Option 2: Deploy an Operating System Image from the Windows Deployment Services Store

If you are already using Windows Deployment Services for operating system deployment, extend the functionality of MDT by configuring it to reference the Windows Deployment Services operating system images already in use rather than using its own store and to supplement Windows Deployment Services deployments with driver management, application deployment, update installation, rule processing, and other MDT functionality. After MDT has reference a Windows Deployment Services operating system image, you can treat it like any operating system that has been staged to an MDT deployment share.

To reference a Windows Deployment Services operating system image

Note The following steps require that at least one operating system image has previously been imported into the Windows Deployment Services server.

1. Update MDT to be able to access Windows Deployment Services images by copying the following files from the Sources folder of the Windows media to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\bin folder on the Windows Deployment Services server:

· Wdsclientapi.dll

· Wdscsl.dll

· Wdsimage.dll

· Wdstptc.dll (this is only applicable if copying from the Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista with SP1 source directories)

Note The Windows source directory being used must match the platform of the operating system running on the computer where MDT is installed.

2. Click Start, and then point to All Programs. Point to Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, and then click Deployment Workbench.

3. In the Deployment Workbench console tree, go to Deployment Workbench/Deployment Shares/deployment_share/Operating Systems (where deployment_share is the name of the deployment share to configure).

4. In the Actions pane, click Import Operating System.

The New OS Wizard starts.

5. On the OS Type page, click Windows Deployment Services images, and then click Next.

6. On the WDS Server page, type the name of the Windows Deployment Services server to be referenced—for example, WDSSvr001—and then click Next.

7. On the Summary page, verify the settings are correct, and then click Next.

8. On the Confirmation page, click Finish.

All of the images available on the Windows Deployment Services server will now be available to MDT task sequences.

Note Importing images from Windows Deployment Services does not copy the source files from the Windows Deployment Services server to the deployment share. MDT continues to use the source files from their original location.