MDT 2010 Custom Image tested and 100% working

Hi

First Thanks a lot to AUGUSTO ALVAREZ for this work,it's great for a clean image. However for a custom image I came across some issues that took me some hours of troubleshooting.

without further do lets get to Microsoft Deployment Tool 2010 Steps.

 

First step before deploying the custom image:

• Add the operating system you wish to deploy
• Add any out-of-box device drivers needed for installing the operating system on the target computers
• Add any applications you want to install on the target computers during the install
• Add any packages such as hotfixes or security updates you want to install on the target computers during the install

For simplicity we are only going to add an operating system (Windows 7 Ultimate ) to the deployment share, packages and applications to deployment shares.
To add an operating system, right-click on the Operating Systems node in the deployment share and select Import Operating System. This starts the Import Operating System Wizard. On the first page of the wizard, specify that you want to import a full set of source files (Figure 8):

Once you have created your deployment share, you need to configure it as follows:

• Add the operating system you wish to deploy
• Add any out-of-box device drivers needed for installing the operating system on the target computers
• Add any applications you want to install on the target computers during the install
• Add any packages such as hotfixes or security updates you want to install on the target computers during the install

For simplicity we are only going to add an operating system (Windows 7 Enterprise) to the deployment share. In future articles we will examine how to add drivers, packages and applications to deployment shares.
To add an operating system, right-click on the Operating Systems node in the deployment share and select Import Operating System. This starts the Import Operating System Wizard. On the first page of the wizard, specify that you want to import a full set of source files (Figure 8):

Creating a Deployment Share

Open the Deployment Workbench on your technician computer, then right-click on the Deployment Shares node and select New Deployment Share. The New Deployment Share wizard starts. Click the Browse button and create a folder named DeploymentShare$ in the root of your disk volume as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1: Specify the name and path to the deployment share folder
Click Next and the share name will automatically be populated and the UNC path to the share will be displayed (Figure 2):

Figure 2: The share name and UNC path for the deployment share are displayed
Click Next and give your deployment share a descriptive name (Figure 3):

Figure 3: Name the deployment share
Click Next and choose whether you want to be able to capture an image after deploying it to a computer (Figure 4). We will leave this option enabled so we can use it if we deploy a reference (master) computer and capture its image for deployment onto multiple target (end-user) computers:
(ignore do not  tick "Ask if an image should be captured")

Figure 4: Specify whether the option to capture an image will be displayed when the Windows Deployment Wizard runs during an install
Click Next and specify whether the user should be allowed to set the password for the local Administrator account on their computer (Figure 5). We'll leave this option unchecked:

Figure 5: The Allow Admin Password option
Click Next and specify whether the user should be asked to enter a product key (Figure 6). We will leave this unchecked because we are deploying Windows 7 Enterprise, which means that activation is typically performed using Key Management Service (KMS):

Figure 6: Choose whether the user is prompted to enter a product key during the install
Now finish the wizard and review the Confirmation page to ensure everything was done as expected. Figure 7 shows the newly created deployment share and its folder structure in the Deployment Workbench:

Figure 7: The newly created deployment share

Now you are ready to import the custom image.

  

Importing the Captured Image into MDT 2010

 Once the image has been captured, the importation process is simpler:
1. Open the MDT Console, expand the MDT Deployment Share, right-click “Operating Systems” and select “Import Operating System”.

2. Select “Custom image file” and click on “Next”.

3. Specify the path of the captured WIM file and click on “Next”. Also I’m selecting the option “Move the files to the deployment share…” to optimize disk space.

4. Select “Setup and Sysprep files are not needed” and click on “Next”. Since we’ve already prepared this operating system, there’s no need to include these files.

5. Specify the name for the destination folder and click on “Next”. In my case, I’m using “Windows 7 Pro x64 + Office 2010”.

6. In the summary page click on “Next”.
7. And in confirmation click on “Finish”.

With that, the operating system is imported to MDT 2010.

Creating the Task Sequence for Deployment

We now have the customized operating system imported into MDT, now we just need to create the Task Sequence to deploy it. The procedure is even simpler and we should now be familiarized with the environment to complete it without any problem.
1. Right-click “Task Sequences” and select “New Task Sequence”.

2. Complete the Task Sequence data. Remember to use a different “Task sequence ID” than the selected earlier, in my case “WIN7OFFICE2010”.

3. Select “Standard Client Task Sequence” and click on “Next”.
4. Select the operating system we’ve imported “Windows 7 Pro x64 + Office 2010” (I’ve changed the name for a more friendly one). Click on “Next”.

5. You can specify the product key in this step. Click on “Next”.

6. Complete the “OS Settings” and click on “Next”.
7. Specify the Administrator password or you can skip it. The administrator password set (if we did it) in the image we’ve captured maintains even if we executed sysprep. Click on “Next”.

8. Review the “Summary” and again the process should take a few seconds, once its completed click on “Finish”.

Deploying the Reference Image

We have completed all the configuration steps, and the only thing missing is deploying this image to the client.
1. In a client machine, boot from the network and select the LiteTouchPE boot image we’ve added earlier.
2. Run the “Deployment Wizard” in the same way we’ve executed before.

3. Specify credentials. Click on “Next”.
4. Select the task sequence to deploy the reference image, in my case “Deploy Windows 7 x64 + Office 2010”. Click on “Next”.

5. Join the machine to the domain if you prefer to. Click on “Next”.

6. Since we are not migrating profiles, select “Do not restore user data and settings”. Click on “Next”.
7. Select Language and Time Zone. Click on “Next”.
8. Since the image already has Microsoft Office 2010 installed, there’s no need to install it again. Click on “Next”.

9. Click on “Begin” and the installation process will start.

The operating system will complete its installation in a few minutes.

With that we’ve completed the third part of this series, I’m hoping I’ll prepare a few more about automating even more the deployments and add a few more features in the scenario.
I hope you found this useful.