WDS – Unattended file – Removing /Formatting Drive Partitions
KB ID 0000490 Problem Over the last couple of years I’ve done a lot of imaging of School PC’s I don’t know why but they come with a myriad of different drive and partition configurations. Even big vendors like HP and Dell ship their machines with recovery partitions these days. If you are imaging with WDS this can cause a problem so what I usually want to do is remove all the partitions, create one big one that...
WDS – Unattended file – Joining a Domain Automatically
KB ID 0000494 Problem During a large rollout the more things you can automate the better, before you continue though be aware of one thing… You can only automatically join a client to a domain if it has an auto generated random machine name!* *Note: This is not 100% true, if you pre-stage the computer objects into Active Directory with the GUID of the machine (you can see this on the screen at pXe boot time, or get it from the...
Windows Deployment Services – Asks for Locale and Keyboard
KB ID 0000734 Problem Seen when deploying images with WDS, even though you have specified language, and keyboard settings in your answerfile. The system still asks you to set the language and keyboard options. For a couple of machines you might put up with this, but for a few thousand machines it can get quite annoying! Solution There is a reason it’s doing this, and it’s because the next thing it asks you to do is...
WDS Deploying Windows Part 3: Carry Out an Unattended Deployment
KB ID 0000738 Problem In part two we built our reference machine and took an image of it using WDS. Now to automate the deployments we need to create some unattended answer files, these will answer all the questions that the Windows 8 machines will ask while they are building. We will take those files and import them into the WDS server we configured in part one. Finally to make sure everything is working we will deploy Windows 8....
WDS Deploying Windows Part 1: Install and Configure WDS
KB ID 0000735 Problem You want to deploy the Windows 8 Client Operating System, to a number of clients using WDS. In this part we will configure the WDS Server, then we will move onto taking an image of your reference Windows 8 machine. Finally we will cover taking that image, and deploying it out to many target systems. Solution Add the WDS Role 1. From Server Manager (ServerManager.exe) > Local Server. 2. Manage > Add Roles...
Windows 10 – Update the Windows Build
KB ID 0001026 Problem I’ve had the Windows 10 technical preview for a while now, but other that run it up in VMware workstation I’ve not done much with it. Today I wanted to check something, and found out my build was too old. I was just about to head over to MSDN and get the latest ISO when I thought, “I wonder if I can update it ‘in place'”. Note: This procedure is going to take a while. Solution 1....
Windows 10 – Install The VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client
KB ID 0001082 Problem Have you installed the VI client on Windows 10? My boss asked me this week, I replied no, but if it didn’t work then loads of people would soon be moaning. I remember sometime ago I had to use comparability mode to install it on Windows 8. I had the brainwave, “Why not ThinApp the client” it would work then, but the 5.5 client stubbornly refused to fire and the ThinApp package size was...
Windows 8 -“Windows cannot read the setting from the unattend answer file.”
KB ID 0000511 Problem Note: This is applicable to running the Windows 8 Developer Preview in VMware Workstation. When you attempt to power on the machine you see the following error: Install Windows Windows cannot read the <ProductKey> setting from the unattend answer file. Solution 1. Delete your broken virtual machine and create a new one, but this time select “I will install the operating system later” Note: Just...
Windows 8 (Server and Client) Black Screen (Post VMware Tools Install)
KB ID 0000587 Problem I’ve seen this on both the Windows 8 (Consumer Preview), and the Windows Server 8 (Beta), whilst running them in VMware Workstation 8. They install fine, but if you install the VMware tools all you get is a black screen. This is because the SVGA Driver than VMware Tools installs Windows 8 does NOT Like. Note: This does not hppen on ESXi 5. Solution I knew this was going to happen, so I took a snapshot...
How Do I Shut Down Windows 8?
KB ID 0000588 Problem Like Windows 7, Windows 8 is more than happy to gracefully shutdown if you press the power button on your PC/Laptop/Tablet. But now you don’t have a “Start Button” where’s the option to turn it off? You might find it simpler just to Create a Shutdown shortcut on the Start Menu. Solution How to Shut Down Windows 8 1. Press Windows Key+I > Power > Shut down. How to Shut Down Windows 8...