable to connect to DeploymentShare Connection OK Possible cause: invalid credentials A connection to the deployment share DeploymentShare could not be made The deployment will not proceed.

Error:

I found some solutions on the web, but only the last one did the trick for me.

Possible solution: Change ZTIUtility.vbs

Microsoft posted a solution for the ‘Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed” problem with MDT 2010. By changing the script ZTIUtility.vbs.

Replace this code:

Case Else
' Case &h800704C3 ' Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed.
' Case &h8007052E ' Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.
' There was a some kind of fatal error.
If ErrDesc <> "" then
             MapNetworkDriveEx = ErrDesc
Else
             MapNetworkDriveEx = "Unable to map UNC Path " & sShare & " :" & "( 0x" & hex(HasError) & " ) "
End if
oLogging.CreateEntry MapNetworkDriveEx & "", iLogType
Exit function
End select

With this code:

Case Else
Err.Clear
On Error Resume Next
oNetwork.MapNetworkDrive  chr(sDrive)&":", sShare, False
HasError = err.number
ErrDesc = err.Description
On Error Goto 0
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
' There was a some kind of fatal error.
             If ErrDesc <> "" then
                                        MapNetworkDriveEx = ErrDesc
             Else
                                        MapNetworkDriveEx = "Unable to map UNC Path " & sShare & " :" & "( 0x" & hex(HasError) & " ) "
             End if
             oLogging.CreateEntry MapNetworkDriveEx & "", iLogType
                           Exit function
Else
      Exit Function
End If
End select

However, this didn’t solved my issue at all.  I tried some other possible fixes found on the wild wild web; like using the pushd-command, using the IP address and FQDN name, and disconnecting all network connections (with net use * /d) before the actual installation begins. But none of this actually solved my issue.

The solution was map a network drive to the deployment share, with the same credentials as these used in bootstrap.ini and launching Litetouch.vbs from there. I found the solution on the Minasi forum (post by Johan Arwidmark).

In a previous article we discussed a very basic Lite Touch Installation (LTI). For the second part we will modify the MDT configuration files to make our installation more unattended.

The two configuration files we need to modify are CustomSettings.ini and Bootstrap.ini.  Use this method to view and modify them; In DeploymentWorkBench right-click your Deployment Share and choose Properties and hit the Rules tab. This is the CustomSettings.ini file. To view and modify Bootstrap.ini hit the Edit Bootstrap.ini-button at the bottom.

CustomSettings.ini file we will be using:

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
OSInstall=Y
SkipPackageDisplay=NO
SkipApplications=NO
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerBackup=YES
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipAdminPassword=YES
AdminPassword=Pa$$w0rd
SkipDeploymentType=YES
DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER
SkipUserData=YES
SkipDomainMembership=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
ComputerName=PC-xxxx
SkipTimeZone=YES
KeyboardLocale=0813:00000813
UserLocale=nl-be
TimeZone=105
TimeZoneName=Romance Standard Time
_SMSTSOrgName=The D Spot
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipSummary=NO

You can adapt these settings to your needs. For example join a domain, skip the summary and so one.

Our Bootstrap.ini file:

[Settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
DeployRoot=\\Servername\DeploymentShare$
UserDomain=DOMAINNAME
UserID=SERVICEACCOUNTNAME
UserPassword=PASSWORD
KeyboardLocalePE=0813:00000813

This file will be injected in the WinPE ISO file, to connect to the Deployment Share. After a modification to this file you need to perform a Deployment Share Update. To regenerate the LiteTouchPE_x64.iso & LiteTouchPE_x86.iso files.

With these configuration files in place, our LTI will ask for a Task Sequence and Computername only.

If your environment has computer names based on MAC Addresses you can get the computer name out of a SQL Database. But in most companies a technician will choose the computer name based on the label attached on the computer case, I choose this just to have an example.

Next time we will go further with user data migration.

Please find other parts here:

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 1

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 3

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 4

As Windows 7 is available to the public, deployments of the new operating system will knock on our door in the near future. Here at The D Spot we will go through Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (MDT), in order to be prepared when management decides to roll out first thing Monday morning.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is a Solution Accelerator for operating system and application deployment. MDT 2010 supports deployment of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to deployment of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.

We will start our MDT 2010 series with a basic Windows 7 Lite Touch installation (LTI). In this first article we will setup an easy to understand deployment of Windows 7. In future articles we will customize our LTI deployment to understand all possible options available in MDT 2010.

Prerequisites:

You must be a member of a domain and have a DHCP server in place to feed our client machines with IP addresses. Prerequisites tools are MDT 2010 and Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7, available at Microsoft for free. After installing both tools on our client computer we are ready to begin.

Start the Deployment Workbench.

You can find it under All Programs –> Microsoft Deployment Toolkit –> Deployment Workbench.

First we need to create a Deployment Share:

Right-click on Deployment Shares and choose New Deployment Share.

Choose a path where all data will be stored. This folder must be on a NTFS partition. I choose X:\DeploymentShare.

Next, specify a sharename and description for the store:

DeploymentShare$ is the sharename and MDT Deployment Share is the description. I leave both default settings.

Next step we need to choose whether we want to be able to capture an image after deploying it to a computer. We leave this option enabled, so we can capture an reference image later.

We leave options Allow Admin Password and Allow Product Key disabled. Last screen is the summary, click next to start creating of the Deployment Share. Close the wizard to return the our Deployment Workbench.

Installation complete, we’re ready to configure our newly create deployment share.

First add Windows 7 setup files to the deployment share by right-click Operating Systems and choose Import Operating System.

Choose Full set of source files, specify the Windows 7 DVD so all files can be copied to the deployment share:

Choose a directory name, where to store this operating system in the deployment share:

At the Summary screen we get an overview of what we have created, give it a quick look and click Next to begin the import process.

We’re done importing the Windows 7 DVD.  We can add applications and drivers as we like, but in this basic article I will leave it for future posts.

Now we need to create a Task Sequence (TS). Task sequences provide the mechanism for performing multiple steps or tasks on a client computer at the command-line level without requiring user intervention. We need to create a TS for deploying our Windows 7 to a virtual bare-metal computer. Right-click Task Sequences and choose New Task Sequence.

Choose an ID, and a Name for the Task Sequence.

Select Standard Client Task Sequence and select the operating system to deploy (we have only one OS imported yet).

Select Do not specify a product key, and fill in the OS Settings.

Last step is to specify a local admin password for the client computer. Next, Finish to create the Task Sequence.

After creating our TS we need to update the deployment share by right-click our deployment share and choose Update Deployment Share.

The update process does several things. Like the creation of the WinPE iso files, needed to boot our client to start deployment. These iso files are stored in the \Boot directory of the deployment share.

Now we are ready to perform the operating system installation. I’m using a Hyper-V virtual machine as a target machine. But you can burn the ISO to CD or copy it to a bootable USB drive to install a physical machine as well.

I create a new virtual machine in Hyper-V. And choose to install an OS from image and specify the file LiteTouchPE_x86.iso created earlier with MDT (in the Update process). So it will boot from the ISO file.

Fire up the virtual machine:

As you can see the default keyboard layout is set to United States, and we need to specify credentials to the deployment share. These and many more can be preconfigured in configuration files. Think about the winnt.sif file used in Windows XP unattended setups. It’s not like it, but it will come close.

To proceed the installation choose a Task Sequence. As we have only one, we can’t miss. Choose a computername and click Next.

You can join the domain or choose to join a workgroup and restore files using USMT.

All these settings need to be modified. I made screencaps of the default settings, so you can see what we can preconfigure with the configuration files. In order make an installation with only the minimal user interaction.

The installation has started.

Installation complete.

In the next article we will modify the MDT configuration files, to make this deployment less interactive and more unattended.

Please find other parts here:

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 2

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 3

Windows 7 Lite Touch installation with MDT 2010 – Part 4