Integrating Windows Deployment Services With Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

In my previous posts we have seen the installation and configuration of windows deployment services and deploying windows 7 using windows deployment services. In this post we will take a look at integrating windows deployment services with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). Microsoft deployment toolkit is a solution accelerator for deploying operating system and applications, the latest version of MDT supports deployment of windows 8, Windows 7, Office 2010, Windows Server 2012 and later. The latest version of MDT can be downloaded from here. Please note that MDT is available for x86 and x64 platforms. Select the version that corresponds with your host hardware type. Both versions of MDT 2012 support deployment of x86 and x64 Windows operating systems so select the version that corresponds with your host hardware type. Note that both versions of MDT 2012 support deployment of x86 and x64 Windows operating systems.

Lab Setup:

The lab setup includes 2 virtual machines, one virtual machine will be installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise  x64 SP1 which will be our Domain Controller and DHCP server(AD.PRAJWAL.LOCAL) . The second virtual machine will be installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise  x64 SP1 .This will have MDT and WDS running on it (WDS.PRAJWAL.LOCAL) . For deploying operating system using MDT and WDS we will create a blank virtual machine.

On the Domain Controller machine install the DHCP role and configure the scope as per your requirement. On the second virtual machine, Install the Windows Deployment Services role and configure it. Before you start installing MDT 2012 install the .Net Framework 3.5.1 Features and which is a prerequisite for MDT. We will also install windows automated installation kit 3.0 which contains set of tools to customize, configure and deploy windows 7 and server 2008 R2 OS. The WAIK 3.0 can be downloaded from here.

On the machine WDS.PRAJWAL.LOCAL, launch the Server Manager, right click Features and click on Add Features.Install the Net Framework 3.5.1 Features else you might see the below error.

On the windows automated installation kit welcome page, click on Windows AIK Setup.

Click on Next to proceed with the installation.

The Windows Automated Installation Kit has been installed. Click on Close.

Launch the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1 and click on Next.

Click on Next.

The MDT 2012 setup is complete. Click on Finish.

Click on Start, click on All Programs, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and click on Deployment Workbench.

The next step is to create a Deployment Share which is basically a shared folder that contains scripts, operating system source files, applications, drivers, and updates for the administrator to use for deployment. Note that you can create multiple deployment shares too. In this post we will go with a single deployment share. Right click on Deployment Shares and click on New Deployment Share.

The default Deployment share path is C:DeploymentShare. We will change the location to E:DeploymentShare. Click on Next.

Share Name – For this step, specify a valid share name. When you specify a share name make sure that the share name is unique in the network. Click on Next.

 Options – You can leave this step to default values or check only options do you require. Click on Next and click on Finish to complete the new deployment share wizard.

Expand Deployment Shares, MDT Deployment Share. You should see list of options under MDT Deployment Share which we are going to configure soon in the coming post.