For many of the LTI deployment scenarios, best practice is to create a reference computer as described in Choosing Thick, Thin, or Hybrid Images, and then capture an image of that computer. Later in the LTI deployment process, you will deploy the captured image of your reference computer to the appropriate target computers.

Note   In some LTI deployment scenarios, you may want to deploy Windows operating systems without creating a reference image—for example, when you want to deploy thin images. If you are deploying thin images and you do not want to create a reference image, skip the steps that relate to the reference computer. For more information about determining which image type to use, see Choosing Thick, Thin, or Hybrid Images.

Create a reference computer for each image you want to create for deployment to the target computers. For more information about determining the number of images required in your organization and subsequently the number of reference computers required, see Estimate Storage Requirements for MDT Deployment Shares.

For more information about the use of reference computers in MDT-based deployments, see Using Reference Computers in MDT Deployments.

To prepare for deployment to the reference computer

1.   Create a new deployment share, or upgrade an existing deployment share.

For more information about:

·     Creating a new deployment share, see Create a New Deployment Share in the Deployment Workbench

·     Upgrading an existing deployment share, see Upgrade an Existing Deployment Share in the Deployment Workbench

2.   Configure the deployment share to contain the appropriate software for deployment to the reference computer, including the following:

·     Configuring operating systems as described in Configuring Operating Systems in the Deployment Workbench

·     Configuring applications as described in View and Configure an Application in the Deployment Workbench

·     Configuring operating system packages as described in Configuring Packages in the Deployment Workbench

·     Configuring device drivers as described in Configuring Device Drivers in the Deployment Workbench

3.   Create a new task sequence that will deploy the target operating system to the reference computer as described in:

·     Configuring Task Sequences in the Deployment Workbench

·     Configuring LTI Task Sequence Steps in the Deployment Workbench

The LTI deployment process is unable to perform Sysprep operations on a target computer that is encrypted using BitLocker. Ensure that you do not enable BitLocker on the reference computer. Enable BitLocker on the target computers only after the target operating system is completely deployed.

Tip   Create the task sequence for deploying to the reference computer based on the Standard Client Task Sequence template, included in MDT.

4.   Customize the MDT configuration files to the needs of your organization as described in Configuring MDT Deployments.

5.   Configure any Windows PE options for the deployment share as described in:

·     Configure the Deployment Share Properties Windows PE x86 Settings Tab

·     Configure the Deployment Share Properties Windows PE x86 Components Tab

·     Configure the Deployment Share Properties Windows PE x64 Settings Tab

·     Configure the Deployment Share Properties Windows PE x64 Components Tab

6.   Update the deployment share to create the Windows PE images used to start LTI deployment as described in Update a Deployment Share in the Deployment Workbench.

Related Topics

Performing LTI Deployments