How to use Windows Deployment Service
1.1 Introduction:
Windows Deployment Service (WDS) is an enhanced and redesigned version of Remote Installation service (RIS) which was the native deployment tool available in Windows 2000 Server and early versions of Windows Server 2003. WDS is networks based OS deployment mechanism that helps organizations rapidly and remotely deploy Windows operating systems and is also useful for OS installations on systems that do not support boot from CD/DVD. Using Windows Deployment Services, you can deploy Windows operating systems over a network, without having to be physically present at the destination computer and without using installation media.
Windows Deployment Service (WDS) is an enhanced and redesigned version of Remote Installation service (RIS) which was the native deployment tool available in Windows 2000 Server and early versions of Windows Server 2003. WDS is networks based OS deployment mechanism that helps organizations rapidly and remotely deploy Windows operating systems and is also useful for OS installations on systems that do not support boot from CD/DVD. Using Windows Deployment Services, you can deploy Windows operating systems over a network, without having to be physically present at the destination computer and without using installation media.
1.2. Requirements:
The following list describes the requirements for installing and using Windows Deployment Services:
1.2.1. Active Directory service: A Windows Deployment Services server must be either a member of an Active Directory domain or a domain controller (DC) for an Active Directory domain.
1.2.2. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). You must have a working DHCP server with an active scope on the network because Windows Deployment Services uses PXE, which in turn uses DHCP.
1.2.3. Domain Name System (DNS): A working DNS server on the network is required to run Windows DS.
1.2.4. Installation media: A Windows Longhorn DVD or a network location that contains the contents of the DVD is required to install Windows Deployment Services.
1.2.5. A partition on the Windows Deployment Services server of NTFS file system: Microsoft recommends using a NTFS partition apart from the system partition, for the image repository for the Windows Deployment Service.
1.2.6. NIC: A NIC capable of PXE boot to deploy the OS on the system.
1.2.7. WAIK: Windows Automated Installation Kit is required for additional tools like Imagex and peimg under special circumstances like capturing image, adding non-native drivers. WAIK can be downloaded from the following link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7d4bc6d-15f3-4284-9123-679830d629f2&DisplayLang=en
1.2.8. WinPE disk: WinPE is required to serve as an environment if we have to capture images.
Note: MS recommends WDS server to be on a separate server other than Domain Controller and DHCP server.
2.1. Configuring WDS Server:
WDS server can only recognize images which are in .wim format. There are two types of images that need to be added in order to deploy any Operating System; they are boot.wim and install.wim.
The Boot.wim is used to enable the WDS server as PXE server and provides a boot environment (unique to an architecture type) to kick off an OS install. The Install.wim is the actual Operating System image.
Microsoft ships Boot.wim and Install.wim with its Longhorn DVDs; these files can be found in the /sources directory of the installation media. The first step towards configuring WDS is to install the “Windows Deployment Services” Role from the Server Manager.
Make sure that the WDS server, the system where the OS has to be deployed, DHCP and Active Directory are in the same network. Join the WDS server to the Domain Controller.
2.1. Configuring WDS Server:
WDS server can only recognize images which are in .wim format. There are two types of images that need to be added in order to deploy any Operating System; they are boot.wim and install.wim.
The Boot.wim is used to enable the WDS server as PXE server and provides a boot environment (unique to an architecture type) to kick off an OS install. The Install.wim is the actual Operating System image.
Microsoft ships Boot.wim and Install.wim with its Longhorn DVDs; these files can be found in the /sources directory of the installation media. The first step towards configuring WDS is to install the “Windows Deployment Services” Role from the Server Manager.
Make sure that the WDS server, the system where the OS has to be deployed, DHCP and Active Directory are in the same network. Join the WDS server to the Domain Controller.
Following are the steps to add images to the WDS server:
2.1.1. Steps to add the images to the WDS server:
- Open WdsMgmt from StartàProgramsà Administrative ToolsàWindows Deployment Services.
- In the left pane, Right Click on the servers and ‘Add server’. Choose if you want to add the ‘Local computer’ or a ‘Remote computer’ as the WDS server.
- After the addition, Select ‘Configure Server’.
- In the Welcome page, Click ‘Next’ and select a location other than System Partition to store the images. (Example E :\).
- In the next window Select “Respond to all (known and unknown) Client Computers” and Click Finish.
- Uncheck the check box for adding images and click Finish.
- Insert the Longhorn DVD in the DVD ROM.
- From the WDS snap-in, Right click on the Install Images and select Add Install Image. (For adding the boot images, click on Boot Images and select “Add Boot Image”).
- In the Image Group window, give a group name of your choice and click Next.
- In the Next Window, browse to the location of Install.wim (DVD drive: \sources).
- Next, Select the SKU’s which you want to add to the WDS server and ‘Finish’.
Points to remember:
- If you would like to deploy an x64 image on a client from a WDS server run a following command:
- Without this command, the client will not see any of the x64 images on the WDS server.
- You cannot deploy the x64 install image using the x86 boot.wim and vice-versa. Each architecture type requires its own boot.wim
3.1. Capturing an image:
Capturing image can be useful when an organization requires deploying the Operating System with a standard set of applications installed on the entire network. Organizations can use the default install.wim image and deploy only the Operating System. System administrators have to go to each and every machine to install applications which is a tedious job.
To reduce the complexity of this, we can capture the image of a machine with the Operating System and all the necessary applications installed and then deploy this image to the machines on the network.
You can capture the operating system images from Windows PE, Windows Vista operating system, Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), or a customized Windows PE provided by Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) Operating System Deployment Feature Pack, or Windows Deployment Services (WDS).
Note: Throughout this document we will concentrate on Windows PE and Windows Deployment Service as the platform for capturing the images.
Before you capture an image on a system, the operating system should be sysprepped in order to be able to deploy on different platforms. You can find sysprep.exe in the following location: c:\windows\system32\sysprep. Use the command:
Sysprep /generalize /oobe /reboot
3.1.1 Capturing Image Using “Create Capture Image” option in WdsMgmt
1. Open WdsMgmt and Select Boot Images folder in the left pane. On the Right side, Right Click the image that is already added and select Create Capture Image option.
Note: You can use the “create Image Option” if you at least one boot image added, and also you should use x64 boot image in case you want to capture x64 installation.
2. In the Capture Image windows, give the path where the new image should be stored.
3. After it is finished, Add the newly captured image to the Boot Image folder.
4. Disable the first boot image which was added.
5. Now on the server where you want to capture the image, PXE boot the server using the F12 option.
6. After the WinPE is loaded, you will be taken to WDS image capture wizard. Click Next.
7. From the drop down select the drive to image and give the image name and its description and select next.
8. In the next window, select the location where you want to store the image. There are two options, one to store on any drive using the Browse option or you can select to check box to store it on the WDS server directly.
After the image capture is done, add the image to the WDS server as mention in the previous sections.
4.1 Deploying an Image using PXE:
- Boot the target client computer through PXE.
- If there are multiple boot images, choose the desired image to continue.
- After the WinPE is loaded, in the window click Next accepting the default locale and keyboard layout.
- In the Authentication dialog box, enter the domain/username and password.
- In the next screen, all the available OS images will be displayed. Select the image to deploy and click Next.
- After this phase, the installation is same as the manual DVD install.
Here two Videos for WDS Installation and Configuration..
1. Windows Deployment Services Installing in Windows Server 2008 r2
2
Windows Deployment Services Installing in Windows Server 2008 r2
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