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Deploy a Windows 8.1 Image Using MDT 2013

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 8.1

This topic will show you how to take your reference image for Windows 8.1, and deploy that image to your environment using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), and MDT 2013 specifically. You will prepare for this by creating a MDT 2013 deployment share that is used solely for image deployment. Separating the processes of creating reference images from the processes used to deploy them in production allows greater control of on both processes. You will then configure the deployment share, create a new task sequence, add applications, add drivers, add rules, and configure Active Directory permissions for deployment.

For the purposes of this topic, we will use three machines: DC01, MDT01, and PC0005. DC01 is a domain controller, MDT01 is a Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard server, and PC0005 is a blank machine to which you deploy Windows 8.1. MDT01 and PC0005 are members of the domain contoso.com for the fictitious Contoso Corporation. For more details on the setup for this topic, please see Proof-Of-Concept Environment.

Figure 1. The machines used in this topic.

In this topic

  • Step 1: Configure Active Directory permissions

  • Step 2: Set up the MDT production deployment share

  • Step 3: Add a custom image

  • Step 4: Add an application

  • Step 5: Prepare the drivers repository

  • Step 6: Create the deployment task sequence

  • Step 7: Configure the MDT production deployment share

  • Step 8: Deploy the Windows 8.1 client image

  • Multicast deployments

  • Use offline media to deploy Windows 8.1

  • Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based deployments

See also

Step 1: Configure Active Directory permissions

These steps will show you how to configure an Active Directory account with the permissions required to deploy a Windows 8.1 machine to the domain using MDT 2013. These steps assume you have downloaded the sample Set-OUPermissions.ps1 script and copied it to C:\Setup\Scripts on DC01. The account is used for Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) to connect to MDT01.In order for MDT 2013 to join machines into the contoso.com domain you need to create an account and configure permissions in Active Directory.

  1. On DC01, using Active Directory User and Computers, browse to contoso.com / Contoso / Service Accounts.

  2. Select the Service Accounts organizational unit (OU) and create the MDT_JD account using the following settings:

    1. Name: MDT_JD

    2. User logon name: MDT_JD

    3. Password: P@ssw0rd

    4. User must change password at next logon: Clear

    5. User cannot change password: Select

    6. Password never expires: Select

  3. In an elevated Windows PowerShell prompt (run as Administrator), run the following commands and press Enter after each command:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned –Force
Set-Location C:\Setup\Scripts
.\Set-OUPermissions.ps1 -Account MDT_JD 
-TargetOU "OU=Workstations,OU=Computers,OU=Contoso"

  4. The Set-OUPermissions.ps1 script allows the MDT_JD user account permissions to manage computer accounts in the Contoso / Computers OU. Below you find a list of the permissions being granted:

    1. Scope: This object and all descendant objects

      1. Create Computer objects

      2. Delete Computer objects

    2. Scope: Descendant Computer objects

      1. Read All Properties

      2. Write All Properties

      3. Read Permissions

      4. Modify Permissions

      5. Change Password

      6. Reset Password

      7. Validated write to DNS host name

      8. Validated write to service principal name

Step 2: Set up the MDT production deployment share

When you are ready to deploy Windows 8.1 in a production environment, you will first create a new MDT deployment share. You should not use the same deployment share that you used to create the reference image for a production deployment. For guidance on creating a custom Windows 8.1 image, see Create a Windows 8.1 Reference Image.

Create the MDT Production deployment share

The steps for creating the deployment share for production are the same as when you created the deployment share for creating the custom reference image:

  1. On MDT01, log on as Administrator in the CONTOSO domain using a password of P@ssw0rd.

  2. Using the Deployment Workbench, right-click Deployment Shares and select New Deployment Share.

  3. On the Path page, in the Deployment share path text box, type E:\MDTProduction and click Next.

  4. On the Share page, in the Share name text box, type MDTProduction$ and click Next.

  5. On the Descriptive Name page, in the Deployment share description text box, type MDT Production and click Next.

  6. On the Options page, accept the default settings and click Next twice, and then click Finish.

  7. Using File Explorer, verify that you can access the \\MDT01\MDTProduction$ share.

Step 3: Add a custom image

The next step is to add a reference image into the deployment share with the setup files required to successfully deploy Windows 8.1. When adding a custom image, you still need to copy setup files (an option in the wizard) because Windows 8.1 stores additional components in the Sources\SxS folder which is outside the image and may be required when installing components.

Add the Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM custom image

In these steps, we assume that you have completed the steps in the Create a Windows 8.1 Reference Image topic, so you have a Windows 8.1 reference image in the E:\MDTBuildLab\Captures folder on MDT01.

  1. Using the Deployment Workbench, expand the Deployment Shares node, and then expand MDT Production; select the Operating Systems node, and create a folder named Windows 8.1.

  2. Right-click the Windows 8.1 folder and select Import Operating System.

  3. On the OS Type page, select Custom image file and click Next.

  4. On the Image page, in the Source file text box, browse to E:\MDTBuildLab\Captures\REFW81X64-001.wim and click Next.

  5. On the Setup page, select the Copy Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, or later setup files from the specified path option; in the Setup source directory text box, browse to E:\MDTBuildLab\Operating Systems\W81EX64RTM and click Next.

  6. On the Destination page, in the Destination directory name text box, type W81EX64RTM, click Next twice, and then click Finish.

  7. After adding the operating system, double-click the added operating system name in the Operating Systems / Windows 8.1 node and change the name to match the following: Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM Custom Image.

Note

The reason for adding the setup files has changed since earlier versions of MDT. MDT 2010 used the setup files to install Windows. MDT 2013 uses ImageX to apply the image; however, you still need the setup files because some components in roles and features are stored outside the main image.

Figure 2. The imported operating system after renaming it.

Step 4: Add an application

When you configure your MDT Build Lab deployment share, you will also add any applications to the new deployment share before creating your task sequence. This section walks you through the process of adding an application to the MDT Production deployment share using Adobe Reader as an example.

Create the install: Adobe Reader XI x86

In this example, we assume that you have downloaded the Adobe Reader XI installation file (AdbeRdr11000_eu_ES.msi) to E:\Setup\Adobe Reader on MDT01.

  1. Using the Deployment Workbench, expand the MDT Production node and navigate to the Applications node.

  2. Right-click the Applications node, and create a new folder named Adobe.

  3. In the Applications node, right-click the Adobe folder and select New Application.

  4. On the Application Type page, select the Application with source files option and click Next.

  5. On the Details page, in the Application name text box, type Install - Adobe Reader XI - x86 and click Next.

  6. On the Source page, in the Source Directory text box, browse to E:\Setup\Adobe Reader XI and click Next.

  7. On the Destination page, in the Specify the name of the directory that should be created text box, type Install - Adobe Reader XI - x86 and click Next.

  8. On the Command Details page, in the Command Line text box, type msiexec /i AdbeRdr11000_eu_ES.msi /q, click Next twice, and then click Finish.

Figure 3. The Adobe Reader application added to the Deployment Workbench.

Step 5: Prepare the drivers repository

In order to deploy Windows 8.1 with MDT 2013 successfully, you need drivers for the boot images and for the actual operating system. This section will show you how to add drivers for the boot image and operating system, using the following hardware models as examples:

  • Lenovo ThinkPad T420

  • Dell Latitude E6440

  • HP EliteBook 8560w

  • Microsoft Surface Pro

For boot images, you need to have storage and network drivers; for the operating system, you need to have the full suite of drivers.

Note

You should only add drivers to the Windows PE images if the default drivers don’t work. Adding drivers that are not necessary will only make the boot image larger and potentially delay the download time.

Create the driver source structure in the file system

The key to successful management of drivers for MDT 2013, as well as for any other deployment solution, is to have a really good driver repository. From this repository, you import drivers into MDT 2013 for deployment, but you should always maintain the repository for future use.

  1. On MDT01, using File Explorer, create the E:\Drivers folder.

  2. In the E:\Drivers folder, create the following folder structure:

    1. WinPE x86

    2. WinPE x64

    3. Windows 8.1 x64

  3. In the new Windows 8.1 x64 folder, create the following folder structure:

    1. Dell

    2. Latitude E6440

    3. HP

    4. HP EliteBook 8560w

    5. Lenovo

    6. ThinkPad T420 (4178)

    7. Microsoft

    8. Surface with Windows 8 Pro

Note

Even if you are not going to use both x86 and x64 boot images, we still recommend that you add the support structure for future use.

Create the logical driver structure in MDT 2013

When you import drivers to the MDT 2013 driver repository, MDT creates a single instance folder structure based on driver class names. However, you can, and should, mimic the driver structure of your driver source repository in the Deployment Workbench. This is done by creating logical folders in the Deployment Workbench.

  1. On MDT01, using Deployment Workbench, select the Out-of-Box Drivers node.

  2. In the Out-Of-Box Drivers node, create the following folder structure:

    1. WinPE x86

    2. WinPE x64

    3. Windows 8.1 x64

  3. In the Windows 8.1 x64 folder, create the following folder structure:

    1. Dell Inc.

      1. Latitude E6440

    2. Hewlett-Packard

      1. HP EliteBook 8560w

    3. Lenovo

      1. 4178

    4. Microsoft

      1. Surface with Windows 8 Pro

The preceding folder names are selected because they match the actual make and model values that MDT reads from the machines during deployment. You can find out the model values for your machines via the following command in Windows PowerShell:

Get-WmiObject 
-Class:Win32_ComputerSystem

Or, you can use this command in a normal command prompt:

wmic csproduct get name

If you want a more standardized naming convention, try the ModelAliasExit.vbs script from the Deployment Guys blog post entitled Using and Extending Model Aliases for Hardware Specific Application Installation.

Figure 4. The Out-of-Box Drivers structure in Deployment Workbench.

Create the selection profiles for boot image drivers

By default, MDT 2013 adds any storage and network drivers that you import to the boot images. However, you should add only the drivers that are necessary to the boot image. You can control which drivers are added by using selection profiles.

The drivers that are used for the boot images (Windows PE 5.0) are Windows 8.1 drivers. If you can’t locate Windows 8.1 drivers for your device, a Windows 7 or Windows 8 driver will most likely work, but Windows 8.1 drivers should be your first choice.

  1. On MDT01, using the Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production node, expand the Advanced Configuration node, right-click the Selection Profiles node, and select New Selection Profile.

  2. In the New Selection Profile Wizard, create a selection profile with the following settings:

    1. Selection Profile name: WinPE x86

    2. Folders: Select the WinPE x86 folder in Out-of-Box Drivers.

  3. Again, right-click the Selection Profiles node, and select New Selection Profile.

  4. In the New Selection Profile Wizard, create a selection profile with the following settings:

    1. Selection Profile name: WinPE x64

    2. Folders: Select the WinPE x64 folder in Out-of-Box Drivers.

Figure 5. Creating the WinPE x64 selection profile.

Extract and import drivers for the x64 boot image

Windows PE 5.0 supports all the hardware models that we have, but here you learn to add boot image drivers to accommodate any new hardware that might require additional drivers. In this example, you add the latest Intel network drivers to the x64 boot image.

In these steps, we assume you have downloaded PROWinx64.exe from Intel.com and saved it to a temporary folder.

  1. Extract PROWinx64.exe to a temporary folder—in this example to the C:\Tmp\ProWinx64 folder.

  2. Using File Explorer, create the E:\Drivers\WinPE x64\Intel PRO1000 folder.

  3. Copy the content of the C:\Tmp\PROWinx64\PRO1000\Winx64\NDIS64 folder to the E:\Drivers\WinPE x64\Intel PRO1000 folder.

  4. Using Deployment Workbench, expand the Out-of-Box Drivers node, right-click the WinPE x64 node, and select Import Drivers. Use the following setting for the Import Drivers Wizard:

    1. Driver source directory: E:\Drivers\WinPE x64\Intel PRO1000

Figure 6. Deployment Workbench showing the imported Intel PRO1000 drivers.

Download, extract, and import drivers

For the ThinkPad T420

For the Lenovo T420 model, you use the Lenovo ThinkVantage Update Retriever software to download the drivers. With Update Retriever, you need to specify the correct Lenovo Machine Type for the actual hardware (the first four characters of the model name). As an example, the Lenovo T420 model has the 4178B9G model name, meaning the Machine Type is 4178.

To get the updates, you download the drivers from the Lenovo ThinkVantage Update Retriever using its export function. You can download the drivers from the Lenovo website.

In these steps, we assume you have downloaded and extracted the drivers using ThinkVantage Update Retriever v5.0 to the E:\Drivers\Lenovo\ThinkPad T420 (4178) folder.

  1. On MDT01, using the Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production node, expand the Out-Of-Box Drivers node, and expand the Lenovo node.

  2. Right-click the 4178 folder and select Import Drivers; use the following setting for the Import Drivers Wizard:

    1. Driver source directory: E:\Drivers\Windows 8.1 x64\Lenovo\ThinkPad T420 (4178)

For the Latitude E6440

For the Dell Latitude E6440 model, you use the Dell Driver CAB file, which is accessible via the Dell TechCenter website.

In these steps, we assume you have downloaded and extracted the CAB file for the Latitude E6440 model to the E:\Drivers\Dell\Latitude E6440 folder.

  1. On MDT01, using the Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production node, expand the Out-Of-Box Drivers node, and expand the Dell node.

  2. Right-click the Latitude E6440 folder and select Import Drivers; use the following setting for the Import Drivers Wizard:

    1. Driver source directory: E:\Drivers\Windows 8.1 x64\Dell\Latitude E6440

For the HP EliteBook 8560w

For the HP EliteBook 8560w, you use HP SoftPaq Download Manager to get the drivers. The HP SoftPaq Download Manager can be accessed on the HP Support site.

In these steps, we assume you have downloaded and extracted the drivers for the HP EliteBook 8650w model to the E:\Drivers\Windows 8.1 x64\HP\HP EliteBook 8560w folder.

  1. On MDT01, using the Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production node, expand the Out-Of-Box Drivers node, and expand the Hewlett-Packard node.

  2. Right-click the HP EliteBook 8560w folder and select Import Drivers; use the following setting for the Import Drivers Wizard:

    1. Driver source directory: E:\Drivers\Windows 8.1 x64\HP\HP EliteBook 8560w

For the Microsoft Surface Pro

For the Microsoft Surface Pro model, you find the drivers on the Microsoft website. In these steps we assume you have downloaded and extracted the Surface Pro drivers to the E:\Drivers\Windows8.1 x64\Microsoft\Surface with Windows 8 Pro folder.

  1. On MDT01, using the Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production node, expand the Out-Of-Box Drivers node, and expand the Microsoft node.

  2. Right-click the Surface with Windows 8 Pro folder and select Import Drivers; use the following setting for the Import Drivers Wizard:

    1. Driver source directory: E:\Drivers\Windows 8.1 x64\Microsoft\Surface with Windows 8 Pro

Step 6: Create the deployment task sequence

This section will show you how to create the task sequence used to deploy your production Windows 8.1 reference image. You will then configure the tasks sequence to enable patching via a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server.

Create a task sequence for Windows 8.1 Enterprise

  1. Using the Deployment Workbench, select Task Sequences in the MDT Production node, and create a folder named Windows 8.1.

  2. Right-click the new Windows 8.1 folder and select New Task Sequence. Use the following settings for the New Task Sequence Wizard:

    1. Task sequence ID: W81-X64-001

    2. Task sequence name: Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM Custom Image

    3. Task sequence comments: Production Image

    4. Template: Standard Client Task Sequence

    5. Select OS: Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM Custom Image

    6. Specify Product Key: Do not specify a product key at this time

    7. Full Name: Contoso

    8. Organization: Contoso

    9. Internet Explorer home page: about:blank

    10. Admin Password: Do not specify an Administrator Password at this time

Edit the Windows 8.1 task sequence

  1. Right-click the Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM Custom Image task sequence, and select Properties.

  2. On the Task Sequence tab, configure the Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM Custom Image task sequence with the following settings:

    1. Preinstall. After the Enable BitLocker (Offline) action, add a Set Task Sequence Variable action with the following settings:

      1. Name: Set DriverGroup001

      2. Task Sequence Variable: DriverGroup001

      3. Value: Windows 8.1 x64\%Make%\%Model%

    2. Configure the Inject Drivers action with the following settings:

      1. Choose a selection profile: Nothing

      2. Install all drivers from the selection profile

Note

The configuration above indicates that MDT should only use drivers from the folder specified by the DriverGroup001 property, which is defined by the “Choose a selection profile: Nothing” setting, and that MDT should not use plug and play to determine which drivers to copy, which is defined by the “Install all drivers from the selection profile” setting. 

3.  State Restore. Enable the **Windows Update (Pre-Application Installation)** action.  
      
4.  State Restore. Enable the **Windows Update (Post-Application Installation)** action.
  1. Click OK.

Figure 7. The task sequence for production deployment.

Step 7: Configure the MDT production deployment share

In this section, you will learn how to configure the MDT Build Lab deployment share with the rules required to create a simple and dynamic deployment process. This includes configuring commonly used rules and an explanation of how these rules work.

Note

In Windows PE 5.0, which MDT 2013 uses, you don’t need to set the scratch space size like you did in previous versions. Scratch space in Windows PE 5.0 is dynamic. For example, if you have 1 GB of RAM or more on the machine you are deploying, Windows PE 5.0 will automatically set 512 MB scratch space.

Configure the rules

  1. On MDT01, using File Explorer, copy the following files from the D:\Setup\Sample Files\MDT Production\Control folder to E:\MDTProduction\Control. Overwrite the existing files.

    1. Bootstrap.ini

    2. CustomSettings.ini

  2. Right-click the MDT Production deployment share and select Properties.

  3. Select the Rules tab and modify using the following information:

    [Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
_SMSTSORGNAME=Contoso
OSInstall=YES
UserDataLocation=AUTO
TimeZoneName=Pacific Standard Time 
AdminPassword=P@ssw0rd
JoinDomain=contoso.com
DomainAdmin=CONTOSO\MDT_JD
DomainAdminPassword=P@ssw0rd
MachineObjectOU=OU=Workstations,OU=Computers,OU=Contoso,DC=contoso,DC=com
SLShare=\\MDT01\Logs$
ScanStateArgs=/ue:*\* /ui:CONTOSO\*
USMTMigFiles001=MigApp.xml
USMTMigFiles002=MigUser.xml
HideShell=YES
ApplyGPOPack=NO
WSUSServer=mdt01.contoso.com:8530
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=NO
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
SkipDomainMembership=YES
SkipUserData=YES
SkipLocaleSelection=YES
SkipTaskSequence=NO
SkipTimeZone=YES
SkipApplications=NO
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipFinalSummary=NO

  4. Click Edit Bootstrap.ini and modify using the following information:

    [Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
DeployRoot=\\MDT01\MDTProduction$
UserDomain=CONTOSO
UserID=MDT_BA
SkipBDDWelcome=YES

  5. In the Windows PE tab, in the Platform drop-down list, make sure x86 is selected.

  6. In the General sub tab, configure the following settings:

    1. In the Lite Touch Boot Image Settings area:

      1. Image description: MDT Production x86

      2. ISO file name: MDT Production x86.iso

Note

Because you are going to use Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) later to deploy the machines, you don’t need the ISO file; however, we recommend creating ISO files because they are useful when troubleshooting deployments and for quick tests.

  1. In the Drivers and Patches sub tab, select the WinPE x86 selection profile and select the Include all drivers from the selection profile option.

  2. In the Windows PE tab, in the Platform drop-down list, select x64.

  3. In the General sub tab, configure the following settings:

    1. In the Lite Touch Boot Image Settings area:

      1. Image description: MDT Production x64

      2. ISO file name: MDT Production x64.iso

  4. In the Drivers and Patches sub tab, select the WinPE x64 selection profile and select the Include all drivers from the selection profile option.

  5. In the Monitoring tab, select the Enable monitoring for this deployment share check box.

  6. Click OK.

Note

It will take a while for the Deployment Workbench to create the monitoring database and web service.

Figure 8. The Windows PE tab for the x64 boot image.

The rules explained

The rules for the MDT Production deployment share are somewhat different from those for the MDT Build Lab deployment share. The biggest differences are that you deploy the machines into a domain instead of a workgroup and that you do not automate the logon.

The Bootstrap.ini file

This is the MDT Production Bootstrap.ini without the user credentials (except domain information):

[Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
DeployRoot=\\MDT01\MDTProduction$

UserDomain=CONTOSO
UserID=MDT_BA

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

The CustomSettings.ini file

This is the CustomSettings.ini file with the new join domain information:

[Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
_SMSTSORGNAME=Contoso
OSInstall=Y
UserDataLocation=AUTO
TimeZoneName=Pacific Standard Time 
AdminPassword=P@ssw0rd
JoinDomain=contoso.com
DomainAdmin=CONTOSO\MDT_JD
DomainAdminPassword=P@ssw0rd
MachineObjectOU=OU=Workstations,OU=Computers,OU=Contoso,DC=contoso,DC=com
SLShare=\\MDT01\Logs$
ScanStateArgs=/ue:*\* /ui:CONTOSO\*
USMTMigFiles001=MigApp.xml
USMTMigFiles002=MigUser.xml
HideShell=YES
ApplyGPOPack=NO
WSUSServer=http://mdt01.contoso.com:8530
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=NO
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
SkipDomainMembership=YES
SkipUserData=YES
SkipLocaleSelection=YES
SkipTaskSequence=NO
SkipTimeZone=YES
SkipApplications=NO
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipFinalSummary=NO
EventService=http://MDT01:9800

The additional properties to use in the MDT Production rules file are as follows:

  • JoinDomain. The domain to join.

  • DomainAdmin. The account to use when joining the machine to the domain.

  • DomainAdminDomain. The domain for the join domain account.

  • DomainAdminPassword. The password for the join domain account.

  • MachineObjectOU. The organizational unit (OU) to which to add the computer account.

  • ScanStateArgs. Arguments for the User State Migration Tool (USMT) ScanState command.

  • USMTMigFiles(*). List of USMT templates (controlling what to backup and restore).

  • EventService. Activates logging information to the MDT monitoring web service.

Optional deployment share configuration

If your organization has a Microsoft Software Assurance agreement, you also can subscribe to the additional Microsoft Desktop Optimization Package (MDOP) license (at an additional cost). Included in MDOP is Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT), which contains tools that can help you troubleshoot MDT deployments, as well as troubleshoot Windows itself.

Add DaRT 8.1 to the boot images

If you have licensing for MDOP and DaRT, you can add DaRT to the boot images using the steps in this section. If you don’t have DaRT licensing, or don’t want to use it, simply skip to the next section (“Update the Deployment Share”). To enable the remote connection feature in MDT 2013, you need to do the following:

  • Install DaRT 8.1 (part of MDOP 2013 R2).

  • Copy the two tools CAB files (Toolsx86.cab and Toolsx64.cab) to the deployment share

  • Configure the deployment share to add DaRT.

In these steps, we assume that you downloaded MDOP 2013 R2 and copied DaRT 8.1 to the E:\Setup\DaRT 8.1 folder on MDT01.

  1. On MDT01, install DaRT 8.1 (MSDaRT81.msi) using the default settings.

  2. Using File Explorer, navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft DaRT\v8.1 folder.

  3. Copy the Toolsx64.cab file to E:\MDTProduction\Tools\x64.

  4. Copy the Toolsx86.cab file to E:\MDTProduction\Tools\x86.

  5. Using the Deployment Workbench, right-click the MDT Production deployment share and select Properties.

  6. In the Windows PE tab, in the Platform drop-down list, make sure x86 is selected.

  7. In the Features sub tab, select the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) check box.

    Figure 9. Selecting the DaRT 8.1 feature in the deployment share.

  8. In the Windows PE tab, in the Platform drop-down list, select x64.

  9. In the Features sub tab, in addition to the default selected feature pack, select the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) check box.

  10. Click OK.

Update the deployment share

Like the MDT Build Lab deployment share, the MDT Production deployment share needs to be updated after it has been configured. This is the process during which the Windows PE boot images are created.

  1. Right-click the MDT Production deployment share and select Update Deployment Share.

  2. Use the default options for the Update Deployment Share Wizard.

Note

The update process will take 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 8: Deploy the Windows 8.1 client image

These steps will walk you throug the process of using task sequences to deploy Windows 8.1 images through a fully automated process. First, you need to add the boot image to Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and then start the deployment. In contrast with deploying images from the MDT Build Lab deployment share, we recommend using the Pre-Installation Execution Environment (PXE) to start the full deployments in the datacenter, even though you technically can use an ISO/CD or USB to start the process.

Configure Windows Deployment Services

You need to add the MDT Production Lite Touch x64 Boot image to WDS in preparation for the deployment. For the following steps, we assume that Windows Deployment Services has already been installed on MDT01.

  1. Using the WDS console, right-click Boot Images and select Add Boot Image.

  2. Browse to the E:\MDTProduction\Boot\LiteTouchPE_x64.wim file and add the image with the default settings.

Figure 10. The boot image added to the WDS console.

Deploy the Windows 8.1 client

At this point, you should have a solution ready for deploying the Windows 8.1 client. We recommend starting by trying a few deployments at a time until you are confident that your configuration works as expected. We find it useful to try some initial tests on virtual machines before testing on physical hardware. This helps rule out hardware issues when testing or troubleshooting. Here are the steps to deploy your Windows 8.1 image to a virtual machine:

  1. Create a virtual machine with the following settings:

    1. Name: PC0005

    2. Location: C:\VMs

    3. Generation: 2

    4. Memory: 2048 MB

    5. Hard disk: 60 GB (dynamic disk)

  2. Start the PC0005 virtual machine, and press Enter to start the PXE boot. The machine will now load the Windows PE boot image from the WDS server.

    Figure 11. The initial PXE boot process of PC0005.

  3. After Windows PE has booted, complete the Windows Deployment Wizard using the following setting:

    1. Password: P@ssw0rd

    2. Select a task sequence to execute on this computer: Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 RTM Custom Image

    3. Computer Name: PC0005

    4. Applications: Select the Install - Adobe Reader XI - x86 application.

  4. The setup now starts and does the following:

    1. Installs the Windows 8.1 Enterprise operating system.

    2. Installs the added application.

    3. Updates the operating system via your local Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server.

Figure 12. The Applications page in the Windows Deployment Wizard.

Use the MDT 2013 monitoring feature

Now that you have enabled the monitoring on the MDT Production deployment share, you can follow your deployment of PC0005 via the monitoring node.

  1. On MDT01, using Deployment Workbench, expand the MDT Production deployment share folder.

  2. Select the Monitoring node, and wait until you see PC0005.

  3. Double-click PC0005, and review the information.

Figure 13. The Monitoring node, showing the deployment progress of PC0005.

Use information in the Event Viewer

When monitoring is enabled, MDT also writes information to the event viewer on MDT01. This information can be used to trigger notifications via scheduled tasks when deployment is completed. For example, you can configure scheduled tasks to send an email when a certain event is created in the event log.

Figure 14. The Event Viewer showing a successful deployment of PC0005.

Multicast deployments

Multicast deployment allows for image deployment with reduced network load during simultaneous deployments. Multicast is a useful operating system deployment feature in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013 deployments, however it is important to ensure that your network supports it and is designed for it.

Requirements

Multicast requires that Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is running on Windows Server 2008 or later. In addition to the core MDT 2013 setup for multicast, the network needs to be configured to support multicast. In general, this means involving the organization networking team to make sure that Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping is turned on and that the network is designed for multicast traffic. The multicast solution uses IGMPv3.

Set up MDT 2013 for multicast

Setting up MDT 2013 for multicast is straightforward. You enable multicast on the deployment share, and MDT takes care of the rest.

  1. On MDT01, right-click the MDT Production deployment share folder and select Properties.

  2. In the General tab, select the Enable multicast for this deployment share (requires Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Deployment Services) check box, and click OK.

  3. Right-click the MDT Production deployment share folder and select Update Deployment Share.

  4. After updating the deployment share, use the Windows Deployment Services console to, verify that the multicast namespace was created.

Figure 15. The newly created multicast namespace.

Use offline media to deploy Windows 8.1

In addition to network-based deployments, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013 supports the use of offline media-based deployments of Windows 8.1. You can very easily generate an offline version of your deployment share—either the full deployment share or a subset of it—by the use of selection profiles. The generated offline media can be burned to a DVD or copied to a USB stick for deployment.

Offline media are useful not only when you don’t have network connectivity to the deployment share, but also when you have limited connection to the deployment share and don’t want to copy 5 GB of data over the wire. Offline media can still join the domain, but you save the transfer of operating system images, drivers, and applications over the wire.

Create the offline media selection profile

To filter what is being added to the media, you create a selection profile. When creating selection profiles, you quickly realize the benefits of having created a good logical folder structure in the Deployment Workbench.

  1. On MDT01, using Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production / Advanced Configuration node, right-click Selection Profile, and select New Selection Profile.

  2. Use the following settings for the New Selection Profile Wizard:

    1. General Settings

      1. Selection profile name: Windows 8.1 Offline Media

    2. Folders

      1. Applications / Adobe

      2. Operating Systems / Windows 8.1

      3. Out-Of-Box Drivers / WinPE x64

      4. Out-Of-Box Drivers / Windows 8.1 x64

      5. Task Sequences / Windows 8.1

Create the offline media

In these steps, you generate offline media from the MDT Production deployment share. To filter what is being added to the media, you use the previously created selection profile.

  1. On MDT01, using File Explorer, create the E:\MDTOfflineMedia folder.

Note

When creating offline media, you need to create the target folder first. It is crucial that you do not create a subfolder inside the deployment share folder because it will break the offline media.

  1. Using Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production / Advanced Configuration node, right-click the Media node, and select New Media.

  2. Use the following settings for the New Media Wizard:

    1. General Settings

      1. Media path: E:\MDTOfflineMedia

      2. Selection profile: Windows 8.1 Offline Media

Configure the offline media

Offline media has its own rules, its own Bootstrap.ini and CustomSettings.ini files. These files are stored in the Control folder of the offline media; they also can be accessed via properties of the offline media in the Deployment Workbench.

  1. On MDT01, using File Explorer, copy the CustomSettings.ini file from the E:\MDTBuildLab\Control folder to E:\MDTOfflineMedia\Content\Deploy\Control. Overwrite the existing files.

  2. Using Deployment Workbench, in the MDT Production / Advanced Configuration / Media node, right-click the MEDIA001 media, and select Properties.

  3. In the General tab, configure the following:

    1. Clear the Generate x86 boot image check box.

    2. ISO file name: Windows 8.1 Offline Media.iso

  4. Still in the Windows PE tab, in the Platform drop-down list, select x64.

  5. In the General sub tab, configure the following settings:

    1. In the Lite Touch Boot Image Settings area:

      1. Image description: MDT Production x64

    2. In the Windows PE Customizations area, set the Scratch space size to 128.

  6. In the Drivers and Patches sub tab, select the WinPE x64 selection profile and select the Include all drivers from the selection profile option.

  7. Click OK.

Generate the offline media

You have now configured the offline media deployment share however the share has not yet been populated with the files required for deployment. Now everything is ready you populate the deployment share content folder and generate the offline media ISO.

  1. On MDT01, using Deployment Workbench, navigate to the MDT Production / Advanced Configuration / Media node.

  2. Right-click the MEDIA001 media, and select Update Media Content. The Update Media Content process now generates the offline media in the E:\MDTOfflineMedia\Content folder.

Create a bootable USB stick

The ISO that you got when updating the offline media item can be burned to a DVD and used directly (it will be bootable), but it’s often more efficient to use USB sticks instead since they are faster and can hold more data. (A dual-layer DVD is limited to 8.5 GB.)

Follow these steps to create a bootable USB stick from the offline media content:

  1. On a physical machine running Windows 8.1 (or Windows 7), insert the USB stick you want to use.

  2. Copy the content of the MDTOfflineMedia\Content folder to the root of the USB stick.

  3. Start an elevated command prompt (run as Administrator), and start the Diskpart utility by typing Diskpart and pressing Enter.

  4. In the Diskpart utility, you can type list volume (or the shorter list vol) to list the volumes, but you really only need to remember the drive letter of the USB stick to which you copied the content. In our example, the USB stick had the drive letter F.

  5. In the Diskpart utility, type select volume F (replace F with your USB stick drive letter).

  6. In the Diskpart utility, type active, and then type exit.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based deployments

As referenced in Windows Deployment Scenarios and Tools, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based deployments are becoming more common. In fact, when you create a generation 2 virtual machine in Hyper-V, you get a UEFI-based computer. During deployment, MDT 2013 automatically detects that you have an UEFI-based machine and creates the partitions UEFI requires. You do not need to update or change your task sequences in any way to accommodate UFEI.

Figure 16. The partitions when deploying an UEFI-based machine.