WDS / MDT 2010 Deployment, me again!

Django x2 · 19 Aug 2010 at 10:54

Me again,

Ok, I have this semi....err.....semi kind of working.

I created and captured an image using MDT 2010. That was nice.

It boots using WDS using the LiteTouchPE_x64.iso and it syspreps, but it still asks me questions like choose language, where to install, product key, network location, etc. and the admin username and password, I assume for domain joining.

But, once booted, the machine is joined to the domain sucessfully and seems to work fine.

What steps do I need to take to get the unattended bit working properly?

Penguin · 19 Aug 2010 at 11:55

you need to change the rules.ini in the MDT deployment share (right click the share, properties, rules tab)

I used the rules the guy has on this guide http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Deploying-Windows-7-Part7.html

But changed the SkipComputerName=YES line to no as i wanted to input the computername each time.

if you want i can send the rules file i have (minus the admin pwd etc of course

)

edit: infact here's the rules i ended up using, it's probably a rather bad idea getting the PC to join the domain this way but it works

Code:

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
OSInstall=YES

SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipApplications=YES
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
SkipComputerBackup=YES
SkipDeploymentType=YES

DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER
SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinDomain=<DOMAIN>
DomainAdmin=<USERNAME>
DomainAdminDomain=<DOMAIN>
DomainAdminPassword=<PASSWORD>

SkipFinalSummary=YES

SkipLocaleSelection=YES
KeyboardLocale=en-GB
UserLocale=en-GB
UILanguage=en-GB

SkipPackageDisplay=YES

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipSummary=YES

SkipTimeZone=YES
TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

SkipUserData=Yes

HungryHippos · 19 Aug 2010 at 12:59

Right, thinking back a bit here I think I had to do the following to get a better unttended install from MDT 2010 for Win 7 deployments:

1) Setup/Install MDT 2010
2) Add O/S files, apps, drivers etc to the Workbench
3) Add a task sequence to build Windows 7
4) Add a task sequence to capture Windows 7
5) Edit the capture task sequence (In Deployment Workbench right click the capture task sequence > Properties > OS Info tab > Click button to edit Unattend.xml > File loads in WSIM (this is installed with MDT 2010 tools).
6) Edit the unattend.xml file to cover the steps you need/questions you don't want to get asked. You may have to play around to get the desired results.
7) Now when you capture your image you build it will use your customised unattend.xml file which skips some of the questions. Remember when it captures the image it uses the sysprep stuff which also comes into play the next time you deploy that particular image.

Also if you want this is my rules.ini settings I am using. This simply asks me for credentials to connect to deployment share, then machine name, credentials to join to domain, any apps I want to install then it generally goes off and does it's thing

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]
_SMSTSOrgName=*** Enter Org Name here if you want to ***

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipApplications=NO

SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipCapture=YES

SkipComputerName=NO

SkipComputerBackup=YES

ComputerBackupLocation=NETWORK
BackupShare=\\Machine Name\DeploymentShare$\Captures
BackupDir=%OSDComputerName%

SkipDeploymentType=YES

SkipDomainMembership=NO
JoinDomain=*** domain name to join ***
DomainAdmin=*** You can put a username here if you want so it autofills in during wizard ***
DomainAdminDomain=*** domain name of user you are using to join to domain ***
MachineObjectOU=*** If filled in will add the machine to a specified OU, use ADISEDIT and take the DN of the OU you want to use for this value ***

SkipFinalSummary=YES

SkipLocaleSelection=YES
KeyboardLocale=en-gb;0809:00000809
UserLocale=en-gb
UILanguage=en-us

SkipPackageDisplay=NO

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipSummary=YES

SkipTimeZone=YES
TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

SkipUserData=YES
UserDataLocation=AUTO

FinishAction=RESTART

Django x2 · 20 Aug 2010 at 21:08

ok cool. i was tripping up over the language codes and the time zones.....fail, now i do. Thanks guys

EDIT: Ok, its looking cool but on the Solutions Accelerators page a "User Credential" box appears which now has my username and domain prefilled but even though I have put the password in the boot.ini and customsettings file, it asks me for it.

Double edit, had a few more windows appear where I had to enter some stuff which I've already answered in the files above but its 98% there I'd say.

Django x2 · 23 Aug 2010 at 11:56

Anyone?

Penguin · 23 Aug 2010 at 11:59

could it be to do with joining the PC to a domain in the rules.ini?

In mine I have the following which automatically joins the machine to our domain.

SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinDomain=<DOMAIN>
DomainAdmin=<USERNAME>
DomainAdminDomain=<DOMAIN>
DomainAdminPassword=<PASSWORD>

Django x2 · 23 Aug 2010 at 14:15

Penguin said:
could it be to do with joining the PC to a domain in the rules.ini?

In mine I have the following which automatically joins the machine to our domain.

SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinDomain=<DOMAIN>
DomainAdmin=<USERNAME>
DomainAdminDomain=<DOMAIN>
DomainAdminPassword=<PASSWORD>

I have that in there

The only thing I can think of, is my password has a special character, given I enter it in the rules.ini in GB but the setup UI is in US, would that honestly matter do you think?

Penguin · 23 Aug 2010 at 14:19

hrm not sure what the username password box is asking you about then

With my config i boot into the solutions accelerator bit:

it ask me about the keyboard layout
then asks for my username & password (i presume this is so it can connect to the share)
then it asks what task I want to run
then for a PC Name
then it goes off & installs with no other questions needed.

Penguin · 23 Aug 2010 at 14:21

Lucero said:
I have that in there The only thing I can think of, is my password has a special character, given I enter it in the rules.ini in GB but the setup UI is in US, would that honestly matter do you think?

not sure our pwd has multiple special chars in there & it doesn't prompt us for the username & pass to connect to the domain.

Django x2 · 23 Aug 2010 at 15:39

This is pretty much the first screen I am presented with

Penguin · 23 Aug 2010 at 15:44

yeah same here i'm not sure if you can get around it, maybe you can but I've not looked into it, as it's not that much of a big issue for us.

HungryHippos · 23 Aug 2010 at 16:26

Penguin said:
yeah same here i'm not sure if you can get around it, maybe you can but I've not looked into it, as it's not that much of a big issue for us.

Well for me I find that saving credentials in this way is not great for security procedures anyway, the data is kept in plain text so not ideal