Windows Deployment Services Overview

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Applies To: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) enables y'all to deploy Windows operating systems over the network, which ways that you do not accept to install each operating system directly from a CD or DVD.

For information about what is new or included in your version of Windows Deployment Services, see What's New in Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2012.

For step-by-pace guidance on how to use the Windows Deployment Services, run into Windows Deployment Services Getting Started Guide for Windows Server 2012.

Benefits of Windows Deployment Services

  1. Allows network-based installation of Windows operating systems, which reduces the complication and cost when compared to manual installations.

  2. Supports deploying images for mixed environments including Windows 7and Windows Server 2008 R2 through Windows 8.1and Windows Server 2012 R2.

  3. Uses standard Windows Setup technologies including Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE), .wim files, and image-based setup.

  4. Transmits data and images by using multicast functionality.

  5. Allows you to create images of a reference estimator using the Paradigm Capture Wizard, which is an alternative to the ImageX tool.

  6. Allows you to add driver packages to the server and configure them to be deployed to customer computers forth with the install image.

Prerequisites for installing Windows Deployment Services

The post-obit are requirements for installing this part, depending on whether y'all choose the default installation (both Deployment Server and Send Server), or merely the Transport Server role service.

Deployment Server and Ship Server

Send Server

  • Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). A Windows Deployment Services server must be a member of an Active Directory Domain Services (Advert DS) domain or a domain controller for an AD DS domain.

    The Advertizement DS domain and forest versions are irrelevant; all domain and forest configurations support Windows Deployment Services.

    Note

    AD DS is not required if the WDS server is configured in Standalone mode.

  • DHCP. You must have a working Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server with an active scope on the network because Windows Deployment Services uses PXE, which relies on DHCP for IP addressing.

  • DNS. You must have a working Domain Name Organization (DNS) server on the network before you can run Windows Deployment Services.

  • NTFS volume. The server running Windows Deployment Services requires an NTFS file system volume for the image shop.

  • Credentials. To install the function, you must be a fellow member of the Local Administrators group on the server.

    To initialize the server, y'all must be a member of the Domain Admins group.

    Notation

    To initialize the WDS server in Standalone mode, you need not be a member of the Domain Users group.

    For more information, see Required Permissions.

  • For Windows Server 2008: The only prerequisite is that yous must exist a member of the Local Administrators group on the server to install Ship Server. Also note that a PXE provider is not installed with Ship Server, and so you must create a custom PXE provider to network boot.

  • For Windows Server 2008 R2: You lot must be a fellow member of the Local Administrators group to install Send Server. In addition, if you are using Transport Server to network kicking, your environment must contain DHCP (Windows Server 2008 R2 contains a PXE provider, which allows you to network boot).

  • For Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server® 2012 R2, at that place are no additional prerequisites.

The following are tools that you tin can use to manage your server:

  1. Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in - Provides an like shooting fish in a barrel way to manage images, computers, and common server settings. You can perform almost all tasks from the MMC snap-in (for example, y'all cannot prestage client computers). Note that the snap-in is not available when you install only the Transport Server role service.

  2. WDSUTIL control-line tool - enables you to manage the full functionality of the server. WDSUTIL as well enables yous to script common tasks.

  3. Windows PowerShell cmdlets for WDS – enables you to manage and monitor the WDS server using Windows PowerShell scripts.

Deploying and configuring WDS in a multi-estimator environment

It is non mutual to dissever a WDS server's functionality among different computers.

Installing the WDS role on virtual machines

You can run Windows Deployment Services on Hyper-Five virtual machines. Depending on the capacity of your server running Hyper-5, you lot can install, configure and apply Windows Deployment Services. Y'all tin can also create a virtual machine to act as a client automobile when building and testing your deployment images. This is specially useful for building your custom images. Note, however, that the performance will often be degraded, particularly during the Footling File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) download phase. This stage is very resource-intensive and may fail if insufficient resource are available on your server running Hyper-V.

Alarm

WDS cannot be run on a virtual machine in Windows Azure.

Back up for the WDS role in a amassed environment

The Windows Deployment Services server service is not cluster-aware. However, y'all can run multiple WDS servers in a network to provide fault-tolerance and load balancing.

Considerations for managing this role remotely

You tin can manage Windows Deployment Services remotely by installing the Windows Deployment Services server role on a local server and then using that server to connect to the remote server in the data heart or y'all can use the Windows PowerShell cmdlets for Windows Deployment Services to manage a remote server.

Notation

Windows Deployment Service cannot be managed using the Remote Server Administration Tools.

Managing the WDS office using the Server Core installation pick

You cannot utilise Windows Deployment Services with the Server Core installation option.

Configuring the WDS role for loftier availability

WDS is designed to automatically fail over to other WDS servers. We recommend that yous deploy two WDS servers at a minimum and and so additional servers to increase redundancy for college availability.

Notation

Installing images from WDS over a broad area network is non recommended.

Known bug

When using the Dynamic Driver Provisioning (DDP) characteristic on a WDS server running Windows Server 2012 if y'all endeavor to add a driver to a Windows 8.i or Windows Server 2012 R2 boot.wim you may receive the following mistake when running the "Add commuter packages to image" sorcerer:

An fault occurred while trying to execute control.  Error Code:  0xc0000135

This is a known issue related to DISM version included with Windows Server 2012 that is used by WDS to service images. This version of DISM supports servicing Windows Server 2012 and earlier kicking images but does not support later on versions of boot images. You can resolved this event by upgrading your WDS server to Windows Server 2012 R2 which contains a DISM version that supports servicing Windows eight.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 kicking.wim'south or you can install the Windows 8.one ADK and manually add the driver to the kick.wim. For instructions for how to add together drivers, see Add together and Remove Drivers Offline Using DISM

Common usage scenarios

The following are common scenarios for Windows Deployment Services.

Scenario ane: The small business concern

Fabrikam, Inc. is a manufacturer of towels with custom designs. It is a pocket-size business with a unmarried part. Monica Brink, Fabrikam'south resident It professional, is responsible for maintaining the IT infrastructure for the visitor, which consists of 25 client computers running Windows XP SP2 Professional and a single server running Windows Server 2003 with SP2. The server functions as a file impress server, Web server, Substitution server, Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, and domain controller. The computers are linked by a 100-MBps Ethernet connection.

Monica is given the task of moving all of the client computers to the Windows 7 (or Windows 8.1) operating system and upgrading the unmarried server to Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2. It is important that she makes the switch every bit quickly as possible so that office workers tin continue their work.

In the by, she deployed a new operating system one computer at a time. This took her around 45 minutes per estimator (almost nineteen hours to ready the operating system on all the client computers). For almost 3 days, Monica was unavailable to piece of work on anything else. Then she would spend almost every bit much time installing the applications on each computer.

Monica is the only IT professional person at Fabrikam, which means that she also must aid teach users about the new operating organization. Therefore, it is important that she minimizes the corporeality of time she spends on deployment. To accomplish this, Monica chooses to employ Windows Deployment Services considering she can:

  • Save time by running several installations simultaneously.

  • Apply a custom install epitome with preinstalled applications.

  • Create an image by using the Windows Deployment Services Image Capture Wizard.

To brainstorm, Monica does the post-obit:

  1. Upgrades her server to Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2.

  2. Installs the Windows Deployment Services server function.

  3. Adds the Kicking.wim from the product DVD (which contains a Windows PE paradigm, Setup.exe, and supporting files) past using the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in.

  4. Adds the Install.wim from the product DVD to the Windows Deployment Services server by using the MMC snap-in.

  5. Uses the MMC snap-in to create a capture epitome from the boot paradigm she added in step 3. This image contains Windows PE and a sorcerer that volition capture her custom epitome into a .wim file.

All users at Fabrikam accept the same desktop hardware, which was purchased from a single vendor. To deploy a standard image to the computers, Monica does the following:

  1. Boots a reference computer from the network and installs the Install.wim onto it, which contains the standard version of Windows.

  2. Installs Microsoft Office, the company'south towel-design awarding, and the latest drivers from the manufacturer's site.

  3. Uses Sysprep to generalize the operating organization.

  4. Reboots the computer into the capture prototype.

  5. Uses the Prototype Capture Wizard to recapture the operating system and upload it directly to the Windows Deployment Services server.

Now, Monica is fix to install the new operating systems. She does not demand to drift any user information, considering all of the employees shop their user data on a server (rather than on their hard disks). She reboots a customer computer and so presses F12 to perform a network boot. This boots her into the Kick.wim file, which guides her through the installation procedure. She selects the disk partition and paradigm she wants, then the installation begins. While waiting for the epitome to exist applied to the first figurer, Monica boots another computer and starts the aforementioned process on that one.

Scenario two: The medium-sized business

Northwind Traders is a shipping firm with three offices: a central function in Tooth City, and branch offices in the towns of Brushville and Flosston. Ron Gable is i of vi It staff members at Northwind Traders. His responsibility is maintaining the 250 client computers used by the company's employees. These are mostly desktop computers, simply the sales force uses laptops for customer presentations. There are 200 computers in the key part in Tooth City, and 25 each in the Brushville and Flosston offices. Each site has an internal network running at 100 MB per second (MBps), and the branch sites are connected to the Tooth City office by a T1 line. Ron has 3 Windows Deployment Services servers at the Molar Metropolis office and one in each of the branch offices, which are administered remotely.

Ron's supervisor has tasked him with deploying Windows 7 (or Windows 8.i) to the whole visitor. Previously, this would have involved many expensive trips to Brushville and Flosston, and it would have taken Ron several weeks to complete. He wants to apply Windows Deployment Services to deploy Windows remotely; all the same, company policy dictates that at that place can be simply i DHCP server on the corporate network, and this server is located at the Tooth Metropolis function. Remotely deploying images to the 50 computers at the branch offices would cause immense congestion on the connexion.

Ron chooses to employ Windows Deployment Services because with unattended setup, he can:

  • Deploy Windows to computers at the branch sites without being physically present there.

  • Use his existing replication solution to deliver images to the branch site servers.

  • Apply the network kicking referral arrangement to minimize network traffic between the branch sites and the fundamental office.

Ron prestages each client calculator and assigns the appropriate branch office server equally the referral server for each. This ensures that the customer downloads files and images from the local server, which minimizes traffic on the line between the offices.

Ron has two standard operating system configurations — ane for the desktop computers and one for laptops that contains the sales presentations and drivers for projectors. Therefore, he builds two images: one with the desktop configuration, and one with the laptop configuration (with no applications). He stores all the user data on one of the servers, then he can deploy Windows without preserving any existing data on the client computers.

Ron uses Windows System Image Managing director (Windows SIM) to author 2 image unattend files — one for the desktop computers and one for the laptops. These files automate the installation, so Ron does not need to exist present at each computer during the installation. They also automatically install Microsoft Part and the line-of-business application that the company uses for package tracking. He uses the Windows Deployment Services management tools to acquaintance the unattend files with the images.

Next, Ron configures Windows Deployment Services so when a computer is restarted, it will boot from the network automatically and deploy the appropriate image (without requiring the users to press F12). After the epitome is applied to each calculator, the figurer is automatically joined to the corporate domain and restarted. He as well configures the deployment so that when the reckoner restarts, the estimator volition not network boot unless F12 is pressed. This way, the computer and so boots to the hard disk bulldoze and finishes the installation process. This prevents a boot loop, in which the calculator would go along booting into Setup. When the installation is completed, the computer is ready for the user to log on.

Scenario three: The big enterprise

Shu Ito is the network architect for Broad World Importers, a large enterprise with 5,000 employees in offices all over the world. The major employee centers are in the U.s.a. and Germany, and there are 13 branch offices in other countries. Shu has 5 servers available to him in the U.S. hub, 2 in the German hub, and one in each of the co-operative offices. The servers at the hubs are continued to the corporate Ethernet on 1 Gbps network interface cards (NICs); the other computers are on 100-MBps NICs. The hubs are continued by T3 lines, and the other sites are connected past T1 lines. All of the servers are hired on two-year leases.

Wide Earth Importers is replacing the accounting department'south 200 computers with computers running Windows 7 (or Windows 8.1). Shu would also similar to deploy a Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 epitome to any newly leased servers in the U.S. office. The servers in the German language function and the branch sites are the responsibility of the local administrators. Currently, deployments at Broad Earth Importers are done past using RIS, and Shu wants to ensure that the existing reckoner edifice processes are preserved with the motion to Windows Deployment Services. In improver, it is of import that each figurer is deployed with an operating system in a language that is appropriate for the users in that state or region.

Shu chooses to use Windows Deployment Services considering it enables him to do the following:

  • Apply advisable language packs to reduce the required number of images.

  • Manage all of his Windows Deployment Services servers from a unmarried computer.

  • Use multicast deployments to preserve bandwidth while deploying images to many computers concurrently.

  • Write scripts to automate common direction tasks.

Shu upgrades his servers to Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 and creates his images. The vast bulk of his deployments volition be in English or German, so he creates Windows 7 (or Windows 8.one) image in each linguistic communication. Other languages will be installed by using external language packs, and applications will be downloaded by using Systems Management Server (SMS). After creating the images, Shu uploads the images and language packs to the Windows Deployment Services server.

Shu authors unattend files with Windows SIM. He then uses File Replication Service (FRS) to copy the images, language packs, and unattend files to the Windows Deployment Services servers around the world. Of the bookkeeping computers used by Wide World Importers, 150 are in the U.S. office, 30 are in the German office, and the remaining xx are scattered effectually the earth. Shu uses multicasting to deploy to the 150 computers in the U.S. office simultaneously. To do this, he creates a multicast transmission for the relevant image on his Windows Deployment Services server.

To preserve the state and data on the previous computers, Shu uses the User Country Migration Tool (USMT) to relieve all of the information and user configurations to a shared folder on the primary Windows Deployment Services server. Then he sets upwards each computer to boot from its local Windows Deployment Services server and to start automated setup by using the unattend files. The computers in the U.S. function volition automatically join the multicast transmission, while the computers in the other offices will deploy using unicasting. When the installation is completed, Shu runs a task with USMT to migrate the user data to each computer.

When the lease on a server expires and the server is replaced, Shu can apply Windows Deployment Services to deploy his Windows Server images in the same way that he performed the RIS deployment.

Scenario Four: A Custom Deployment Using Transport Server

John Woods is the server maintenance engineer at the A. Datum Corporation information heart. He is responsible for maintaining the 300 servers used by A. Datum Corporation's major customers. One of these customers is Gamble Works.

Take a chance Works uses 40 servers to run a career Web site (which is backed by a database) for circus performers. After the release of a popular film almost circus life, Adventure Works expects an increase in the employ of their Web site. They society 10 additional servers to handle the anticipated traffic.

John wants to deploy operating systems to these servers past using Windows Deployment Services. He does not take Advert DS running in this surround; he wants to store the configuration information for his computers in a SQL Server database. Equally a result, he cannot use the standard Windows Deployment Services solution. In addition, he wants to partition the disks in a standard configuration and also copy data (some for database servers, some for Web servers) earlier the unattended setup begins. John chooses to utilize Windows Deployment Services because he tin can:

  • Write a plug-in that reads configuration data for the computers from a data shop other than Ad DS (the data store is typically a database or a flat file).

  • Write scripts (to run in Windows PE) that perform preinstallation tasks and then call Setup to install the operating system.

John creates 10 computer accounts in his database for his 10 new servers, and he populates them with the required information. He installs the Windows Deployment Services server role on his server (choosing to install only the Transport Server role service). He then writes a PXE provider (a plug-in that reads data from the database and passes it to Windows Deployment Services) and registers it with the server. He creates a custom boot image that contains Windows PE along with startup scripts to partition the disks and copy the information. So he uses ImageX to capture one of his existing servers as an install paradigm.

Afterwards performing these initial tasks, John connects his servers to the network and boots them. They boot into Windows PE by using the configuration stored in the database. His scripts run to prepare each computer for deployment, and the scripts end past running ImageX to utilize the operating system paradigm on each computer.

Additional references

For information most getting started with Windows Deployment Services, encounter Windows Deployment Services Getting Started Guide for Windows Server 2012.

For more information about Windows PowerShell cmdlets for WDS, see Windows Deployment Services Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell.