IMPLEMENTATION OF WINDOWS DEPLOYMENT SERVICES (WDS) ON WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2 – DAY 2

We have finished our WDS server installation before and today we are going to add install and boot images to the server. Then we will install operating system to the client computers over network connection. We are going to use WDS administrative interface for this purpose.

Before mentioning about the administrative interface,  want to talk about what is newly come with Windows Server 2008 R2 version WDS. My favorite improvement is the Drivers menu. With this improvement, we can integrate network or storage drivers into boot images via WDS administrative interface. We don’t need any additional software. Here is the detailed comparison of WDS versions:

Table 2: Comparison of WDS versions

And now we can talk about the administrative interface. There are 5 folders on the left side as it is seen in Figure 1. These are: Install Images, Boot Images, Pending Devices, Multicast Transmission and Drivers. We can add the Operating System images that we will deploy to client machines into the Install Images folder. The image can be as simple as the install.wim file (which is located in Windows 7 installation DVD) but also can be a wim image file of an already installed Windows XP operating system client (this is another article subject).

Figure 1: WDS adminisrative interface

Boot Images folder is for the images that serve as an installation interface to the client machines. What i mean here is, when client machines boot from network connection, an installation interface  will be seen which is served by those images from Boot Images folder. Pending Devices folder lists the client machines which are waiting for an approval. Multicasting Transmission folder (as it’s name implies) is where we configure the multicasting feature (for install and boot images). The last one is the Drivers folder and we can integrate drivers to boot images via this folder.

Lets add an install image from Windows 7 DVD. We right click the Install Images folder and select “Add Install Image” from the menu (Figure 2). We create a new group (named Windows7group) and press the Next button (Figure 3). The next screen is Image File screen and we find the install.wim file in Windows 7 DVD (under \Sources folder) and press Next button (Figure 4).

Figure 2: Add Install Image

Figure 3: Creation of new install image group

Figure 4: Install.wim file

The following screen is listing the operating systems which are found in DVD (Figure 5). We select the operating system that we want to deploy from the list and press Next button.

Figure 5: Image selection

After pressing Next button on the Summary screen, WDS controls the integrity of the image file and add it under the Install Images folder. After the addition, we press the Finish button and end the wizard (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Ending the wizard

If it is required, other images can be added by following the same steps. When we look at the WDS administrative interface, we can see the folder structure that the wizard created (Figure 7). By the way, the image is located under C:\RemoteInstall\Images folder (Figure 8).

Figure 7: Install Images folder structure

Figure 8: The folder that the image files are located in

Now it is time to add a boot image to our WDS server. The duty of this image is serving as an installation interface to the client computers which are booting through network connection. For this purpose, we right click the Boot Images folder and select “Add Boot Image” from the menu (Figure 9). We find the boot.wim image file in Windows 7 DVD (under \Sources folder) and press Next button. In the next “Image Metadata” screen, we give a descriptive name to the image (Figure 10) and press Next button. This name will be seen during the installation process via network.

Figure 9: “Add Boot Image” command

Figure 10: Description for boot image

We press the Next button on Summary screen and WDS starts to check the integrity of the image. After addition of the image, we press the Finish button and end the wizard. For other infrastructures (or for other purposes), different boot images can be added by following the same steps.

After all these configurations and additions of images, we finally have a working and ready to serve WDS server. Now we can install operating system to client computers via network connection. But (as it is always) there are some requirements that the client computers must meet and here they are:

a)      Computer must be PXE-boot capable

b)      The user that installs te client must be in Domain Users group

c)       Client computer must have 512MB RAM

d)      Client computer must meet the operating system minimum requirements

For installing operating system, we have to follow these steps:

a)    Configure the BIOS of the computer to enable PXE booting, and set the boot order so that it is booting from the network first.

b)   Restart the computer, and when prompted, press F12 to start the network boot.

c)    Select the appropriate boot image from the boot menu. (This boot image selection menu will be available only if you have two or more boot images on the server.)

d)   Follow the instructions in the Windows Deployment Services user interface.

e)   When the installation is completed, the computer will restart and Setup will continue.

That is all for now. I hope it is helpful to you. See you next time. Bye.

Related Posts

1. WDS Installation (Windows Server 2008 R2) – Day1
2. Windows XP installation using Windows Server 2008 R2 WDS
3. Unattended Installation of Windows 7, imaging and deploying it via WDS – 2