Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed (193 page)

. The ability to use boot and installation images included with the Windows Server

2008, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 media using the

.wim extension. These can be copied directly from the respective installation media

right into the WDS server to provide base images for these operating systems within

minutes, without any customization.

. Support for both 32- and 64-bit operating system deployment.

Before an organization can consider deploying Windows 2008 R2 WDS, Active Directory

Domain Services (AD DS) must be deployed. Also, due to the nature of the Preboot

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Execution Environment (PXE), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and domain

name system (DNS) services are also required. Of course, for WDS to function properly,

the desktop or server hardware must also be compatible and must support PXE boot and

have at least 512MB of RAM, as this is the minimum RAM requirement to install Windows

Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 using the

Windows PE environment. Although the WDS server can be configured to use IPv6, all

client and WDS server communication will use IPv4.

WDS Image Types

Windows Server 2008 R2 WDS includes several different image types. WDS administrators

need to understand each of these image types to understand the documentation and how

WDS works and also to be able to communicate the inner workings of WDS to manage-

ment and other administrators or clients as required. WDS image types include boot

images, installation images, discover images, and capture images.

Boot Images

A boot image contains the Windows Deployment Services client and the Windows

Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE), which is basically a mini operating system

used to connect the system to the WDS server and provide the means to select and install

a WDS installation image. The boot image included in the Windows Server 2008 R2 instal-

lation media, as an example, is appropriately named boot.wim and can be used to boot

systems that will install Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista SP1 x64, Windows 7 x64,

or Windows Server 2008 x64 images. The Windows Server 2008 R2 boot image can also be

Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Deployment Services

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used to install images using multicast transmissions. If x86 images will be deployed, it is a

best practice to boot those systems using the compatible x86 Windows 7 or Windows Vista

SP1 boot image. This will help simplify issues with driver provisioning and manual driver

injection as necessary. Also, even if a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 custom install

image will be deployed, the boot image from Windows Automated Installation Kit, or

Windows Vista SP1 or greater will be required as well as the appropriate storage, system

bus, and networking drivers for that boot image. To be very specific, if a hardware plat-

form that will be used for a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system does not contain

storage, network, and system bus hardware that has a compatible driver that matches the

boot image, that hardware might not be a candidate for WDS deployment.

Installation Images

The installation images are the actual Windows installation media, packaged into a

single WIM file. Depending on the actual media used to provide the WIM files, many

different installation images might be included. For example, organizations that receive

volume license media from Microsoft might have received a Microsoft Windows Server

2008 R2 DVD that contains the full installation and the Server Core images for Standard

Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Datacenter Edition. On a WDS server, normally only a

single boot image is required per platform, x86 or x64, but it can contain many different

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installation images.

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Discover Images

A discover image is created from a boot image and is used to boot a system and load the

Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) and locate and connect to a WDS

server. A discover image is commonly used when the network does not support PXE boot

or the system does not support it. Discover images can be exported to ISO files and then

burned or stored on removable media, such as CDs, DVDs, or USB memory sticks, for

portability. In some cases when hardware is not booting and connecting properly to a

WDS server using a boot image, a Discover image can be tested as an alternative for both

deploying installation images and capturing a system to an image.

Capture Images

A capture image is also created from a boot image, but instead of running setup like an

installation image, the capture image runs the WDS capture utility. The WDS capture

utility is used to connect to a system that has been prepared for imaging or cloning, using

the appropriate system preparation tools, to the WDS system to create a new installation

image that can be deployed later to WDS clients. Before a capture image is used, a system

with an operating system is customized by adding applications, custom configurations,

and other system changes that are required by the particular organization. When the

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system is ready for imaging, it is prepared using Sysprep, a Microsoft deployment tool

used to clear the machine’s SID and operating system configurations that are specific to

the system that will be imaged.

Installing Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

You can install WDS on Windows Server 2008 R2 using the Initial Configuration Wizard,

the Server Manager console, or the command-line utility Servermanagercmd.exe. Windows

Deployment Services can be installed on the Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Edition of

Windows Server 2008 R2, but it is not included on any Server Core editions. Before

installing the WDS role, ensure that all volumes on the WDS server are formatted as NTFS

volumes. Also, it is not recommended to install the WDS images into the same volume as

the operating system to allow for customized security and to remove any risk of filling up

the system drive when adding images to the WDS server. To add the WDS role using

Server Manager, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system that will have the WDS role installed

with an account with local administrator and domain administrator rights.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Server Manager.

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3. When Server Manager opens, in the tree pane, select the Roles node.

4. In the tasks pane, click the Add Roles link.

5. Click Next on the Before You Begin page.

6. On the Select Server Roles page, check the box next to the Windows Deployment

Services role, and click Next to continue.

7. On the Overview of Windows Deployment Services page, read the introduction and

notes, and click Next to continue.

8. On the Select Role Services page, verify that both the Deployment Server and the

Transport Server are checked, and click Next to continue.

9. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, review the selections and click Install

to continue.

10. Review the results on the Installation Results page, and click Close to complete the

installation. Close Server Manager and log off of the server.

Configuring the WDS Server

After the WDS role is installed, the initial boot and installation image can be added.

Locate the Windows 7 Enterprise x64 installation media as the boot image from this

media can and will be used to deploy Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 Ultimate, and

Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit edition images. Add x86-based boot images if both x86 and

Installing Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

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x64 install images will be deployed using WDS. To install the initial boot image, perform

the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system that has the WDS role installed with

an account with local administrator and domain administrator rights.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Windows

Deployment Services.

3. When the Windows Deployment Services console opens, in the tree pane, expand

Servers.

4. The WDS server will be listed in the tree pane with a warning symbol on it indicat-

ing that the WDS server needs to be configured. Right-click the server and select

Configure Server, as shown in Figure 26.1.

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FIGURE 26.1

Initiating the WDS server configuration.

5. Review the requirements that are detailed on the Before You Begin page, and click

Next to continue.

6. On the Remote Installation Folder Location page, specify the default installation

path for the WDS images. For our example, we will use a separate drive and specify

the path of E:\RemoteInstall and then click Next.

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NOTE

If the WDS server only has a single disk and is selected for the installation folder, a

pop-up notification opens stating that it is recommended that you create the remote

installation disk on a different volume and, if possible, a different disk.

7. On the PXE Server Initial Settings page, review the options for PXE boot settings:

.
Do Not Respond to Any Client Computer—
This option essentially disables

the WDS server from responding to any PXE boot attempts.

.
Respond Only to Known Client Computers—
This option requires that

each system that will have an image deployed or captured will need to have an

existing Active Directory computer account with a predefined globally unique

identifier (GUID). This is the desired configuration after the WDS infrastructure

is tested and working properly and after the WDS administrator understands

how to locate the GUID of a system and pre-create a computer account in

Active Directory.

.
Respond to All Client Computers (Known and Unknown)—
This option

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allows any machine that is PXE boot capable to connect to the WDS server and

load a boot image. Of course, to install an image, the user needs to specify

domain credentials.

When Respond to All Client Computers (Known and Unknown) is selected,

the WDS administrator can also select an additional check box that would

require WDS administrators to approve connected WDS clients in the console

before an image can be deployed to that system. This added security removes

the requirement for the collection of system GUIDs before a system can

connect to WDS but also adds the necessary security to allow the WDS admin-

istrator to control the deployment of WDS images.

8. For the initial WDS installation, select the Respond to All Client Computers (Known

and Unknown) option button, and click Next, as shown in Figure 26.2.

9. The Operation Complete page appears and an Add Images to the Server Now check

box is displayed. Uncheck the check box and click Finish to close the wizard.

After the wizard closes, the Windows Deployment Services console is displayed. Review

each of the nodes that are now displayed beneath the WDS server, such as the Install

Images, Boot Images, Pending Devices, Multicast Transmissions, and the new Drivers

node. As we move forward in our WDS server configuration, each of these nodes will be

reviewed, but at this time, additional configuration of the WDS server might be required.

To review the WDS server settings, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system that has the WDS role installed with

an account with local administrator and domain administrator rights.