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Installing And Configuring Windows Deployment Services

Prajwal Desai

In this post we will see how to install and conf igure Windows Deployment Services. Windows
Deployment Services is a technology f rom Microsof t f or network-based installation of
Windows operating systems. In windows server 2003 it was called as Remote Installation
Services (RIS). T he purpose of WDS is to remotely deploy the windows operating systems,
Windows Deployment Services role in server 2008 R2 enables you to ef f iciently deploy Windows operating
systems, particularly Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Deployment
Services role can be used to set up new computers through a network-based installation without the IT
Prof essional having to be physically present at each computer and without having to install directly f rom CD
or DVD media.

Lab Setup – I have setup 2 virtual machines, the f irst virtual machine is installed with Windows Server 2008
R2 Enterprise SP1 OS and its our domain controller. T he second virtual machine is installed with Windows
Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1 OS and its our WDS server. T he DHCP server role has been installed on the
domain controller, this DHCP service will provide IP addresses to the other machines.

On the server where you are installing Windows Deployment Services role, launch the Server Manager,
right click on Roles, click on Add Roles. On the Server Roles page, select Windows Deployment
Services. Click on Next.
On the Role Services page, the Deployment Server and Transport Server roles are checked by def ault.
Click on Next.

Once the installation is complete click on close.

If you are looking f or command line installation of WDS server, then use the below command.

Open the powershell and run the command ServerManagerCmd -install WDS.

Click on Start, click on Administrative Tools, click on Windows Deployment Services. On the WDS
console, expand Servers, right click on the WDS server and click on Configure Server.
Read the requirements once bef ore you click next.

Choose the Remote Installation Folder location on other drive. T he f older contains the boot images,
install images, so make sure this drive has enough space to hold the data. Click on Next.
Select Respond to all client computers (known and unknown). Click on Next.

Uncheck the checkbox f or Add images to the server now. We will add the images in the next step. Click
Finish.

In this step we will add Boot Image and Install Image. Boot images are images that you boot a client
computer into to perf orm an operating system installation. To add the boot image, right click Boot Images
and click on Add Boot Image.
Browse to the location where the operating system installation f iles are stored. In this example we will
importing boot.wim f rom windows 7 prof essional SP1 64 bit DVD as boot image. T he boot.wim f ile can be
f ound under f older named Sources. Select boot.wim and click on Open.

Enter the name f or the boot image. Click on Next.

We have imported or added a boot image to our WDS server. Click on Finish.

T he boot image can be seen under Boot Images f older.

To add the Install image, right click Install Image, click on Add Install Image, provide a name and create a
new Image Group. Click on Next.

Now we have to select and add the Install image. Install images are the operating system images that you
deploy to the client computer. Click on Browse and the select Install.wim. Click on Open.
In the below screenshot we will select all the editions of windows 7 that are listed. click on Next.

Click on Finish to close the Add Image Wizard.

Lets conf igure the WDS server properties now. Launch the Windows Deployment Services Console, right
click the WDS server and click on Properties. Click on Boot and make sure Require the user to press
the F12 key to continue the PXE boot is selected f or known and unknown clients.
Click on PXE Response and make sure that Respond to all client computers (known and unknown) is
selected. Click on Apply and Okay.
In the next post we will look at steps to deploy an image using WDS and also to capture it.