Operating System Deployment
The purpose of Operating System Deployment (also known as OSD in short form) is to create
reference image and to deploy the reference images to target computers with /without other
core applications you want.
There are various applications available to make use of Operating System Deployment such
as:
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MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) – Which is also known is LTI (Lite Touch
Installation)
SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) – Operating System Deployment
feature of SCCM can be used for OSD with or without MDT, also known as ZTI (Zero
Touch Installation)
WDS (Windows Deployment Services) – It can be used in conjunction with
MDT/SCCM. Most of the time its purpose is to provide PXE capability in the
environment which used to host Boot Images.
Before we dig into OSD and other stuff, lets get familiar with the terms used with it. For any
sort of setup whether MDT or SCCM, WAIK is the main component on which OSD is
dependent upon.
WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit)
It is a collection of tools made by Microsoft to deploy Operating System images, creation of
reference image and various tools to enhance its feature. You can deploy images up to
Windows 7/2008 Server. But if you want to deploy Windows 8/8.1 / 2012 Server, new tool
has been introduced by Microsoft ie Windows ADK (Windows Assessment and Deployment
Kit). Following tools are part of WAIK:
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WSIM (Windows System Image Manager)
It is used to manage image distribution. It is used to create unattended Windows Setup
answer files (used to create unattend.xml which is a core component while installing
OS)
ImageX
Create and modify Windows images (WIM)
DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management)
Modify an image with updates and drivers
Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment)
A minimal boot OS which takes you to screen for selection of Task Sequence to
execute
OSCDIMG
Command line creation of ISO files
DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management )
Used to provide offline servicing of image such as apply updates, drivers, and language
packs
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User State Migration Tool
- Migrate user information between OS versions
WAIK installs the Deployment tools command prompt from where you can run above
mentioned all commands by setting appropriate path for windows.
WAIK,MDT can be installed on Windows 7.
Ghost – sector base format, sector by image sector, it is sector by sector. You capture the whole
drive. (Definition here given just to compare it with WIM as we have lots of benefit using WIM)
WIM (Windows Image Format File)
It’s a file base format. Image captured from reference image create a file with .wim extension
which is a file format consist of compressed files and folders which is equivalent to zip files
with .zip extension.
Advantage is: what files we want to capture. Capture using imagex wont capture hibernate
files, paging file. We don’t need these file, this is the main advantage. You can immediately
access the content of the hard drive. It captures the file and compress it in a single file. Benefit
of using WIM file to create reference image is that it can be modified later on unlike ghost
(which wasn’t been able to modify and requires to capture again if any changes were
required). You can use ImageX, DISM command line utilities available to mount the WIM and
inject any file/folder or other stuff and then unmount, save it hence saving your time by
avoiding recapturing the image.
ImageX Usage:
Sharing one example showing command line to capture a operating System when you are in
WinPE.
D:\imagex.exe /capture C:
C:\reference\myWin7Referenceimage.wim "My Reference Image"
/compress fast /verify
(where D drive is the boot drive, C Drive is where OS is installed, and
myWin7Referenceimage.wim is the wim which is going to be saved in c:\reference folder)
Task Sequence
It is a series of steps which is used to create reference image and deploy the images in
environment. Task Sequences are not just limited to Operating System Deployments, but it
can be used for deploying packages through SCCM.
Lets start with requirement of