Deploy to a Remotely Controlled Computer

A remotely controlled computer is a computer without a monitor, a keyboard, or a mouse (also called a headless computer). Because remotely controlled computers must be connected to a network, there are additional networking configurations that you must enable, such as enabling ports in the firewall and enabling remote desktop connections. Unattended installations are required for this type of computer configuration.

The instructions in this topic do not display Windows Welcome user interface pages in Windows Server® 2008. If you want to prevent Windows Welcome user interface screens in Windows Vista®, see "Settings to Use for Automating Windows Welcome" in the Windows Unattended Setup Reference.

To Create an Answer File for a Remotely Controlled Computer

1. Create a new answer file or update your existing answer file.
   For more information about creating or updating an answer file, see Work with Answer Files in Windows SIM.
   If you are creating an answer file for a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based computer, you must create additional partitions in your answer file. For more information, see Create an Answer File for UEFI-based Computers. You must also ensure that the firmware of your EFI-based computer is configured to boot to EFI mode, and not to BIOS mode. Consult your firmware documentation for more information.

2. Add the following settings to your answer file in the listed configuration pass.

Component	Configuration Pass
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE	windowsPE
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/DiskConfiguration	windowsPE
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/UserData	windowsPE
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/ImageInstall	windowsPE
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup	specialize
Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager	specialize
Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-RDP-WinStationExtensions	specialize
Networking-MPSSVC-Svc\FirewallGroup	specialize
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup/OOBE	oobeSystem
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup/UserAccounts/AdministratorPassword	oobeSystem
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core	oobeSystem

Configure the windowsPE Settings

1. Configure the language setting in the Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE component.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE/SetupUILanguage	UILanguage=language
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE	UILanguage=language

2. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-Setup node with the following setting.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Setup	EnableNetwork=false Set this value to True if you are using a network share during unattended installation.

3. Configure the disk partitions by using the Microsoft-Windows-Setup component. Right-click DiskConfiguration, and then select Insert New Disk.

4. In the DiskConfiguration node, right-click CreatePartitions, and then select Create new Partition.

5. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-Setup/DiskConfiguration node with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/DiskConfiguration/Disk	WillWipeDisk=true DiskID=0 Modify these values if you are deploying to a different hard disk configuration.
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/DiskConfiguration/Disk/CreatePartitions/CreatePartition	Order=1 Extend=true Type=Primary Modify these values if you are deploying to a different hard disk configuration.

Note

If you are creating an answer file for a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based computer, you must create additional partitions in your answer file. For more information, see Create an Answer File for UEFI-based Computers.

6. In the Microsoft-Windows-Setup component, expand the ImageInstall, and then expand the OSImage node.

7. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-Setup/ImageInstall/OSImage node with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/ImageInstall/OSImage/InstallTo	DiskID=disk PartitionID=partition

8. Right-click InstallFrom, and then select Insert New MetaData.

9. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-Setup/ImageInstall/OSImage/InstallFrom/MetaData node with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/ImageInstall/OSImage/InstallFrom/MetaData	Key=image metadata identifier Value=image metadata value For example, Key=/IMAGE/INDEX Value=2

10. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-Setup/UserData node with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/UserData/ProductKey	ProductKey/Key=product_key ProductKey/WillShowUI=Never
Microsoft-Windows-Setup/UserData	AcceptEula=true

Configure the specialize Settings

1. Configure Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup	ComputerName=computername

2. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager component with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager	fDenyTSConnections=false

3. Configure the Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-RDP-WinStationExtensions component with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-RDP-WinStationExtensions	UserAuthentication=0

4. In the answer file pane, right-click FirewallGroups, and then select Insert new Firewall Group.

5. Configure the Firewall Group with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Networking-MPSSVC-Svc\FirewallGroups\FirewallGroup	Active=true Group=Remote Desktop Key=EnableRemoteDesktop Profile=all

Configure the oobeSystem Settings

1. Configure Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup/UserAccounts/AdministratorPassword	Value=password
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup/OOBE	HideEULAPage=true

2. Configure Microsoft-Windows-International-Core with the following settings.

Component Path	Setting and Value
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core	InputLocale=language SystemLocale= language UILanguage= language UserLocale=language

You are now ready to install your Windows image.

Note

If you run Sysprep /generalize on your Windows image, some settings that are required to prevent user interface pages from displaying might be reset. When the computer boots after the generalize process, the installation might display Windows Welcome user interface pages. To prevent the user interface pages from displaying, use an answer file with Sysprep to hide the user interface pages during Windows Welcome. For more information, see "Settings to Use for Automating Windows Welcome" in the Unattended Windows Setup Reference. For more information about using an answer file with Sysprep, see How Sysprep Works.