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Forums > Deployment Solutions > MDT 2008
Subject: Calling all MVP's to verify my steps
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Paul M. HibbertUser is Offline

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08/04/2008 7:38 AM  

Good day to all!

I need all MVP's and veterans of imaging to verify the information posted below. My intent is to post an accurate to capture and deploy Xp Sp2, any tips, or point out holes in the process would be appreciated.

 

First on a reference machine install your OS. If you are trying to create a flat Xp image to deploy on multiple computers, go into device manager and under "computer" change the driver to acpi pc. That allows more flexibility to roll the OS out to different hardware platforms. download all updates except for vendor driver specific (Dell,HP.etc) make any tweaks you want to.

Before you sysprep to capture the image, if you have the capabilities to ghost the reference computer so you do not have to start from scratch is highly recommended!!! Sysprep the reference using the following command

sysprep -reseal -mini[-bmsd] -forceshutdown

The -bmsd command populates the [SysprepMassStorage] in the sysprep.inf file. So, once you power on the reference computer boot into the windowPE environment and use the command prompt to execute the imagex.exe command like below

imagex /capture c: C:\imagename.wim "DRIVE C" /verify

That captures the .wim to the local drive of the reference computer or you can utilize the net use command to map a network drive and save the image there. Now the trick is to import the image into MDT and where I kept making my mistake was thinking that the capture process would fuse the data populated from runnining the sysprep.exe -bmsd from your reference computer. IT DOES NOT!!! Somehow you need to get a copy of the sysprep.inf file and when you import your source .wim you need to include reference files that has the Mass Storage pointers located. If you do not include that sysprep.inf file, MDT issues a generic .inf that has no reference for the mass storage drivers.

Injecting Mass Drivers in the task sequence via .wsf  WILL NOT work! All setup needs to be done on the reference computer! I have seen a ton of evidence on the web supporting that you cannot trick MDT into injecting Mass Storage Drivers by modifying the Sysprep.inf or unattend.xml. Try that and see if you can make any progress.

Paul

FarmerPeteUser is Offline

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08/04/2008 8:19 AM  
Now the trick is to import the image into MDT and where I kept making my mistake was thinking that the capture process would fuse the data populated from runnining the sysprep.exe -bmsd from your reference computer. IT DOES NOT!!!


First off, this is not correct. If you have a sysprep.inf in c:\sysprep, MDT will use it. MDT looks in a few different locations, and if it finds a sysprep.inf, it uses it, and if it doesn't, it will use the sysprep.inf that is located in \\MDTServer\Distribution$\Control\TaskName\Sysprep.inf. I typically use my custom sysprep.inf file, but you MUST modify the runonce field to get the sysprep.inf to startup the MDT process after the minisetup runs. You can get the sysprep.inf file off the computer by mounting the wim file for offline modifications. This allows you full access to the file system of the wim image. You can move the sysprep.inf file from the image to your deployment server, and this will make customizations a lot easier. Check your custom sysprep and compare it to the generic MDT one, and you will want to tweak your custom one. Once you get a good sysprep.inf, you can reuse 99% of the sysprep for all models. Just leave the mass storage drivers section alone.

Injecting Mass Drivers in the task sequence via .wsf WILL NOT work! All setup needs to be done on the reference computer! I have seen a ton of evidence on the web supporting that you cannot trick MDT into injecting Mass Storage Drivers by modifying the Sysprep.inf or unattend.xml. Try that and see if you can make any progress.


This is correct. You need to inject the mass storage drivers into the image before you capture it. I've had the best luck by taking the image on a SATA system set to compatibility mode, then right before I capture the image, I run a bat file from Lenovo/IBM that installs the basic ACHI (sp) drivers so that your system doesn't bluescreen upon reboot. You can get the script from the intel matrix drivers download (Goto drivers for a 776701u and you'll be able to get the drivers. The script is inside the "Prepare" folder). This trick has solved 95% of my mass storage problems.
Paul M. HibbertUser is Offline

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08/04/2008 8:34 AM  
Thank you Farmer Pete for your quick response. Could you expand using the run once command to point to the correct sysprep.inf? And what do you mean by compatabilty mode when using a SATA system?

Paul
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Forums > Deployment Solutions > MDT 2008 > Calling all MVP's to verify my steps



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