I have been in talks with several people about this and can't find an answer anywhere!  It's getting to be a real headache for me too.  Granted, i don't need this feature yet, but down the road, this will be something very handy to have.

I just recently made a move to MDT2008.  I was lucky and had the luxury of utilizing a whole different server, incase i screwed something up. So MDT, WDS, the server itself, and SQL 2005 are all fresh installs on my server.  I have various things in MDT setup already, like an image in the Operating Systems, Applications, Out of Box Drivers, 1 Task Sequence, 2 deployment points (LAB and another i called DEPLOY), and my current problem, the Database.

I am trying to deploy my images by utilizing the Make and Model Database (for now).  I then plan on also utilizing the Computers Database too so i can further drill down settings by SN or MAC.  I have had quite a time with trying to get the deployment process to see my database entry.  I currently have 1, for a Dell Latitude D830.  Right now i have SQL 2005 installed on my MDT server, but also have a database on another server with SQL 2000, both give me the same problems, but I think i'm getting better results with the 2005 server so far.

Here's what i've done - I will only list steps taken since i installed SQL 2005:

1. Installed SQL 2005 and updated to SP2
2. Opened SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and created a database called Deployment
3. Right-clicked on Database in Deployment Workbench and selected new
4. Entered in my server name, Named Pipes was selected, then selected to Create tables in existing database, and selected Deployment (the one i created in SSMS)
5. Then Created my Make and Model entry for a Dell Inc. Latitude D830, and set the following settings:  BuildID=D830, DriverGroup=D830, OSInstall=YES, SkipBDDWelcome=YES, SkipBuild=YES, SkipSummary=YES, AND just incase those didn't show during deployment i also added: SkipComputerName=YES, and ComputerName=TEST
6. Then went back to SQL and enabled Named Pipes
7. Tried a Deployment - No go... All the Wizard screens that i set to skip showed, and my computer name didn't change
8. Followed this article:  http://209.34.241.68/benhunter/archive/2007/07/10/bdd-2007-troubleshooting-database-issues.aspx
9. Copied all 4 files it states to my imaged laptop, and ran ztigather.wsf in debug mode.  I get the following error:  

   OPENING TRUSTED SQL CONNECTION to server mySQLServer.

   Connecting to SQL Server using connect string: Provider=SQLOLEDB;OLE DB Services=0;Data Source=wdm-tsdb;Initial Catalog=IMAGING;Network Library=DBNMPNTW;Integrated Security=SSPI

   ZTI error opening SQL Connection: [DBNETLIB][ConnectionOpen (Connect()).]SQL Server does not exist or access denied. (-2147467259)

   Unable to establish database connection using [MMSETTINGS] properties.

10. So I then made a MANUAL connection to the server (Start|Run, \\mySQLServer, and entered credentials of the Domain account i'm using)  Then ran the debug again...  It worked!

11. Then i found out i can use DBID= and DBPWD= and just supply the necesary credentials.  I do this but i still get an error:

    OPENING STANDARD SECURITY SQL CONNECTION to server mySQLServer using login DOMAIN\deploy.

    Connecting to SQL Server using connect string: Provider=SQLOLEDB;OLE DB Services=0;Data Source=mySQLServer;Initial Catalog=Deployment;Network Library=DBNMPNTW;User ID=DOMAIN\deploy;Password=deploypassword

    ZTI error opening SQL Connection: Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\deploy'. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection. (-2147467259)

    Unable to establish database connection using [MMSETTINGS] properties.

12. I then Googled the error i got and found out that i need to set the authentication mode on the SQL Server to 'SQL Server and Windows Authentication Mode'.  I do that and get the following error:  

    ZTI error opening SQL Connection: Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\deploy'. (-2147217843)

13. I then Google that message... Can't find a lot on it.. but it dawns on me that maybe i need to somehow add that user to the SQL Server.  I do this by going to SSMS and to Security, then to Logins, i add the user, associate it with my Deployment Database (not sure if i did this right), and try again, still errors.

14. I then add another user... a local user SQL user (not Windows User), named Deploy with the same password, associate it the same way to the Deployment Database, and change my DBID in the customsettings.ini to just 'deploy' not 'DOMAIN\deploy'.  this works!

15. Try to do a deployment PXE boot and try it with those new credentials in the DBID and DBPWD.  Still the same as before... i see all the wizard pages that should be skipped and the computer name didn't change.

16. I'm told this should work with the UserID variable i have set in bootsector.ini, which is the domain user of deploy.  Doesn't work!

Thanks in advance!!!

Thanks for the response Konrad -

I just checked the logs... nothing really too unusual... the only error that seems to appear is:  

Login failed for user 'KIESLING\Deploy'. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection. [CLIENT: ]

I have tried using the SQLShare variable and i've tried it without.  I get the same results both way.

I checked out the MS article you listed.. My SQL Server 2005 is setup to allow Local and Remote connections, using both TCPIP and Named Pipes

Thanks!

Yep - Just checked there... They are both enabled on mine too.. in both places...

I will walk you through what i did to add my domain user to SQL... I really have no clue about the permissions, but i will tell you what i did:

1.  Opened Management Studio and connected (using domain Admin account)

2.  Went to Security, then Logins... Right-clicked on logins and selected New Login

3.  Under LoginName, i did a search and made sure my domain was selected and typed in 'deploy' for my domain account, it finds it and puts in 'DOMAIN\Deploy' for my LoginName.  Then Changed my default database to Deployment.

4.  Under Server Roles, i selected EVERYTHING

5.  Under UserMapping, i selected the Deployment Database, and gave it the dbo schema, then down below for the database role membership, i selected all, except: db_denydatareader, and db_denydatawriter

6.  Under Securables, i did nothing (not sure what that meant)

7.  Under Status, i set it to Grant and Enabled.  Clicked OK.  The user gets added.

8.  Then went to Databases, and my Deployment db, then Security, then users.  My new account shows up here.

9.  I got properties, just to double check everything, and my default schema is dbo, and i don't own any schema, but i have role membership to all but the db_denydatareader and db_denydatawriter

10.  Everything else was blank, so I just left it.

That's what i did to get my user setup.  Now i did the same thing for a local user or SQL Server Authentication.  Created a password for this user and setup everything the same way.  I can actually get this user to work in my debugging that i do with ztigather.wsf IF i put in the DBID and DBPWD into the customsettings.ini file.  However, it will not work in the actual deployment process...  Which i find so incredibly ODD.  My understanding is that if it works in the debugging, it should work under normal circumstances...

Maybe i'm adding this user wrong in SQL??  I'm not a SQL guru by any means, I know about enough to be dangerous actually 

Thanks