how to use mdt?
- Step 1: Configure Active Directory permissions.
- Step 2: Set up the MDT production deployment share.
- Step 3: Add a custom image.
- Step 4: Add an application.
- Step 5: Prepare the drivers repository.
Deploying Windows 11 with MDT is fairly straightforward. However, to make sure your Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is compatible with deploying Windows 11, you need to ensure that your MDT installation is the latest available. You can find and download the latest version of MDT here.
An important update addresses a boot loop issue that you want to make sure you download and apply to your Microsoft Deployment Toolkit server. The update is available here. The patch has you replace the boot media folders and regenerate the boot media. Below is an image showing the boot media regenerating in MDT.
The overall process of deploying Windows 11 with MDT workflow includes the following:
The first task is to create the folder that will house the Windows 11 operating system files. Right-click the Operating Systems folder and create a new folder for Windows 11.
Now, we can import the operating system files for Windows 11. To do so, right-click the newly created Windows 11 folder, and select Import Operating System.
For the OS Type, choose Full set of source files.
Mount your downloaded Windows 11 ISO as virtual media, and select the virtual DVD drive.
You may notice that the Import Operating System Wizard skips the Setup and WDS screens when you choose the Full Operating System files.
The summary screen displays the configured OSType, OSDestination, OSSource, and MoveOS options. Click Next.
The Windows 11 operating system is successfully imported, as displayed on the Confirmation screen.
You should now see multiple images listed under the new Windows 11 folder created in MDT.
The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit task sequence is a series of steps that automate image deployment. It represents an essential capability of MDT because it allows almost any customization of the image. For example, you can use them to configure all the settings available in Windows SIM, add drivers or language packages, and start your own PowerShell scripts at any time.
Let's create the task sequence for a Windows 11 deployment.
When you initiate New Task Sequence, it launches a new wizard for creating the new task sequence.
In the Select Template dialog, we just select the Standard Client Task Sequence in our basic example. MDT offers a wide range of templates, including one for Windows Server installation or a custom template that you can design yourself from scratch.
Next, select the specific Windows 11 image you want to use for deployment.
Choose your product key installation options. Here, I am choosing not to specify a product key.
Now, fill in the OS settings details, including full name, organization, and the optional Internet Explorer Home Page (no longer relevant).
In the next step, you can choose your administrator password settings. Finally, view the summary screen to ensure that the options selected are those intended.
On the confirmation screen displayed at the end of the New Task Sequence Wizard, click Finish to create the task sequence.
In the first part of the process, we boot the VM from PXE over the network instead of from ISO. So there is no need for an ISO image, or burning physical media to boot from, such as a DVD. However, you can also use an ISO "burned" to USB or create physical media, as it works the same.
If you are wondering where the images come from, they are created when you create a new deployment share in MDT under the
To add the boot image to Windows Deployment Services (WDS) for PXE boot, right-click Boot Images in your Windows Deployment Services console, and select Add Boot Image. Here, you upload the LiteTouch images created by MDT or any other custom boot images.
To allow your Windows Deployment Services (WDS) server to respond to PXE requests from clients, right-click the server in your Windows Deployment Services console, and choose Properties. Under the PXE Response tab, select the setting for how you want the WDS server to respond and to which clients.
After configuring WDS using the MDT images, you should be able to PXE boot a client and select from the boot images available.
Choose the Windows 11 task sequence created earlier.
Here, choose the computer details. I am leaving this at the auto-generated computer name and join a workgroup.
Choose the location of the image capture and the file name.
The task sequence will build and capture the Windows 11 reference image.
The final step in the journey is to test the Windows 11 deployment on a target workstation. PXE boot from the MDT media and, again, choose the Windows 11 task sequence, as shown above.
Set your computer details, including the computer name and workgroup or domain details.
Next, on the capture image screen, choose Do not capture an image of this computer. Instead, deploy the captured Windows 11 image to a target workstation.
The Windows 11 image deployment begins, and Windows 11 will eventually boot on the target workstation.
The MDT automation is working in our favor here, as the installation goes past the mini-setup wizard and begins checking for updates.
Deploying Windows 11 using MDT completes successfully on the target computer
Even though Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is getting "long in the tooth," it is still a viable way to capture and deploy Windows 11 images.
Many organizations are heavily invested in the tooling provided by MDT, so it is great to see that we can still capture and deploy Windows 11 images with the MDT solution.
Applies to:
This article will show you how to take your reference image for Windows 10 (that was created), and deploy that image to your environment using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).
We'll prepare for this deployment by creating an MDT deployment share that is used solely for image deployment. Separating the processes of creating reference images from the processes used to deploy them in production allows greater control of on both processes. We'll configure Active Directory permissions, configure the deployment share, create a new task sequence, and add applications, drivers, and rules.
For the purposes of this article, we'll use four computers: DC01, MDT01, HV01 and PC0005.
MDT01 and PC0005 are members of the domain contoso.com for the fictitious Contoso Corporation. HV01 used to test deployment of PC0005 in a virtual environment.
These steps will show you how to configure an Active Directory account with the permissions required to deploy a Windows 10 machine to the domain using MDT. These steps assume you've The account is used for Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) to connect to MDT01. In order for MDT to join machines into the contoso.com domain you need to create an account and configure permissions in Active Directory.
On DC01:
Next, create a new MDT deployment share. You shouldn't use the same deployment share that you used to create the reference image for a production deployment. Perform this procedure on the MDT01 server.
On MDT01:
The steps for creating the deployment share for production are the same as when you created the deployment share for creating the custom reference image:
To read files in the deployment share, you need to assign NTFS and SMB permissions to the MDT Build Account (MDT_BA) for the D:\MDTProduction folder
On MDT01:
The next step is to add a reference image into the deployment share with the setup files required to successfully deploy Windows 10. When adding a custom image, you still need to copy setup files (an option in the wizard) because Windows 10 stores other components in the Sources\SxS folder that is outside the image and may be required when installing components.
In these steps, we assume that you've completed the steps in the Create a Windows 10 reference image article, so you've a Windows 10 reference image at D:\MDTBuildLab\Captures\REFW10X64-001.wim on MDT01.
When you configure your MDT Build Lab deployment share, you can also add applications to the new deployment share before creating your task sequence. This section walks you through the process of adding an application to the MDT Production deployment share using Adobe Reader as an example.
On MDT01:
In order to deploy Windows 10 with MDT successfully, you need drivers for the boot images and for the actual operating system. This section will show you how to add drivers for the boot image and operating system, using the following hardware models as examples:
For boot images, you need to have storage and network drivers; for the operating system, you need to have the full suite of drivers.
The key to successful management of drivers for MDT, and for any other deployment solution, is to have a good driver repository. From this repository, you import drivers into MDT for deployment, but you should always maintain the repository for future use.
On MDT01:
When you import drivers to the MDT driver repository, MDT creates a single instance folder structure based on driver class names. However, you can, and should, mimic the driver structure of your driver source repository in the Deployment Workbench. This mimic is done by creating logical folders in the Deployment Workbench.
The preceding folder names should match the actual make and model values that MDT reads from devices during deployment. You can find out the model values for your machines by using the following command in Windows PowerShell:
Or, you can use this command in a normal command prompt:
If you want a more standardized naming convention, try the ModelAliasExit.vbs script from the Deployment Guys blog post, entitled Using and Extending Model Aliases for Hardware Specific Application Installation.
The Out-of-Box Drivers structure in the Deployment Workbench.
By default, MDT adds any storage and network drivers that you import to the boot images. However, you should add only the drivers that are necessary to the boot image. You can control which drivers are added by using selection profiles.
The drivers that are used for the boot images (Windows PE) are Windows 10 drivers. If you can't locate Windows 10 drivers for your device, a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 driver will most likely work, but Windows 10 drivers should be your first choice.
On MDT01:
Windows PE supports all the hardware models that we have, but here you learn to add boot image drivers to accommodate any new hardware that might require more drivers. In this example, you add the latest Intel network drivers to the x64 boot image.
On MDT01:
For the ThinkStation P500 model, you use the Lenovo ThinkVantage Update Retriever software to download the drivers. With Update Retriever, you need to specify the correct Lenovo Machine Type for the actual hardware (the first four characters of the model name). As an example, the Lenovo ThinkStation P500 model has the 30A6003TUS model name, meaning the Machine Type is 30A6.
To get the updates, download the drivers from the Lenovo ThinkVantage Update Retriever using its export function. You can also download the drivers by searching PC Support on the Lenovo website.
In this example, we assume you've downloaded and extracted the drivers using ThinkVantage Update Retriever to the D:\Drivers\Lenovo\ThinkStation P500 (30A6003TUS) directory.
On MDT01:
For the Dell Latitude E7450 model, you use the Dell Driver CAB file, which is accessible via the Dell TechCenter website.
In these steps, we assume you've downloaded and extracted the CAB file for the Latitude E7450 model to the D:\Drivers\Dell Inc.\Latitude E7450 folder.
On MDT01:
For the HP EliteBook 8560w, you use HP Image Assistant to get the drivers. The HP Image Assistant can be accessed on the HP Support site.
In these steps, we assume you've downloaded and extracted the drivers for the HP EliteBook 8650w model to the D:\Drivers\Windows 10 x64\Hewlett-Packard\HP EliteBook 8560w folder.
On MDT01:
For the Microsoft Surface Laptop model, you find the drivers on the Microsoft website. In these steps, we assume you've downloaded and extracted the Surface Laptop drivers to the D:\Drivers\Windows 10 x64\Microsoft\Surface Laptop folder.
On MDT01:
This section will show you how to create the task sequence used to deploy your production Windows 10 reference image. You'll then configure the task sequence to enable patching via a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server.
On MDT01:
In this section, you'll learn how to configure the MDT Build Lab deployment share with the rules required to create a dynamic deployment process. This configuration includes commonly used rules and an explanation of how these rules work.
On MDT01:
The rules for the MDT Production deployment share are different from those rules for the MDT Build Lab deployment share. The biggest differences are that you deploy the machines into a domain instead of a workgroup.
You can optionally remove the UserID and UserPassword entries from Bootstrap.ini so that users performing PXE boot are prompted to provide credentials with permission to connect to the deployment share. Setting SkipBDDWelcome=NO enables the welcome screen that displays options to run the deployment wizard, run DaRT tools (if installed), exit to a Windows PE command prompt, set the keyboard layout, or configure a static IP address. In this example, we're skipping the welcome screen and providing credentials.
This file is the MDT Production Bootstrap.ini:
This file is the CustomSettings.ini file with the new join domain information:
Some properties to use in the MDT Production rules file are as follows:
If your organization has a Microsoft Software Assurance agreement, you also can subscribe to another Microsoft Desktop Optimization Package (MDOP) license (at an extra cost). Included in MDOP is Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT), which contains tools that can help you troubleshoot MDT deployments, and troubleshoot Windows itself.
If you've licensing for MDOP and DaRT, you can add DaRT to the boot images using the steps in this section. If you don't have DaRT licensing, or don't want to use it, skip to the next section, Update the Deployment Share. To enable the remote connection feature in MDT, you need to do the following steps:
On MDT01:
Like the MDT Build Lab deployment share, the MDT Production deployment share needs to be updated after it has been configured. This update-process is the one during which the Windows PE boot images are created.
These steps will walk you through the process of using task sequences to deploy Windows 10 images through a fully automated process. First, you need to add the boot image to Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and then start the deployment. In contrast with deploying images from the MDT Build Lab deployment share, we recommend using the Pre-Installation Execution Environment (PXE) to start the full deployments in the datacenter, even though you technically can use an ISO/CD or USB to start the process.
You need to add the MDT Production Lite Touch x64 Boot image to WDS in preparation for the deployment. In this procedure, we assume that WDS is already installed and initialized on MDT01 as described in the Prepare for Windows deployment article.
On MDT01:
At this point, you should have a solution ready for deploying the Windows 10 client. We recommend starting by trying a few deployments at a time until you're confident that your configuration works as expected. We find it useful to try some initial tests on virtual machines before testing on physical hardware. These tests help rule out hardware issues when testing or troubleshooting. Here are the steps to deploy your Windows 10 image to a virtual machine:
On HV01:
Following OS installation, Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus - x64 is installed automatically.
Since you've enabled the monitoring on the MDT Production deployment share, you can follow your deployment of PC0005 via the monitoring node.
On MDT01:
When monitoring is enabled, MDT also writes information to the event viewer on MDT01. This information can be used to trigger notifications via scheduled tasks when deployment is completed. For example, you can configure scheduled tasks to send an email when a certain event is created in the event log.
The Event Viewer showing a successful deployment of PC0005.
Multicast deployment allows for image deployment with reduced network load during simultaneous deployments. Multicast is a useful operating system deployment feature in MDT deployments, however it's important to ensure that your network supports it and is designed for it. If you've a limited number of simultaneous deployments, you probably don't need to enable multicast.
Multicast requires that Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is running on Windows Server 2008 or later. In addition to the core MDT setup for multicast, the network needs to be configured to support multicast. In general, this configuration means involvement of the organization networking team to ensure that Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping is turned on and that the network is designed for multicast traffic. The multicast solution uses IGMPv3.
Setting up MDT for multicast is straightforward. You enable multicast on the deployment share, and MDT takes care of the rest.
On MDT01:
In addition to network-based deployments, MDT supports the use of offline media-based deployments of Windows 10. You can easily generate an offline version of your deployment share - either the full deployment share or a subset of it - by using selection profiles. The generated offline media can be burned to a DVD or copied to a USB stick for deployment.
Offline media are useful not only when you don't have network connectivity to the deployment share, but also when you've limited connection to the deployment share and don't want to copy 5 GB of data over the wire. Offline media can still join the domain, but you save the transfer of operating system images, drivers, and applications over the wire.
To filter what is being added to the media, you create a selection profile. When creating selection profiles, you quickly realize the benefits of having created a good logical folder structure in the Deployment Workbench.
On MDT01:
In these steps, you generate offline media from the MDT Production deployment share. To filter what is being added to the media, you use the previously created selection profile.
Offline media has its own rules, its own Bootstrap.ini and CustomSettings.ini files. These files are stored in the Control folder of the offline media; they also can be accessed via properties of the offline media in the Deployment Workbench.
On MDT01:
You've now configured the offline media deployment share, however the share hasn't yet been populated with the files required for deployment. Now everything is ready you populate the deployment share content folder and generate the offline media ISO.
On MDT01:
The ISO that you got when updating the offline media item can be burned to a DVD and used directly (it will be bootable), but it's often more efficient to use USB sticks instead since they're faster and can hold more data. (A dual-layer DVD is limited to 8.5 GB.)
Follow these steps to create a bootable USB stick from the offline media content:
As referenced in Windows 10 deployment scenarios and tools, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based deployments are becoming more common. In fact, when you create a generation 2 virtual machine in Hyper-V, you get a UEFI-based computer. During deployment, MDT automatically detects that you've an UEFI-based machine and creates the partitions UEFI requires. You don't need to update or change your task sequences in any way to accommodate UEFI.
The partitions when deploying an UEFI-based machine.
Applies to:
This article provides an overview of the features, components, and capabilities of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). When you have finished reviewing this information, see Prepare for deployment with MDT.
MDT is a unified collection of tools, processes, and guidance for automating desktop and server deployment. You can use it to create reference images or as a complete deployment solution. MDT is one of the most important tools available to IT professionals today.
In addition to reducing deployment time and standardizing desktop and server images, MDT enables you to more easily manage security and ongoing configurations. MDT builds on top of the core deployment tools in the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) with more guidance and features designed to reduce the complexity and time required for deployment in an enterprise environment.
MDT supports the deployment of Windows 10, and Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server. It also includes support for zero-touch installation (ZTI) with Microsoft Configuration Manager.
MDT has been in existence since 2003, when it was first introduced as Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 1.0. The toolkit has evolved, both in functionality and popularity, and today it's considered fundamental to Windows operating system and enterprise application deployment.
MDT has many useful features, such as:
Many features in MDT support Lite Touch Installation (LTI) for Windows 10. An LTI deployment strategy requires little infrastructure or user interaction, and can be used to deploy an operating system from a network share or from a physical media, such as a USB flash drive or disk.
When the Windows operating system is being deployed using MDT, most of the administration and configuration is done through the Deployment Workbench, but you also can perform many of the tasks using Windows PowerShell. The easiest way to find out how to use PowerShell in MDT is to use the Deployment Workbench to perform an operation and at the end of that task, select View Script. You're provided the PowerShell command.
If you select View Script on the right side, you'll get the PowerShell code that was used to perform the task.
A deployment share is essentially a folder on the server that is shared and contains all the setup files and scripts needed for the deployment solution. It also holds the configuration files (called rules) that are gathered when a machine is deployed. These configuration files can reach out to other sources, like a database, external script, or web server to get more settings for the deployment. For Lite Touch deployments, it's common to have two deployment shares: one for creating the reference images and one for deployment. For Zero Touch, it's common to have only the deployment share for creating reference images because Configuration Manager deploys the image in the production environment.
The rules (CustomSettings.ini and Bootstrap.ini) make up the brain of MDT. The rules control the Windows Deployment Wizard on the client and, for example, can provide the following settings to the machine being deployed:
Example of an MDT rule. In this example, the new computer name is being calculated based on PC- plus the first seven (Left) characters from the serial number
Boot images are the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) images that are used to start the deployment. They can be started from a CD or DVD, an ISO file, a USB device, or over the network using a Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) server. The boot images connect to the deployment share on the server and start the deployment.
Using the Deployment Workbench, you import the operating systems you want to deploy. You can import either the full source (like the full Windows 10 DVD/ISO) or a custom image that you've created. The full-source operating systems are primarily used to create reference images; however, they also can be used for normal deployments.
Using the Deployment Workbench, you also add the applications you want to deploy. MDT supports virtually every executable Windows file type. The file can be a standard .exe file with command-line switches for an unattended install, a Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) package, a batch file, or a VBScript. In fact, it can be just about anything that can be executed unattended. MDT also supports the new Universal Windows apps.
You also use the Deployment Workbench to import the drivers your hardware needs into a driver repository that lives on the server, not in the image.
With the Deployment Workbench, you can add any Microsoft packages that you want to use. The most commonly added packages are language packs, and the Deployment Workbench Packages node works well for those packages. You also can add security and other updates this way. However, we generally recommend that you use Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) for operating system updates. The rare exceptions are critical hotfixes that aren't available via WSUS, packages for the boot image, or any other package that needs to be deployed before the WSUS update process starts.
Task sequences are the heart and soul of the deployment solution. When creating a task sequence, you need to select a template. The templates are located in the Templates folder in the MDT installation directory, and they determine which default actions are present in the sequence.
You can think of a task sequence as a list of actions that need to be executed in a certain order. Each action can also have conditions. Some examples of actions are as follows:
MDT comes with nine default task sequence templates. You can also create your own templates. As long as you store them in the Templates folder, they'll be available when you create a new task sequence.
Selection profiles, which are available in the Advanced Configuration node, provide a way to filter content in the Deployment Workbench. Selection profiles are used for several purposes in the Deployment Workbench and in Lite Touch deployments. For example, they can be used to:
MDT uses many log files during operating system deployments. By default the logs are client side, but by configuring the deployment settings, you can have MDT store them on the server, as well.
On the deployment share, you also can enable monitoring. After you enable monitoring, you'll see all running deployments in the Monitor node in the Deployment Workbench.
I wrote lot of articles related with MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit). I have use lot of times MDT to capture an Image from Windows OS or Windows Server base on my the article How to Capture Windows Image using MDT 2013.
Today i come back to say that the recommended approach when you want to Install a new Windows OS it's to use a clean image with Task Sequence that will be install the common applications that use in your environment.
So i decide to write the following article and explain how can use this way instead of Capture.
Before start i would like to say that it's recommended to use a Virtual Machine for the Deployment as a test before proceed in your Production Workstations,Laptops or Servers.
Pluralsight Course Overview: Deploying Windows 10 Using MDT and ConfigMgr By Johan Arwidmark (MVP)
First task is to import the Windows 10 in MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit)
You can find full instructions how can do it in article Building a Custom Windows ISO with MDT 2013 but i would like write down here only the specific task.
Before start find the ISO of Windows 10. Right click in the iso and select Mount. You will use it in the next steps
To proceed with this step we must decide first which application must include in the specific Deployment.
Also you must know to install an application through MDT must has the setup.exe or msi file of the Application.
You can't install an Application if you have only the exe file.
For example i have download the Foxit reader software which include the FoxitReader91_Setup_Prom_IS.exe. If i want to use it in my MDT i must extract the exe file with a zip software to find the setup file. The reason is that i must use the Command line in MDT to install the application.
This prerequisites that you can use the setup.exe file or msi file.
For this scenario i will use the following applications that will be included in Task Sequence for the Deployment
Description of the command-line switches that are supported by a software installation package, an update package, or a hotfix package that was created by using Microsoft Self-Extractor
Create the Task Sequence
It's time for the important task. Here we will specify how the deployment will proceed and which software will include for the installation
You have create the Task Sequence. But now you must configure the Task Sequence to add the Applications that you want to install
After finish with the Task Sequence go in Deployment Shares with right click and select Update Deployment Share.
If you have install WDS in your environment you can read the How Deploy Windows image using MDT and WDS in Windows Server 2016 (Part 2) to proceed with the Deployment of Windows 10.
You must remember that must be update the Boot Image in WDS with the new one from MDT(Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) after finish with the above steps.
In case that you don't have a WDS in your environment you can configure an Offline Image in the MDT(Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) after read the article Create a bootable USB with MDT 2013
With WDS or Offline image i can see the progress of the Installing Application after finish the setup of Windows 10
That's it
Have a nice weekend !!!!
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