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SophisticatedBear
Asked: 2022-03-11 11:18:56 +0800 CST

Switching from WDS to MDT

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I am in the process of moving from WDS to MDT. I will be installing MDT alongside WDS on the same box. The concept I am not grasping is at what point in this process will clients pxe boot to the MDT service instead of the already established WDS instance?

Thanks in advance!

windows imaging pxe-boot mdt wds

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    MDT uses WDS for pre-boot. Within MDT, you will generate a boot image. Within WDS, you will import this boot image and make it available to PXE clients to choose during PXE Boot.

    From MDT Workbench:

    • Configure all the properties of your environment by right-clicking the MDT Deployment share, and selecting properties.
    • Most of the boot image settings are under the 'Windows PE' tab and the 'Bootstrap.ini'
    • When your settings are ready, or anytime you need to refresh your boot images, right-click the MDT Deployment share and select 'Update Deployment Share.'
    • New boot images are generated in your deployment share location under <DeploymentSharePath>\Boot. They are named LiteTouchPE_<bitness>.wim.

    On the WDS console:

    • Right-Click 'Boot Images' and 'Add boot image.'
    • Navigate to the where the boot image is saved and select it.
    • Provide a name and description.
    • Complete adding the image to WDS.

    In the future, you can update the existing boot image in WDS, when a new one is generated in MDT.

    Change the properties of the WDS server and choose default boot images if you want one image to boot by default, over another, or change how PXE devices are presented boot images, and selections.

    When clients boot the LiteTouch image, the MDT deployment will begin however you have it configured.

    You'll need to generate a new boot image whenever you update your bootstrap.ini or Windows PE properties, or if you upgrade MDT or your Windows ADK environment. You do not need to update the boot image, if all you do is change other MDT features like the Task Sequence or Drivers (unless, ofcourse, you are changing drivers in the Windows PE environment). You are basically deploying a pre-configured WinPE environment, with necessary drivers, and settings that tells the client where to connect to get further instructions from MDT.

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  2. Pretty much this, i would just add one thing: Make sure you add your Network Drivers in both, the MDT (under "Out-oBox-Drivers") and the WDS (Plus injecting it in your MDT Boot Image inside the WDS)

    Because of how the Installation works, without having it in both "Places", either the PreInstallation-Environment or the installed Client would not have a driver to use otherwise.

    If the PE-Drivers are missing, the MDT Wizard will basically outright fail with the appropriate error. If the OS Driver is missing, the Installation will go through until the OS starts and then the Client will be effectively offline, failing any further operation from the Task Sequence that would depend on network

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