Understanding the concept
Windows
deployment service(WDS) is the later and advanced version of remote
installation service (RIS) which is introduced in Windows server 2008 onwards.
This service allows PXE BIOS enabled
computers to remotely execute boot environment variables and install the
various windows operating system. The main advantage of using WDS is, it
reduces the complexity and cost when compared to manual installations. There
are some prerequisites installation and configuration of WDS and that are
listed below,
1. A
Windows Deployment Services server must be either a member of an AD DS domain
or a domain controller for an AD DS domain OR it can be on a standalone server.
2. You
must have a working DHCP server with an active scope on the network because
Windows Deployment Services uses PXE, which relies on DHCP for IP addressing.
3. The
server running Windows Deployment Services requires an NTFS file system volume
for the image store.
4. You
must have a working DNS server on the network before you can run Windows
Deployment Services.
Let us
consider the scenario that when you are preparing a data center or an
organization for first time, it is really necessary to have multiple
computers with necessary operating system. It's a headache for administrators
to get it done manually on each computer and WDS will help you to get it done
automatically.
Installation and configuration
1. It’s a
server role and you can get it installed
from server manager. Open Server manager
and click on Add roles.
2. Click Next
if you are presented with Before you begin
window. Tick the check box against Windows
deployment service
on the window select server roles.
3. Click Next on Over
view of Windows deplyoment service.
4. Now
you have two options to select Transport Server and
Deployment Server.
Deployment Server enables the end-to-end
Windows Deployment Services deploTrayment solution. nsport
Server is a platform that you can use to create a custom multicast
deployment solution. If you would like to know more about these services you
can look at the MS article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/cc725964(v=ws.10).aspx
. I would suggest to select both the option and click Next to continue.
5. Click Install on confirm
installation selections window and wait for it to complete. Once
completed, close the window.
6. So
this completes the installation of WDS roles. Now you need to configure the
server and the below steps will help you. From start
menu Administrative tools->Windows deployment service. Expand servers and right click on your server->Configure Server.
7. We
have already discussed in the prerequisites of WDS and next windows repeat the
same. Simply click Next to if you have
already met these.
8. Now
you need to specify where you want to save the configuration files that
includes boot image, install image and network drivers which is called as remote installation folder. By default remote
installation folder will be pointing to windows system drive(C:\)but it is not
recommended to install remote installation folder on this drive. So I am
changing the folder to H drive ,create a new folder named as 'Remoteinstall'
and browse the location over here and click Next.
You can
keep the default location as well but make sure to click YES on the System
volume warning to continue. The problem that you may face in this case
is that whenever the number of boot image, Install image and network drivers
are increasing the free space on system volume will reduce and this can cause
performance issues.
9. You
need to specify the PXE server initial settings. This defines the response of
PXE server when a client is requesting for an image. The three options are as
below,
Do not respond to any client computers- This
defines WDS servers to do not respond to any clients and you cannot get any of
the WDS operations as active.
Respond only to known clients computers- WDS
will respond only to the clients that are known. We will define the clients as
known or unknown based on its entry in active directory. You can authorize a
client computer as known based on the clients MAC address or GUID and this
process is known as Prestaging . I
believe this link will help you to http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/506-how-can-i-prestage-a-computer-for-wds/
get it done.
Respond to all client computers(known and unknown)-
WDS will respond to all clients which are requesting for PXE bot. For
additional security you can tick the check box below to that. I am going got
this option as it is easy to manage. Click Next,
10. Now
the configuration process will start and wait for it to complete. Click Finish on operation complete window. Untick the
default option Add images to the server now and
cli ckFinish.
So the
above steps completes basic configuration of WDS server. Now you need to
specify the boot image and install Image.
Boot images- Boot images are Windows PE images
that you boot a client computer into to perform an operating system
installation. A boot image will contain the complete contents and structure of
a Computer storage media.
Install images- Install images are the
operating system images that you deploy to the client computer. From operating
system Windows Vista onwards we have the pre-packed within product CD. For
earlier versions of windows you must create a custom install image. If you need
to do this you can follow the MS link which is pretty simple, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/dd637993(v=ws.10).aspx
To add the install image
1. Open
windows deployment service and expand your server name. Right click the section
Add install image.
2. You
can specify the install image group as required. Since I am creating the
install image for first time select an existing
image group will be disabled. Specify an install image group and click Next.
3. The
install image(install.wim) will be available inside the source folder of operating system CD. Browse the file and click Next.
4. My
install image contains multiple images inside it. Clear the check boxes for the
images that you do not want to add to the server. You should add only the
images for which you have licenses. Since I have the license only for Standard
edition I have selected only standard and this option can be up to you based on
the license that you have. Please note that the available image will be
depending on your product CD. Click Next,
5. Review
the details on the summary window and click Next
to continue with the configuration. Else press Back to change any of your
previous selection.
6. This
will start the configuration. When it finishes click Finish to close the window.
7. Once
you click Finish you can see the install images are added into WDS console.
This completes the steps for adding install image and below steps will help you
to add the boot image.
Adding the boot image
1. From
windows deployment service console right click
Boot images and select Add boot image.
2. Browse
and locate the boot.wmi file from the product CD and click Next.
3. Based
on the boot.wmi details the image name and image description will be named
automatically. You can either keep the same or edit these details, Click Next.
4. Select
the image on summary page and click Next
and Finish when it completes.
5. You
can see the boot image is added on WDS.
This
completes the configuration of windows deployment service server configuration.
Now reboot the client and make sure that you are pressing F12 to boot the
hardware into PXE.
If you
have failed to press F12 the operation will fail with the below error.
Restart
the computer once again and press F12 whenever it required
