Windows deployment service FAQs

Content of this topic:

General

• What has happened to RIS?
• What is the change in "single-instance storage?
• Can I use Windows to deploy services on a virtual computer, especially multicast?

Start image and install Image

• What is the difference between the installation image and the startup image?
• What are the old image nodes in the MMC management unit?
• How do I maintain my boot image and installation image?

Configuration

• Can I deploy multiple Windows service servers on the network?
• What permissions are required for configuration?
• Why do we need two unattended files?
• Can I protect my users by asking them to log in before they have the chance to reformat their hard drive?

Diagnosis

• What logs can I view when solving the problem?
• How to enable logging?

Common Tasks

• How to copy an image?
• How can I add a computer to a domain?
• How do I set the computer name?
• How to Use WDSMCast to transmit other types of files?

What happens to regular RIS?

The Windows deployment service is an updated version of the Remote Installation Service (RIS. The Windows deployment service contains some modifications to the RIS function. Windows Server also includes modifications from Windows deployment service updates. you can install the update on a computer running Windows server. The following table describes the modifications.

Changes to RIS

Changes to the Windows deployment service on Windows Server2003

You can deploy Windows Vista and Windows Server2008 Windows PE is the operating system Use the Windows Image (. wim) file for image-based Installation You can use Multicast Transmission to transmit data and images. See how to create multicast transmission) You can use the multicast namespace on an independent server to transfer data and images) PXE servers with higher scalability and Performance Select the new boot menu format for the Boot Image Allows you to select and deploy images and manage new guis for deploying service servers and clients in Windows.

You can use Multicast Transmission to transmit data and images. See how to create multicast transmission) You can use the multicast namespace on an independent server to transfer data and images) RISETUP image or OSChooser screen not supported Enhanced TFTP Server You can start x64-based computers with extensible firmware interfaces (EFI) over the network. For the installed metric value report, see logging and tracking)

What is the change in "single-instance storage?

The Windows deployment service does not use the "single-instance storage" feature in RIS. On the contrary, the Windows deployment service shares file resources in each image group and the metadata of each image is located separately. wim file. Image Storage further uses the concept of splitting. wim images by creating a split media set consisting of two files:

• Only the "null". wim file defined by the image is included.
• The Res. rwm file that contains all file resources of all images in the image group. Data in Res. rwm is a single instance and is compressed. Therefore, the storage service of a single instance is no longer needed. In fact, deploying services in Windows greatly reduces the size of images stored in the Image Group on the disk, and is more effective than the storage mechanism used in RIS.

Can I use Windows to deploy services on a virtual computer, especially multicast?

The Windows deployment service should work on a virtual computer. However, this usually reduces performance, especially in the download phase of Common File Transfer Protocol (TFTP. This phase will occupy a large amount of resources. If the available resources on the host computer are insufficient, the operation may fail.

What is the difference between the startup image and the installation image?

The installation image is the operating system image deployed on the client computer. The boot image is an image that directs the client computer to the operating system for installation. The boot image contains the Windows PE and Windows deployment service clients. This client is mainly Windows Vista Setup.exe and its support files for Window deployment services ). You can use either Windows Vista or Windows Server2008 to include a standard boot image in \ Sources \ boot. wim) without any modifications. However, the Boot. wim used must match or be updated later than the operating system of the installation image. For example, if you want to install Windows Vista, you must use the Boot Image in Windows Server2008 media; you cannot use Boot. wim in Windows Vista media. You can also create custom boot images. For more information, see create an image.

What is an old image node in MMC?

In the MMC Management Unit of the Windows deployment serviceOld ImageThe node contains any RIS image left after the computer running Windows Server2003 is upgraded. If the computer is not upgraded, the node is empty and is of no use to you.

How do I maintain my boot image and installation image?

The following steps describe some common tasks that may be performed on the image. For more steps, see how to manage images.

Steps for modifying and re-importing an image

1. Open the Windows deployment service MMC snap-in, right-click the image, and select"Disabled". This operation will allow you to continue with the existing installation, but the new client will not be able to install the image.
2. Right-click the image, and then click"Export image".
3. Use tools included in Windows AIK to modify the image.
4. Assuming that all the installations using the tool have been completed, right-click the image, and then click"Replace image". Then browse to the updated version and continue the rest of the wizard.

Force RIPREP image to perform local Conversion

When converting a RIPREP image offline, you can force the RIPREP image to perform local conversion, which reduces the time and disk space used during the conversion. Can be used in combination/InPlaceOptions andWDSUTIL/Convert-RiprepImageCommand to complete the operation. Multiple variants of a RIPREP image are only distinguished by HAL type on the same server. You can useWDSUTIL/Convert-RiprepImageCommand/Overwrite: AppendOption to reduce the conversion time by using the single-instance Technology in. wim format. Additional operations are faster than traditional capturing because they can avoid compression and insertion of existing files in. wim. Files that are the same between images and already exist in the. wim file will only increase the reference count to indicate that the single file belongs to multiple images in. wim. The general conversion process is to first convert the first RIPREP image in the set by creating a new. wim file. Then, by attaching the remaining RIPREP images in the set to another HAL type) to the previously created. wim for conversion. For more information, see create an image.

To export the stored image to a separate. wim

Use MMC

Use WDSUTIL

Right-click Start or install image, and then click"Export image". In the dialog box, select the file name to export the image.

For the startup image, run the commandWDSUTIL/Verbose/Progress/Export-Image/Image: <Name>/ImageType: Boot/Architecture: {x86 | x64 | ia64}/DestinationImage/Filepath: <path and file name>. For the installation image, run the commandWDSUTIL/Verbose/Progress/Export-Image/Image: <Name>/ImageType: Install/ImageGroup: <Image Group Name>/DestinationImage/Filepath: <path and file name>. To set these metadata fields on the image/Name: <Name>Or/Description: <Description>Attach to command. To use/DestinationImageIf the specified image already exists, Set/Overwrite: {Yes | No | Append}Attach to command.YesWill overwrite the image,NoWill cause errors in this process,AppendAttaches a new image to an existing. wim file. Please note that,AppendOnly images can be installed.

Can I deploy multiple Windows service servers on the network?

Yes. For more information, see manage complex environments [role only].

What permissions are required for configuration?

For more information about required permissions, see required permissions.

Why do we need two unattended files?

Two unattended files are required because Windows deployment service client can deploy two image types: Windows Vista images in the Unattend. xml format and Windows XP and Windows Server2003 images using the Sysprep. inf file. The two files that must be created automatically by the installer are as follows:

• Windows deployment service client unattended File. This file is stored in the \ WDSClientUnattend folder of the Windows Deployment Server in the Unattend. xml format. Run this file to automatically complete the user interface screen for deploying the service client on Windows, for example, entering creden。, selecting the installation image, and configuring the disk ).
• Image unattended File. This file uses the Unattend. xml or Sysprep. inf format, depending on the operating system version in the image ). This file is used to configure unattended installation options during Windows Installation and is stored in a $ OEM $ structure or \ Unattend sub-folder in each image folder. Used to automatically complete the remaining stages of installation, such as offline processing, Sysprep exclusive, and minimal installation ).

For more information, see PERFORM unattended installation.

Can I protect my users by asking them to log in before they have the chance to reformat their hard drive?

The following operations do not require any permissions:

• There is no mechanism for starting the client to PXE to ensure the security of the network startup process ).
• Selecting a boot image does not have any mechanism to ensure the security of the listed boot images ).

For security considerations, we recommend that you use the physical Windows PE media to start each client computer. The first authentication mechanism installed on the network is displayed when you run the service client deployed on Windows PE. In this case, you must enter the creden。 to select the installation image. These creden must be the creden of the domain account. After the client passes authentication on the Windows server, the authenticated user must be able to read the Image. wim and Res. rwm files from the RemoteInstall folder. By default, Authenticated Users have the necessary permissions to perform this operation. For more information, see the "Client installation permissions" section in the required permissions.

Which logs can be viewed during troubleshooting?

You can view various logs when solving the problem. For a complete list of logs, see logging and tracing.

How to enable logging?

For more information about how to enable logging, see logging and tracing.

Common Tasks

The following section describes the types of common tasks. For a wider list, see how to perform common tasks.

How to copy an image?

To copy the installation image, run the following command:WDSUTIL/Copy-Image/Image: <Name>/ImageType: Install/ImageGroup: <Image Group Name>/DestinationImage/Name: <Name>/Filename: <File Name> [/Description: <Description>].

How can I add a computer to a domain?

For more information about this topic, see the "add domains and name computers" section for unattended installation. To use WDSUTIL to pre-arrange the client computer to join the domain, Perform one of the following operations:

• To enable the user to add the client computer to the domain once, run the commandWDSUTIL/Set-Device/Device: <Name>/User: <User>/JoinRights: JoinOnly/JoinDomain: Yes/Domain: <Domain>/ResetAccountWhere <user> is a domain \ user or user @ domain. <Name> is the name of the device. <Domain> is the name of the domain.
• To enable the user to add the client computer to the domain at any time, run the commandWDSUTIL/Set-Device/Device: <Name>/User: <User>/JoinRights: Full/JoinDomain: Yes/Domain: <Domain>.
• To add a client computer to a domain without any user permission, run the commandWDSUTIL/Set-Device/Device: <Name>/JoinDomain: Yes/Domain: <Domain>.

How do I set the computer name?

To specify a policy for generating the name of the client computer, use one of the following methods. For more information about this topic, see the "add domains and name computers" section for unattended installation.

Use MMC

Use WDSUTIL

Right-click the server name, and then click"Attribute". In"Directory Service"Tab, enter the naming policy in the specified field.

Open the Command Prompt window with elevated permissions. RunWDSUTIL/Set-Server/NewMachineNamingPolicy: <Policy>The rule string works as follows: % First: User Name % Last: the Last name of the user. % Username: User Name % MAC: the MAC address of the computer % N #: an incremental n-digit number. For example,% 2 #Numbers are added to the computer name in the following order: 1, 2, 3,... 99. % 0n #: an increasing n-digit number. The value is increased by zero before the number. For example,% 02 #Numbers: 01, 02, 03,... 99 will be added to the computer name in the following order. These values can be combined in any order. The number before marking a string such as % 3 First or % 5 Username indicates cropping the string to this length. For example:% 61 Username % #EqualJohnSmi12 % 2first. % lastEqualJo. Smith

How to Use WDSMCast to transmit other types of files?

The following procedure describes how to use WDSMCast to transmit data.

1. Install the transport server role service.
2. Use/ConfigStringOption to point to the file to be transferred to create a multicast namespace. For example, if you want to transfer a file in C: \ database. mdb/ConfigStringSetC: \ database.
3. Use the Windows automatic installation kit (AIK) to create an image containing Windows PE and Wdsmcast.
4. Boot the client to this image, for example, using a PXE, CD-ROM, or USB drive ).
5. Run the relative path with the namespace and pointing to the file in this example, Database. mdb)Wdsmcast/transferfileCommand.

For more information about this process, see use a transport server.

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