Installing MDT The first step is to add the Windows Deployment Services role from server manager

Leave both role services ticked please be aware of the prerequisites required to run WDS i.e. Active Directory, DNS and DHCP these do not need to be installed on this server but available on the domain

Configuration of MDT Once the role is installed the next step is the configuration of the server, from server manager click on the newly installed WDS Role if you then click on the servers item in the view you will see that further configuration is required on the server.

Right click on the server name and choose Configure Server

You will then be presented with an information screen outlining the prerequisites required to run WDS as I stated earlier

The only additional requirement is that the server has an NTFS partition to store the images on

For this series of posts I have configured this virtual machine with a 40GB Data partition as you can see from the screenshot above it does recommend that the images are not stored on the system partition. The next screen is the PXE Server Initial Settings screen here you are presented with 3 options Do Not Respond To Any Client Computers Respond Only To Known Client Computers Respond To All Client Computers (Known and Unknown)

For this series I will select Respond to all computers (Known and Unknown) with this option selected you are also presented with a further tick box that allows you to configure an option that requires admin approval to unknown client computers through the pending node snap in.

I will un-tick add images to the server now as we will be using MDT 2010 for our image creation and management. The screenshot below shows the WDS snapin as represented in server manager the next step is the MDT 2010 setup.

Installing the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7

MDT 2010 uses the Windows 7 automated installation kit which can be down loaded from the Microsoft site here so before we continue I will install and configure, the download for AIK is an ISO file you can at this point burn to a DVD or unpack the ISO file and run setup.

Click on Windows AIK setup from the list on the left and all I did to complete the installation of AIK is follow the prompts and accept all the default values. Install Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 The next step is to download from here the installation files for MDT 2010 on this site you will find install files for 64bit and also 32bit installs as well various read me files to help you get the most out of MDT 2010.

Again with this install I will accept all the default values as I go through the install. After the install is completed you will have a new start menu item called Microsoft Deployment Toolkit we will now continue the configuration by clicking on deployment workbench. Configure The Deployment Shares For MDT 2010 Through this part of the post I will show how to configure the images you require for your operating system deployments I will be using windows 7 for this but you could use windows vista or XP.

You now need to create a deployment share this is completed by right clicking deployment share in the MMC and selecting new deployment share

I will store all my images on the E data drive I created earlier for my server setup

By default the system will create the share as a hidden share (With a $ symbol at the end) I will leave this as the setting to use

The next screen asks for a descriptive name I will accept the default setting

The next screen asks if an image should be captured if you are planning on using MDT to capture the image leave this ticked

The next screen asks if you should allow users to set the local admin password I would recommend leaving this unticked as you could end up not knowing the local admin password on any of your computers and potentially every machine having a unique admin password (not sure how you could manage that situation)

The next screen asks should the user be prompted for a product key this can be useful but we use a KMS server (Maybe another post) so we do not require this so I will leave it unticked.

Next you will see the summary screen check all the settings and click next

Adding a Base Image to MDT 2010 The next step is now to add a base image to your MDT deployment. Expand the deployment shares and right click Operating Systems and select Import Operating System

I will choose the Full set of source files option and for this I will need the windows 7 DVD so click next

Choose the path to your source files and click next

Select a destination directory name I will stick with the defaults for this article you will then be presented with a summary screen check to make sure all is ok and then click next this will take you to a progress screen and once the import is completed click finish.

The next step is to update the right clicking on MDT Deployment shares and choose Update Deployment Share

Select completely regenerate the boot images this is always good practice each time you make any changes to your MDT setup

Windows Deployment services PXE boot image One of the steps at the beginning of this article was to setup Windows Deployment Services we will now use this to deploy a PXE boot image. From the Start Menu | Administration Tools select Windows Deployment Services once open right click on boot images and select Add Boot Image

The boot images are stored in your deployment share and are found in the boot folder I will select the LiteTouchPE_x86.wim file for this demo

The final step of this part is to enable multicast this is achieved by going back to the MDT workbench and right click on the deployment share and choose properties on the general tab and tick enable multicast from the general page.

Creating a Task sequence

The final part in configuring MDT 2010 is to create a task sequence this will enable you to deploy your chosen operating systems to your client workstations. The first step is to open the deployment workbench and right click on the task sequence node and choose New Task Sequence

The first screen you will see is the general settings enter a Task Sequence ID and a Task sequence name you can optionally enter a description

The next screen asks which template to use I will leave this at the default setting Standard client task sequence

The next screen asks you to choose your OS earlier in the article I set up a Windows 7 OS so this is displayed here

The next screen asks you to specify a product key this give you three options do not specify a product key is what I will choose as we use a KMS server for key management

The next screen asks for your OS setting Full name, Organization and IE home page

The next screen asks for a local admin password you can let the user enter their own or specify a password yourself I would always set a password otherwise you could end up in a situation where every workstation has an individual password and this situation would be unmanageable.

Next you will see a summary screen giving a breakdown of all the information in your new task sequence

Once you click next your task sequence will be created and a final confirmation screen will be shown

Rule Settings in MDT 2010

MDT 2010 as you have seen is very customizable and you can stop some screens showing with the rules available in MDT this will cut down on the amount of input required during the operating system install. Theses inbuilt rules are quite limited so below you will find many more that you can add. To access the rules from the deployment workbench Right click your deployment share and choose properties the second tab (Rules) will show you the limited built in rules.

The list of rules below when applied will only show 3 screens during the install process Computer Name Task Sequence Selection Time Zone Selection [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=Demo DomainAdmin=administrator DomainAdminDomain= Demo DomainAdminPassword=******* SkipFinalSummary=No SkipLocaleSelection=YES KeyboardLocale=en-GB UserLocale=en-GB UILanguage=en-GB SkipPackageDisplay=YES SkipProductKey=YES SkipSummary=YES SkipTaskSequence=NO SkipTimeZone=YES TimeZone=085 TimeZoneName=Greenwich Standard Time SkipUserData=Yes