Developing Disk Images : Creating the Lab Deployment Point

Whereas a distribution share contains the files necessary to install and configure a build on a destination computer, a deployment point defines a subset of those files and how to connect to them. For example, the distribution share might contain multiple operating systems and hundreds of applications. A deployment point defines which of those files to distribute and how to access them through a network connection or removable media.

BDD 2007 supports four types of deployment points:

• Lab This is a basic, single-server deployment point. This deployment point references all the content in the distribution share. When building custom images, you will usually use a lab deployment point.

• Network This is a subset of the distribution share that you can replicate to many servers based on your organization’s requirements. You can choose the builds, images, device drivers, updates, and applications that are replicated to a network deployment point.

• Media This is a subset of the distribution share that you can put on a DVD, USB flash disk, and so on to perform stand-alone, potentially network-disconnected deployments.

• OSD This is a copy of all the scripts, tools, and other files necessary to properly configure custom actions in the SMS 2003 OSD for performing a ZTI deployment. The images, applications, and device drivers are part of this replica.

For each deployment point, you can create .wim and .iso Windows PE boot image files that automatically connect to the deployment point and begin the installation. During the LTI process, the Windows Deployment Wizard allows the user to choose which build to install from the deployment point.

1. To create a lab deployment point for image capture

1.	In the Deployment Workbench console tree, right-click Deployment Points under Deploy and click New to start the BDD Deployment Wizard.
2.	On the Choose Which You Would Like To Configure Or Create page, select Lab Or Single-Server Deployment, and then click Next.
3.	On the Specify A Descriptive Name page, type a name for the deployment point, and then click Next. For the lab deployment point, Lab is a good name.
4.	On the Allow Application Selection During Upgrade page, verify that the Allow Users To Select Additional Applications On Upgrade check box is selected if you want to select applications to install when the Windows Deployment Wizard begins. Click Next.
5.	On the Specify Whether To Prompt For Image Capture page, verify that the Ask If An Image Should Be Captured check box is selected, and then click Next. During the deployment interview, the Windows Deployment Wizard will ask whether to create an image of the destination computer after it installs the build on it.
6.	On the Allow User To Set Administrator Password page, verify that the Ask User To Set The Local Administrator Password check box is cleared to prevent the Windows Deployment Wizard from prompting for a local Administrator password. Click Next.
7.	On the Allow User To Specify A Product Key page, verify that the Ask User For A Product Key check box is cleared to prevent the Windows Deployment Wizard from prompting for a product key during installation, and then click Next—if you specified a product key when you created the build.
8.	On the Specify The Location Of The Network Share To Hold The Files And Folders Necessary For This Deployment Type page, type a name for the share, and then click Next. The default share name is folder$, where folder is the name of the folder containing the distribution share. The dollar sign ($) hides the share in the network browser list.
9.	On the Specify User Data Defaults page, click the Do Not Save Data And Settings option, and then click Create. Imaging is by its nature a New Computer scenario , so you have no reason to capture and restore user state.

2. To remove a deployment point

3. Configuring the Deployment Point

The Windows AIK comes with Windows PE. No additional files are necessary to create Windows PE boot images for BDD 2007. Deployment Workbench automatically customizes Windows PE .wim files when a deployment point is updated. Optionally, you can configure the deployment point to generate the following Windows PE images:

• LTI flat bootable ISO image

• LTI bootable RAM disk ISO image

• Generic flat bootable ISO image

• Generic bootable RAM disk ISO image

You don’t need to manually customize Windows PE to add network interface card (NIC) device drivers to it. Deployment Workbench automatically adds the NIC device drivers that you add to the distribution share to the Windows PE boot images. You have the additional option of automatically adding video and system device drivers from the distribution share to the Windows PE boot images.

Updating a deployment point causes Deployment Workbench to update its configuration files, source files, and Windows PE images. Deployment Workbench updates the deployment point’s files and generates the Windows PE boot images when you update the deployment point, not when you create it. Deployment Workbench stores these boot images in the distribution share’s Boot folder. After you have updated the deployment point and generated Windows PE images, you can add the .wim image file to Windows DS. Optionally, you can burn the Windows PE .iso images to DVDs by using most commercial CD-burning software. Windows DS is the best way to start the Windows PE boot images on lab computers. Updating the boot images is faster than burning new DVDs, and booting destination computers is quicker.

To configure a deployment point for imaging in the lab

1.	In the Deployment Workbench console tree, click Deployment Points under Deploy.
2.	In the details pane, right-click the deployment point you want to configure, and then click Properties.
3.	Click the General tab, and then choose the platforms that the deployment point supports. To indicate that the deployment point supports the x86 platform, select the x86 check box. To indicate that the deployment point supports the x64 platform, select the x64 check box. This option determines the platforms for which Deployment Workbench generates Windows PE boot images.
4.	Click the Rules tab, and then edit the deployment point’s settings. These settings are located in CustomSettings.ini, which is located in the deployment point’s Control folder. For more information about the settings that you can configure on this tab, see the Configuration Reference in BDD 2007.
5.	Click the Windows PE tab, edit the settings described in Table 6-6, and then click OK. Table 1. Windows PE Settings Area Settings Images to Generate Generate A Lite Touch Flat Bootable ISO Image. Select this option to generate flat bootable ISO images. Generate A Lite Touch Bootable RAM Disk ISO Image. Select this option to generate ISO images that start from RAM disk. Generate A Generic Flat Bootable ISO Image. Select this option to generate a generic Windows PE flat bootable image that does not contain BDD 2007. Generate A Generic Bootable RAM Disk ISO Image. Select this option to generate a generic Windows PE bootable image that starts from RAM disk and does not contain BDD 2007. Driver Injection Include All Network Drivers in the Selected Group. Select this option to inject all network drivers found in the distribution share into the Windows PE boot images. Include All Mass Storage Drivers in the Selected Group. Select this option to inject all mass storage drivers found in the distribution share into the Windows PE boot images. Include All Video Drivers in the Selected Group. Select this option to inject all video drivers found in the distribution share into the Windows PE boot images. Include All System-Class Drivers in the Selected Group. Select this option to inject all system drivers (such as motherboard drivers) in the distribution share into the Windows PE boot images. You can limit the device drivers that Deployment Workbench includes in the Windows PE image by selecting a driver group from the Driver Group list. Optional Components ADO. Select this option to add the Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) optional component to the Windows PE bootable images. Optional Fonts Select the font support to add to the Windows PE boot images that Deployment Workbench generates. You must add these fonts when performing a lite touch deployment of Windows Vista images when the setup files are Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. The Optional Fonts area provides the following options: Chinese (ZH-CN) Chinese (ZH-HK) Chinese (ZH-TW) Japanese (JA-JP) Korean (KO-KR) Adding additional fonts to Windows PE boot images increases the size of the images. Add additional fonts only if necessary. Windows PE Customizations Custom Background Bitmap File. Type the path and file name of a bitmap file to use as the Windows PE background. Extra Directory To Add. Type the path of a folder containing extra files and subfolders to add to the Windows PE bootable images.

Deployment Workbench always generates .wim image files, which you can use to start destination computers using Windows DS. Choose to generate only the Windows PE bootable ISO images that are actually required. If you limit the number of images generated, the updating process is faster.

Updating the Deployment Point

After creating and configuring a deployment point in Deployment Workbench, update it to create it on the file system. Updating a deployment point creates the folder structure, shares the folder structure, configures settings, and generates Windows PE boot images.

To update the lab deployment point