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Questions tagged [wds]

Windows Deployment Services. A technology from Microsoft for network-based installation of Windows operating systems based on PXE.

Windows Deployment Services is a technology from Microsoft for network-based installation of Windows operating systems. It is the successor to Remote Installation Services. WDS is intended to be used for remotely deploying Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, but also supports other operating systems because unlike its predecessor RIS, which was a method of automating the installation process, WDS uses disk imaging, in particular the Windows Imaging Format (WIM). WDS is included as a Server Role in all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012 and is included as an optionally installable component with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Deployment_Services

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Remote Administration Console for Windows Deployment Services

Whenever we deploy a new machine via PXE and WDS, I have to log on to our Sever 2008 R2 WDS server via Remote Desktop to approve the machine. This is annoying, and as we should all know, logging on to a server should be avoided where ever…
Mark Henderson
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What happens if you don't sysprep an image?

I've been researching WDS and other imaging tools, and the best practice seems to be to sysprep the master machine before imaging. However, where I've been working they simply build a machine then use Ghost to create an image. I asked them about…
Eric Haskins
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Where can i find the latest unattended.xml schema (xsd)?

I'm working with Windows Server 2012, Windows Deployment Service (WDS), and Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). I created a base unattended.xml file. When I go to edit in an xml editor it's actually a bit annoying since I don't have an…
myermian
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How do I add unsigned 64 bit drivers to WDS

Windows Deployment Services on 2008 R2. I'm trying to add a 64 bit driver package. Dell provides the drivers but they are unsigned. WDS does not allow adding unsigned 64 bit drivers. Is it possible to override this requirement and add them anyway,…
Sandy
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Unable to perform an unattended domain join using WDS and an answer file on Windows 8.1

I've already looked through the other questions related to this and none of them were able to help me. I've already spent several days on this damned unattended process and, miraculously, I was able to get it to work ONCE yesterday but, alas, I did…
Mat
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How can I run a PowerShell script during the specialize pass of a WDS deploy?

I'm setting up Windows Deployment Services (WDS) for Windows Server 2012 unattended deployments using the default boot.wim file found on the install media. I have a PowerShell script that performs automated customisations for our site. I want this…
snoweagle
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Windows 7 unattended install and disk/partition wiping

Im currently having a problem when trying to setup an unattended install of windows 7. When the hard drive has no partitions the install goes fine. However if the hard drive has any existing partitions, it throws up an error message saying it can't…
Chris
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Windows Deployment Server and Re-Re-Imaging via PXE Boot

I'm just getting the hang of trying to configure/use Windows Deployment Services (WDS) to image Windows 7 workstations on our network. I have the WDS server configured so any machine can request an image, but the administrator must authorize the…
Bart Silverstrim
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WDS 2012 R2 Server

Background: WDS Server 2012 R2 (runs on a 2012 R2 Hyper-v server), DHCP server runs on a different server in a different physical LAN. Both Lans go into the same Layer3 switch. Currently all my clients that are using PXE boot are on the same LAN as…
veel84
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Using WDS to image a virtual machine using PXE boot fails, suspect issue is in WDS configuration

I'm trying to convert a site imaging procedure from (install old image, update image, recapture image) to (have image on VM, update, snapshot, sysprep, capture, roll back to the snapshot). The first step of this, of course, is to put the existing…
user228118
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Capture Windows Updates in a .wim so that it can be redeployed

I am researching a new workstation deployment strategy for my company. As it stands right now we are building every workstation by hand and this takes massive amounts of time. The step that takes absolutely the longest is Windows Updates. I…
user89350
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What settings need to change if I change the name of a MDT/WDS server?

I recently ran into an issue where my Windows Deployment Services server stopped working after changing the name of the server. After looking around, I didn't really find a good answer for what settings need to be updated if you change the name of…
Windows Ninja
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Am I misunderstanding the purpose of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and WDS?

I am not sure if I am confused as to the purpose of MDT. We need to deploy a standard Windows 7 build to about 100 new computers, and more as time goes on. Having followed a whole bunch of documentation, tutorials and white-papers etc, it seems that…
Cylindric
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PXE-E32 TFTP Open Timeout While Attempting to PXE Boot from Windows Deployment Services

I'm running Windows Deployment Services on Windows Server 2008 R2 on top of an ESX 4.0 box. This is the only function of this VM instance, although it had previously functioned as an AD Domain Controller. My DHCP server is running on our primary…
bjschafer
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On Server 2016, can i set up a cluster and install MDT so that MDT is highly available?

I am tasked with setting up a MDT server for deploying OS to 25000 endpoints. Is it possible for me set up clustering and then install MDT so MDT is HA. I am also planning to host the deployment share on a clustered HA file share.
Tongshen Yong
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