Use the procedures in this topic to manage the boot images in
your System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
environment. These images are used to boot the destination computer
when you deploy an operating system.
Use the following sections to manage boot images:
How to Add Boot Images
Boot images in Configuration Manager with no service
pack use Windows PE based on Windows 7 and are created by
using Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK). Starting in
Configuration Manager SP1, boot images use Windows PE
based on Windows 8 and are created by using the Windows
Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK). An error occurs when
you try to add a boot image that was not created by using the
appropriate tools. For example, in Configuration Manager SP1
you will encounter an error if you try to add an image that was
created by using Windows AIK. Also, if you deploy a task sequence
that uses boot images created by using Windows ADK to a site that
continues to run Configuration Manager with no service pack, the
task sequence will fail. For more information about boot images in
a Configuration Manager hierarchy with sites that run both
Configuration Manager SP1 and Configuration Manager with no
service pack, see Planning for Operating
System Deployment Interoperability
To add a boot image, you must know the path to where
the boot image file (.WIM file) is located. If the WIM file
contains multiple boot images, you can select the boot image that
you want to add from the WIM file.
Use the following procedure to add a boot image.
To add a boot image
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click Software
Library.
-
In the Software Library workspace, expand
Operating Systems, and then click Boot Images.
-
On the Home tab, in the Create group,
click Add Boot Image to start the Add Boot Image Wizard.
-
On the Data Source page, specify the following
options, and then click Next.
- In the Path box, specify the path to
the boot image WIM file. Click Browse to locate a specific
boot image file.
The specified path must be a valid network path in the UNC format.
For example:
\\servername\<sharename>\bootimage.wim.
- Select the required boot image from the
Boot Image drop-down list. If the WIM file contains multiple
boot images, each image is listed.
-
On the General page, specify the following
options, and then click Next.
- In the Name box, specify a unique name
for the boot image.
- In the Version box, specify a version
number for the boot image.
- In the Comment box, specify a brief
description of how the boot image is used.
-
Complete the wizard.
The boot image is now listed in the Boot Image
node. However, before you can use the boot image to deploy an
operating system. you must distribute the boot image to
distribution points, distribution point groups, or to collections
that are associated with distribution point groups.
How to Specify where Boot Images are
Distributed
To distribute the boot image you must specify where the
Configuration Manager client will access the boot image. You can
specify single distribution points, distribution point groups, or
collections that are associated with distribution point groups. For
more information about distributing content in Configuration
Manager, see Distribute
Content on Distribution Points.
Use the following procedure to specify where the boot
image is distributed.
To specify where the boot image is
distributed
-
In the Boot Images node, select the boot image
objects that you want to deploy.
-
On the Home tab, in the Deployment group,
click Distribute Content to start the Distribute Content
Wizard.
-
On the General page, in the Content box,
select the boot image that you want to distribute, and then click
Next.
-
On the Content Destination page, click
Add, and then select Collections, Distribution
Point, or Distribution Point Group to display a list of
the available collections that are associated with distribution
point groups, distribution points, and distribution point
groups.
-
Select the collections, distribution points, and
distribution point groups where the boot image will be distributed,
and then click OK.
-
Click Next.
-
Complete the wizard.
How to Modify a Boot Image
You can modify the settings of the boot images that are
listed under the Boot Image node. This includes the boot
images that you create and the default boot images that are
provided by Configuration Manager. These settings are configured by
using the Properties page of the boot image object.
Many of the boot image settings are self-explanatory,
such as the Name, Version, and Comment
settings on the General tab of the Properties page.
Use the following procedure to change the properties of a boot
image.
To modify the properties of a boot
image
-
In the Configuration Manager console, click Software
Library.
-
In the Software Library workspace, expand
Operating Systems, and then click Boot Images.
-
Select the boot image that you want to modify.
-
On the Home tab, in the Properties group,
click Properties to open the Properties dialog box
for the boot image.
-
Set any of the following settings to change the
behavior of the boot image:
- On the Images tab, if you have changed
the properties of the boot image by using an external tool, click
Reload.
- On the Drivers tab, add the Windows
device drivers that are required to boot Windows PE. Consider the
following when you add device drivers:
- As a best practice, add only NIC and Mass
Storage Drivers to the boot image unless there are requirements for
other drivers to be part of Windows PE.
- Because Windows PE already comes with many
drivers built in, add only NIC and Mass Storage Drivers that are
not supplied by Windows PE.
- Make sure that the drivers that you add to
the boot image are Windows 7 or Windows
Server 2008 R2 drivers, and that they match the
architecture of the boot image.
- On the Customization tab, select any
of the following settings:
- Select the Enable Prestart Commands
check box to specify a command to run before the task sequence is
run. When prestart commands are enabled, you can then specify the
command line that is run, whether support files are required to run
the command, and the source location of those support files.
 Tip |
| Add cmd /c to the start of the command line to avoid the
need to specify the exact location on the media for the prestart
command files. |
- Set the Windows PE Background settings
to specify whether you want to use the default Windows PE
background or a custom background.
- Select the Enable command support (testing
only) check box to open a command prompt by using the F8
key while the boot image is deployed. This is useful for
troubleshooting while you are testing your deployment. Using this
setting in a production deployment is not advised.
- For Configuration Manager SP1 only:
Configure the Windows PE scratch space, which is temporary storage
(RAM drive) used by Windows PE. For example, when an application is
run within Windows PE and needs to write temporary files, Windows
PE redirects the files to the scratch space in memory to simulate
the presence of a hard disk. By default, Windows PE allocates 32
megabytes (MB) of writeable memory.
- On the Data Source tab, update any of
the following settings:
- Set the Image path and Image
index boxes to change the source file of the boot image.
- Select the Update distribution points on a
schedule check box to create a schedule for when the boot image
package is updated.
- Select the Persist content in client
cache check box if you do not want the content of this package
to age out of the client cache to make room for other content.
- Select the Enable binary differential
replication check box to specify that only changed files are
distributed when the boot image package is updated on the
distribution point. This setting minimizes the network traffic
between sites, especially when the boot image package is large and
the changes are relatively small.
- Select the Deploy this boot image from the
PXE service point check box if the boot image is used in a PXE
deployment.
- On the Data Access tab, select any of
the following settings:
- Set the Package share settings if you
want clients to install the content in this package from the
network.
- Set the Package update settings to
specify how you want Configuration Manager to disconnect users from
the distribution point. Configuration Manager might be unable to
update the boot image when users are connected to the distribution
point.
- On the Distribution Settings tab,
select any of the following settings:
- In the Distribution priority list,
specify the priority level that you want Configuration Manager to
use when multiple packages are distributed to the same distribution
point.
- Select the Distribute the content for this
package to preferred distribution points check box if you want
to enable on-demand content distribution to preferred distribution
points. When this setting is enabled, the management point
distributes the content to all preferred distribution points when a
client requests the content for the package and the content is not
available on any preferred distribution points.
- Set the Prestaged distribution point
settings to specify how you want the boot image to be
distributed to distribution points that are enabled for prestaged
content.
- On the Content Locations tab, select
the distribution point or distribution point group and perform any
of the following actions:
- Click Redistribute to distribute the
boot image to the selected distribution point or distribution point
group again.
- Click Validate to check the integrity
of the boot image package on the selected distribution point or
distribution point group.
- For Configuration Manager SP1 only:
On the Optional Components tab, specify the components that
are added to Windows PE for use with Configuration Manager. For
more information about available optional components, see the
Building a Windows PE Image with
Optional Components topic in the Windows 8 documentation
library.
- On the Security tab, select an
administrative user and change the operations that they can
perform.
-
After you have configured the properties, click
OK.
Configure Multiple Languages for
Boot Image Deployment
For Configuration Manager SP1 only:
In Configuration Manager with no service pack, while in
Windows PE, text displayed by the task sequence is always in the
language of Windows PE. To support multiple languages, you must
create and deploy multiple boot images.
Starting in Configuration Manager SP1, boot images
are language neutral. This allows you to use one boot image that
will display the task sequence text in multiple languages, while in
Windows PE, if you include the appropriate language support from
the Windows PE Optional Components and set the appropriate task
sequence variable to indicate which language can be displayed. The
language of the operating system that you deploy is independent
from the language that is displayed when in Windows PE, regardless
of the Configuration Manager version. The language that is
displayed to the user is determined as follows:
- When a user runs the task sequence from an
existing operating system, Configuration Manager automatically uses
the language configured for the user. When the task sequence
automatically runs as the result of a mandatory deployment
deadline, Configuration Manager uses the language of the operating
system.
- For operating system deployments that use PXE
or media, you can set the language ID value in the
SMSTSLanguageFolder variable as part of a prestart command. When
the computer boots to Windows PE, messages are displayed in the
language that you specified in the variable. If there is an error
accessing the language resource file in the specified folder or you
do not set the variable, messages are displayed in the Windows PE
language.
 Note |
| When the media is protected with a password, the text that
prompts the user for the password is always displayed in the
Windows PE language. |
Use the following procedure to set the Windows PE
language for PXE or media-initiated operating system
deployments.
To set the Windows PE language for a
PXE or media-initiated operating system deployment
-
Verify that the appropriate task sequence resource file
(tsres.dll) is in the corresponding language folder on site server
before you update the boot image. For example, the English resource
file is in the following location:
<ConfigMgrInstallationFolder>\OSD\bin\x64\00000409\tsres.dll.
-
As part of your prestart command, set the
SMSTSLanguageFolder environment variable to the appropriate
language ID. The language ID must be specified by using decimal and
not hexadecimal. For example, to set the language ID to English,
you would specify a decimal value of 1033 instead of the
hexadecimal value of 00000409 used for the folder name.
-
Additional Actions to Manage Boot
Images
In addition to adding boot images and specifying where
they can be distributed, you can perform the actions on the boot
images listed in the Boot Image list. These actions include
the following:
| Action |
Description |
|
Delete
|
Removes the image from the Boot Image node and also
removes the image from the associated distribution points.
|
|
Update Distribution Points
|
Starts the Update Distribution Points Wizard. This action
updates the boot image on the distribution points where it has been
distributed. The package version is incremented and the
distribution points are updated with only the files that have
changed in the package.
|
|
Create Prestaged Content File
|
Starts the Create Prestaged Content File Wizard. For information
about how to create a prestaged content file, see the Prestage
Content on a Distribution Point section of the Operations and
Maintenance for Content Management in Configuration Manager
topic.
|
|
Manage Access Accounts
|
Opens the Manage Access Accounts dialog box where you can
add an access account to a boot image, edit the access rights for
an account, or remove an access account from a boot image.
For more information about the Package Access Account, see
Technical
Reference for Accounts Used in Configuration Manager.
|
|
Move
|
Moves the boot image to another folder.
|
Customizing Boot Images by Using the
Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK)
This section applies to Configuration Manager with no
service pack only.
Use the following procedure to create a new source boot
image for 32-bit and 64-bit computers that can be imported to
Configuration Manager:
 Important |
| If the boot image that you import is not a valid boot image,
the SMS Provider rejects it. |
To add a custom boot image for 32-bit
or 64-bit computers to Configuration Manager
-
Copy a boot image from the folder where the Windows
Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is installed to a
temporary folder.
-
Mount the new copied boot image to a temporary
directory. For example: dism.exe /mount-wim
/wimFile:c:\winpe.wim /index:1
/mountdir:%systemroot%\temp\bootimages.
-
Install the two optional components that are required
to deploy operating systems by using Configuration Manager:
| Components for 32-bit computers |
Components for 64-bit computers |
- dism.exe
/image:%systemroot%\temp\bootimages /add-package
/packagepath:"C:\Program Files\Windows
AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-Scripting.cab"
- dism.exe
/image:%systemroot%\temp\bootimages /add-package
/packagepath:"C:\Program Files\Windows
AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-WMI.cab"
|
- dism.exe
/image:%systemroot%\temp\bootimages /add-package
/packagepath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\
amd64\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-Scripting.cab"
- dism.exe
/image:%systemroot%\temp\bootimages /add-package
/packagepath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\
amd64\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-WMI.cab"
|
-
Install any optional components to include with the
boot image.
-
Copy the additional required files to the mount
directory.
-
Dismount the boot image by using the following command:
Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir: %systemroot%\temp\bootimages
/Commit
See Also
