Installing and configuring Windows Deployment Server for distributing XP Embedded runtime images.
Goal:
The goal is to provide a step by step process for installing and configuring Windows Deployment Services on a new Windows Server 2003 AS system.
Assumptions
· The Windows Server 2003 Advanced Server system meets the minimum hardware and software requirements.
Preparing the Windows Server 2003 Advanced Server System to run Windows Deployment Services
After installing Windows Server 2003 AS onto the target server hardware run Windows Update to ensure that all available operating system updates have been applied to the system. Next, to configure Windows Deployment Services:
1. Configure the server to be a domain controller in a new (or existing) Active Directory domain. A Windows Deployment Services server must be either a member of an Active Directory domain or a domain controller for an Active Directory domain. The Active Directory domain and forest versions are irrelevant; all domain and forest configurations support Windows Deployment Services.
2. Configure the server to run as a DHCP server.
3. Configure the server to run as a DNS server. This is installed by default when the server is configured as a domain controller.
4. Install Windows Server 2003 SP1 if necessary.
5. Install Remote Installation Services. Remote Installation Services (RIS) can be installed by going to Control Panel -> Add / Remove Programs -> Add /Remove Windows Components. You may be prompted for the Windows Server 2003 installation media.
6. Download and install the Windows Automated Installation Kit. Install using the defaults. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81030
7. On the Windows Automated Installation Kit CD, run windows-deployment-services-update-amd64.exe or windows-deployment-services-update-x86.exe based on your servers’ CPU architecture. The installer is located in the WDS folder of the CD-Rom.
8. Reboot the system
9. Open the “Windows PE Tools Command Prompt” by navigating to Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Windows AIK -> Windows PE Tools Command Prompt. From the command prompt type: “WDSUTIL /initialize-server” to initialize the server in Native mode.
Creating the initial Windows PE 2.0 boot image for use with Windows Deployment Server.
After configuring the server you can add a boot image that clients will download when they connect to the server. To configure the boot image:
1. Open the “Windows PE Tools Command Prompt” by navigating to Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Windows AIK -> Windows PE Tools Command Prompt.
2. From the command prompt type “copype.cmd <arch> <path>” where <arch> is the architecture to support (likely x86) and <path> is the location to store the new Windows PE image. For example: “copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86”
3. Mount the newly created Windows PE image using the imagex utility. For example: “imagex /mountrw c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim 1 c:\winpe_x86\mount”
4. Add any additional packages or files to the PE image while it is mounted. For example to copy the imagex utility to the WinPE image type: “copy c:\program files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\imagex.exe c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows\System32”
5. Use the PEIMG utility to prepare the WindowsPE image for deployment. Type: “peimg /prep c:\winpe_x86\mount”
6. Use imagex to unmount the Windows PE wim image. Be sure to use the commit parameter to save the changes to the wim file. Type: “imagex /unmount c:\winpe_x86\mount /commit”
Add the boot image to the Windows Deployment Services server machine.
The Windows PE boot image can be added to the Deployment Server environment using the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in. To open the snap-in navigate to Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Windows Deployment Services.
To add a boot image
1. In the left pane of the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in, expand the server list, and locate the server for which you want to add the boot image.
2. Right-click the Boot Image node and then click Add Boot Image.
3. Browse to select the boot image (for example c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim), and then click Open.
4. On the Image File page, click Next.
5. On the Image Description page, click Next to select the default name and description.
6. On the Summary page, click Next.
7. Click Finish.
8. Next, modify the PXE response settings on the server. Right click the server under the “Servers” node and click “Properties”.
9. Click the “PXE Response Settings” tab. Click the “Respond to all client computers” radio button.
10. Click OK to save the settings.
11. Optional: Remove the need to hit F12 to boot to PXE by opening the server properties dialog again as in step 8.
12. Click the “Boot” tab.
13. Under “x86 Architecture” click Browse and choose “pxeboot.n12”.
Configuring Windows Firewall to work with Windows Deployment Services.
Several exceptions need to be added to the Windows Internet Connection Sharing firewall on the server computer in order to allow requesting clients to connect to the server. Open the ports in the following list as exceptions in Windows Firewall.
| Service name |
UDP |
TCP |
| DHCP and TFTP |
67,69,4011 |
Not applicable |
| BINL |
4011 |
Not applicable |
| NetBIOS |
Not applicable |
139 |
| SMB |
Not applicable |
445 |
| LDAP |
Not applicable |
389 |
Modifying the boot image used by Windows Deployment Server
You can modify the boot image used by Windows Deployment Server by mounting the Windows PE WIM image file, making any necessary modifications, and unmounting the file being sure to commit the changes. This does not however automatically refresh the boot image used by Windows Deployment Services. To refresh the image used by Windows Deployment Server:
1. Open the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in. To open the snap-in navigate to Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Windows Deployment Services.
2. Expand your target server node and click the “Boot Images” node.
3. IN the right pane right click the installed boot image that you want to refresh and choose “Replace Image”.
4. Browse to the updates WIM image and follow the prompts to update the boot image.