With all of us as the camp counselors for Hut 11, I have no doubt that this can be our most successful year ever. That being said, I propose that we stack the deck a little this year.

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is coming to camp this year. If we surround him with the right campmates, we can’t lose!

Let’s Welcome Windows Deployment Services

Although Windows Deployment Services is brand new at Windows Server 2008 Install Summer Camp, the concepts behind it are nothing new. Our old friend Windows Server 2003 used another old friend called Remote Installation Services.

Both of them were built upon the concepts of building a reference system and then taking an image of that system in order to replicate it onto numerous other systems.

WDS is the rich kid dropped off at camp in the big black car by a guy who works for his dad. His name is Wellington Jenkins III.

Sure, he has the ultra-cool PXE to TFTP environment that allows us to create all the images we will need to handle our remote installations and upgrades. But, these images are only part of the story.

We’ll still need a few other campmates if we are going to win the big race at the end of camp. Basically, this means that while the shiny new WDS deployment razzle dazzles ‘em, we’ll still be using some tools from back in the day.

Wellington’s WDS system works by the Boot Image allowing us to create a Capture Boot Image, which then allows us to create an Install Image. The Install Image is actually the image created from capturing, or imaging, the reference system, and the image used to install new systems.

Meet Dexter aka Windows Server 2008 on DVD

Our next cabin mate has been coming to Install Summer Camp forever. He’s the DVD that Windows Server 2008 comes on. We’ll call him Dexter. Dexter’s dad, the legendary CD, came to camp for years when he was younger. Dexter’s grandfather, the stack of floppy disks with a rubber band around them, seems funny now, but he was the way to go back in the day.

But, this year, Dexter is sporting some new threads. For Windows Server 2008, all installation modes use the same image based setup whether they are part of WDS or automated, or not. Which means Dexter is outfitted with Windows Image files (.wim) on that good old DVD.

Dexter can install any edition of Microsoft Server 2008 from that one DVD because those image files are a single instance store (SIS). That means that each file is stored only once per image.

Anytime that file is needed again within that image, a placeholder just points to that single file instead of wasting space by copying the file again. It also means that managing custom images is much easier because the image can be unpackaged, the files within it added to, edited, or deleted and then repackaged back into a fully useable image.

Even better, Dexter’s suitcase of images are file system based. For those camp counselors familiar with some of the other imaging families, you might be more used to sector images which work by copying every bite on a disk without regards to its structure or purpose.

While this form of imaging ensures a total copy regardless of the status of any file, it suffers from both the issue of being hardware dependent (the disk geometry of the computer being installed must match the original computer disk the image was created from in order to get the sectors to line up) and also from having multiple copies of any file that is duplicated on the drive, which makes the images even bigger.

Worse, in order to get anything resembling an optimal image, the drive has to be defragmented first, adding even more time to the image creation process.

Now, it is true that those .wmi files Dexter has can’t be interchanged between 32-bit systems and 64-bit systems, but we’ll just have him save the 64-bit stuff for the end of summer dance with the girl’s camp across the lake.

Meet the Rest of the Team: WinPE, PXE, Sysprep & SIM

Not new to camp this year, is WinPE. While WinPE isn’t any bigger or stronger than before, he is starting to come into his own and showing up on the radar of more camp counselors.

For those of you not familiar with him, WinPE is a minimal version of Windows Server which can be run entirely from a CD for up to 72 hours. It runs in protected mode, but provides a system console independent of any hardware.

It also provides basic networking and can create, delete, and modify NTFS partitions. That means we can do all of the pre-install work without having to use DOS or any partial install. Best of all, WinPE supports PXE.

PXE isn’t new to summer camps, but he hasn’t been to ours before. PXE is the nickname for Pre-Execution Environment. Yes, the name is a mouthful (I hear his parents were hippies), but PXE has the power to get even a bare metal system online to the network.

If the light bulb isn’t on over your head yet, let me flip the switch. With PXE, you can use the WDS system to both build and install images from a server without carrying the images around with you, and without having to "pre-install" a system far enough to get it onto the network in a more traditional manner.

Once again, Windows Server 2008 Install Summer Camp welcomes back Sysprep. Sysprep is a scrawny kid from upstate somewhere, but what he lacks in physical stature, he made up with cleverness.

Sysprep has the unique ability to take any installed system and strip out all the uniquely identifying information on that system.

So, now when we make an image from a server named Condor635, we don’t have to worry about every system we install using that image having the name Condor635. We also don’t have to worry about network addresses, or most importantly the SID. Don’t worry, Sysprep can run in several modes, so we can get what we need out of him.

Last, but not least is our secret weapon … Windows System Image Manager or as his friends call him SIM, is coming to camp.

No longer will we toil into the wee hours of the night with Notepad blazing into the darkness after lights out to create and configure our unattend files. SIM provides a GUI for the process, and while that would be enough, it gets even better.

SIM allows us to validate our answer files against the actual image we are trying to use it for. So, if there is something missing, we’ll get a notification. If we are setting parameters that don’t exist in the image, we’ll be able to see that too.

If it’s 4:00AM and we just can’t keep thinking straight, SIM will help us by only showing the properties that exist for our image and the component we are working on. Properties that aren’t editable are visible, but grayed out so we don’t waste time tweaking the untweakable.

I think you’ll agree that with these campers there will be no stopping us. The number of systems we can deploy to the field will be higher than ever.

Now, get those donuts over to the Camp Manager before those guys over in Hut 3 beat us to it.

Related posts:

• Arthur Installs and Configures Windows Deployment Services
• Arthur Uses the Images Stored on the WDS Servers
• Server 2008: Windows System Image Manager and WDS

With the elements of Windows Deployment Services in place he could begin the process of installing system after system without enduring a quest to travel to every location and sacrificing hours of his time to the Computer Gods by inserting CDs and DVDs into multiple drives.

But, Arthur was not out of the woods just yet. Just because he had set up the WDS infrastructure didn’t mean he had gotten anywhere.

In order to do that, he would have to actually use the images stored on the WDS Servers.

Arthur and the PXE

Arthur knew from his adventures on the Island of Windows Deployment Services that installing the images required using something known as PXE.

As Arthur discovered on the hilltop, PXE was actually a naming trick designed to thwart the unworthy, for the X in PXE actually stood for Execution. But, Arthur was indeed worthy, so he obtained the whole secret and knew that PXE stood for Pre-boot Execution Environment.

And so, Arthur approached the first of the many systems of Network and stood before it. His hand instinctively reached for the power button when an overwhelming sense of dread overtook him. Arthur had never booted a computer using PXE before.

He searched his shoulder slung messenger-style laptop bag that he had carefully chosen to hold his many administrator tools and disks without looking too much like a purse. No matter how much he searched, he could not find a PXE boot disk.

Arthur cursed the gods and stumbled into the hallway. His spirit was broken and a powerful ache filled his chest. He had failed.

He had forgotten to collect the magical PXE booting device. All of his work had been for not.

Arthur struggled down the hallway with the last remaining strength in his legs. At last, he stumbled into the breakroom. He put his coins in the slot and waited impatiently for his Mountain Dew to appear in the receptacle at the bottom of the Vending Machine of Doom.

He popped the top and threw his head back, chugging the sugary yellow fluid hoping against hope that his mind would absorb the caffeine and high fructose corn syrup and provide him with an answer.

Just then, Stan the Firewall Lord, burst into the break room. With his smug face beaming, and his Cisco shirt worn proudly over his gaunt body, Stan sauntered up beside Arthur and purchased his own Mountain Dew.

"What’s up Arthur," Stan said.

Arthur told him of his despair and of his failed quest.

"Hmmm," said Stan. "You know, most newer systems support booting from the network card and when they do a lot of them use PXE."

Arthur stared blankly into Stan’s face, his mind racing over the words Stan had just uttered. Arthur stared for so long that Stan grew uncomfortable and left. When Arthur regained his composure, Stan was long gone.

Arthur chugged what remained of his Mountain Dew and flung the can in the direction of the trash. He didn’t even break his stride when it rattled off the rim of the trash can and onto the floor.

Down the hall Arthur sprinted until he stood before the computer system. He wondered if it could really be that easy.

Arthur pressed the power button and watched the screen closely for the tell-tale sign of the BIOS, a message just seconds long which indicated to any user willing to watch the boot process which key to press to enter the forbidden realm of the BIOS.

Arthur stabbed the F12 key with his index finger and waited for the old fashioned text display to appear. There, before Arthur’s very eyes, appear a menu proclaiming the boot order for the computer. Third from the top were the words Boot from Network.

Arthur quickly pressed the keys to set the system to boot from the network card, and restarted the system.

Arthur was so excited, that what took merely fifteen seconds seemed more like twenty-seven seconds. The system booted. The computer sent signals out onto the network instead of following the boot instructions on the hard drive.

It received an IP address from the DHCP server, and the location of the WDS Server that Arthur has created from DNS. Then, the screen flickered and then shone brightly, illuminating Arthur’s smiling face.

On the screen it said "Select the operating system you want to install."

Arthur Uses the Images

Tears of joy flowed down Arthur’s cheeks, and then stopped. His smile faded and he stared in disbelief at the choices.

His carefully crafted Install Images were nowhere to be found. Arthur grabbed his bag and again rummaged through his various papers, copies of free trade magazines, cheat sheets for Worlds of Warcraft, and other important documents.

He found what he was looking for and began to review the images he had created.

He had created a boot image. He had created a capture boot image. He had created a discover boot image. And, he had so very carefully created an install image.

Arthur shook his head at the papers in his hands. For a moment, he considered the possibility of finding Stan, assuming that he hadn’t taken out a restraining order against Arthur yet. Then, he noticed something.

A tiny seemingly insignificant detail had escaped his attention. All of the images were called boot images except for one kind. Install images were not called boot images. Could it really be that simple?

Arthur selected the boot image for the operating system he wanted to install. The computer asked him what locale and keyboard to use and Arthur answered. Next, the computer demanded a username and password. Again, Arthur responded with a username and password that had admin privileges.

And there, glimmering on the computer screen were the install images that Arthur had crafted earlier. Relieved, Arthur selected the image he wanted to install. From there, it was easy.

After choosing the partition to install, Arthur waited for a couple of reboots and then chose his country, time and keyboard layout. Finally he accepted the licensing agreement and chose a name for the computer.

The system responding with a whirring hard drive.

Arthur threw his head back and laughed in triumph, "Muwah-hah-hah-hah!" just as Stan walked by in the hallway.

Arthur’s victory reverberated throughout network and there was much rejoicing.

Though completely unnoticed, that was also the day, that Stan started locking his office door.

Related posts:

• Arthur Installs and Configures Windows Deployment Services
• Arthur and an Introduction to Windows Deployment Services
• WDS Supporting Players at Server 2008 Install Summer Camp

WDS is primarily positioned for migrating the organization to a new operating systems like, oh I don’t know, let’s just say, Vista?

However, the new WDS features in Windows Server 2008 can be used for pretty much any full system install or restore.

When Arthur returned to the Kingdom of Network, he laid out the magical items he had acquired on his quest.

He saw that WDS is comprised of three main components:

• the first is PXE which replaces the old boot-into-DOS method
• the second is TFTP Servers which will hold the images
• the third are the images themselves which are created in a format called WIM (Windows Imaging Format)

Arthur was aware of other deployment systems out there that may have had more features, or be a little more seamless, but fairies and elves who controlled those systems demanded a trade of gold, and Arthur was pretty sure he couldn’t get the King or any of his Management Ogres to agree to such a thing.

So, since the Land of Microsoft is including WDS in with Windows Server 2008 for free, Arthur figured it would be a good place to start.

On paper, the basics seemed pretty easy to grasp. You would create a system image in the WIM format and then upload that image to the TFTP server.

Then, you would boot a system with PXE and pull the image down from the TFTP server. But as Arthur discovered, the devil is always in the details.

Arthur and the TFTP Server

It came to pass that Arthur realized that he could start either by creating the images or installing the server. Since creating the images meant needing a place to store them, Arthur figured he would start with the TFTP server instead of having to copy the images to it later.

Installing the TFTP server is easy enough. It is simply another one of the role available for a Windows 2008 Server.

So, Arthur fired up Server Manager, and activated the Add Roles Wizard. He chose Windows Deployment Services as the new role. Suddenly, a leprechaun appeared beside him and gave him three warnings:

• First, WDS can only be installed on Windows Server 2008 and that server must be a member server of an Active Directory Domain.
• Second, in order for the clients to emerge functional, they must have access to both DHCP server and a DNS.
• And finally, the folder in which the images are stored must be shared with the name REMINST and thus security needs to be maintained via NTFS permissions.

So warned, Arthur clicked the leprechaun’s Next button and the leprechaun disappeared; then he proceeded to click Install.

With the server role installed, Arthur now needed to configure it to work in the realm of Network. This would be done in Server Manager like any other task by right clicking the server name and choosing configure.

For the initial configuration, Arthur needed only to choose which folder to store the images in, and how the server would respond to PXE clients.

Arthur and the Images

Having successfully installed and configured the WDS server, Arthur was now ready to create his images.

This is where he discovered he had been tricked a little bit, for it was not as simple as it might have sounded. There were actually four image types:

• Boot images
• Capture images
• Discover images
• Install images

Boot images were not created from the client, but rather from the magic discs supplied by the Lands of Microsoft. Yet, loading them was not part of the installation of the WDS server despite their critical importance to the process.

Arthur wondered whether the trolls who slaved in the Lads of Microsoft did it intentionally, most likely in the name of licensing. But of course, it did not matter. He would have to load the boot images himself.

Fortunately, it was not a difficult task. Arthur activated the WDS console and selected his server. He chose the Boot Images folder and selected Add Boot Image.

From there he pointed the console to the location of the installation media for the type of operating system boot image he wanted. The console whirred and copied and finished with an evil laugh that unnerved Arthur.

With the boot images in place, Arthur moved on to the Capture Images. The Capture Images were created in similar fashion, only Arthur selected Create Capture Boot Image.

Again, Arthur wondered about the trolls. He could picture them laughing with glee at the confusion that would be caused by having used the names "Boot Images" and "Capture Boot Images". No matter, he pressed on.

To create a Capture Boot Image (Did you hear troll laughter?) Arthur selected the name of the Boot Image (There it was again!) to use and then entered the name, description, and path for the Capture Boot Image.

Then, he right clicked the Boot Images folder and chose Add Boot Image (Seriously, are there trolls near here?) in order to add his Capture Boot Image to the list of Boot Images. (They’re coming to take me away, hah, hah …)

Finally, with the madness of Boot Images and Capture Boot Images behind him, Arthur set forth to create an Install Image. The Install Image reminded Arthur a bit of the old images he used to create with the program he got from the Ghost Swamp.

This image was created from an installed system and when used would produce a clone of the original system. An Install Image works similarly, but not exactly the same.

To create an Install Image, Arthur created a reference system that was setup the way he wanted other systems to be setup.

He used a magic system from the Land of Microsoft called sysprep to get the image in the right state to be copied. (See Robin Hood and the Castle of Sysprep for more information on sysprep)

Once the system was configured just right, Arthur uttered the magic words — while simultaneously typing them on the keyboard into a command prompt under c:\windows\system32\sysprep\:

sysprep /OOBE /Generalize /Reboot

Arthur and PXE

The system rebooted, and instead of loading the normal Windows operating system, the computer booted into PXE mode. (Arthur also could have pressed the Boot Option key at the BIOS screen and chosen Boot from Network.)

The system connected to the WDS server and obtained the current list of available Boot Images. Arthur chose the Capture Boot Image he had just created.

Using the fabled TFTP server component, the Capture Boot Image loaded to the system and brought forth a familiar Windows Dialog Window. Arthur selected the volume he wanted to create an image of and gave it a name and description.

He then selected to Upload Image to WDS Server. And, with that, the WDS services from the Land of Microsoft took over and imaged the computer, storing the finished file on the WDS server.

For some systems in the remotest corners of Network, Arthur could not use the standard Capture Boot Image to get images of his systems. For these instances, Arthur used the Discover Boot Image.

The Discover Boot image is a similar process except that instead of the image being loaded over the network to the PXE client system, the client system is booted from CD or DVD and the image is loaded from there.

Having triumphantly created the WDS infrastructure necessary to deploy systems all over the land, Arthur left behind his monumental task knowing that the next feat would be actually using the system to load one of the images he had created. But, for today, he had triumphed.

Arthur mounted his trusty Honda Civic and joined with other knights and squires at the local tavern for some futile flirting with the waitress, some electronic trivia and happy hour priced Buffalo wings.

Related posts:

• Arthur and an Introduction to Windows Deployment Services
• Arthur Uses the Images Stored on the WDS Servers
• WDS Supporting Players at Server 2008 Install Summer Camp

Now, Arthur was a good lad, and dedicated to the betterment of the Kingdom of Network. However, each season, when the new systems came in, Arthur had to leave behind his studies and prepare the new systems for the fields of Network.

This required Arthur to remove or reconfigure the pre-installed software. Then, he would sit in front of a monitor and keyboard and put in a floppy disk to boot the system, and then he would feed CDs to the systems one at a time until the system had a shiny new operating system.

Along the way, Arthur would type in the settings and configuration required to make the operating system work properly in the fields of Network.

If he was lucky, he could hook up three or four systems at a time and while one system was working on a CD, he could be feeding another a different CD, and configuring another. When he was done, he would move on to feeding the systems the CDs necessary to install the software that the systems would need to perform their functions.

Still, these were not bad times for Arthur. The times he dreaded though were when the King would return from the Lands of Microsoft having been told the stories of glory and power that could be bestowed upon them all if they would be so bold as to put newer, better, faster, operating systems on the computers of Network.

In those times, Arthur would stride forth into the fields and disappear for days or weeks at a time, once again feeding the systems of Network a pile of CDs.

These times proved to be a huge time suck for the young Arthur, for he had far better things to do in service of the Kingdom. Still, the task was important, and Arthur persevered.

Arthur also developed faster ways of completing his tasks. From the witches in the Ghost Swamp he returned with a way to clone entire systems and use those cloned images to install new ones.

If done properly, it could speed up the process of installing and upgrading. But, the challenge was great, for each kind of system required its own image, and getting the first image right was often a daunting challenge in itself.

So, it was not with great joy that Arthur heard the news that the King had decreed that the Network was to deploy the latest magical system from the Lands of Microsoft and move into a new age with systems bearing the Windows Server 2008 banner.

But, Arthur’s heart was lifted when he heard of a strange prophecy. It proclaimed that systems could be installed quickly across the entire network, even bare metal systems with no software installed. And, so Arthur set out to find the key to the prophecy.

Arthur and Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

Arthur was no fool. He had heard great promises before. Still, Arthur knew that to remove, once and for all, the burden of eternal systems installations was a task worth undertaking.

Arthur set off on his long journey, sailing away to find the answers. At long last, Arthur came to the Shores of Marketing Hype.

The Shores were a dangerous place for an unseasoned computer professional to tread for they were surrounded by jagged rocks inhabited by creatures called Salespeople.

There was some debate as to whether Salespeople were inherently evil, or just corrupted by their three-martini marketing lunches. Either way, their siren song of easy installations, painless upgrades, and newer, faster, features had left many a ship smashed upon the rocky shore.

But, Arthur was no computer intern and he kept his grip on firmly on the wheel as he navigated his mighty ship, skeptically refusing to commit to any of the Siren’s pitches until he landed on the beaches.

Once on the island of Windows Deployment Services, known far and wide by the letters, WDS, Arthur set off to discover its secrets.

As he left the beach, he plunged into a dark forest. In a clearing he met a talking chipmunk. Apparently, the chipmunk had recently been yelled at by a talking llama.

Arthur resisted the urge to find the talking llama and instead listed to chipmunk. As a reward, the chipmunk told Arthur that the keys to WDS lie in the installation mechanisms of the past.

He told Arthur that WDS was a replacement for an older system called Remote Installation Services (RIS). The chipmunk also told Arthur that the next piece of WDS lie upon a hilltop called PXE.

Arthur thanked the chipmunk and headed up the hillside. At the top, Arthur found a stone monument left by non-ancient peoples. It proclaimed that PXE stood for Pre-boot Execution Environment.

Arthur found himself struggling with a mighty urge to chip into the stone tablet, crossing out the X and putting up an E, because after all, execution starts with an E even if it sounds like X. But, Arthur had no time for such things.

The rest of the tablet described PXE as a basic set of operating instructions for a system. This rudimentary operating system would do very little, but what it could do was important.

For the PXE could make a computer boot and connect to the network whereby it could use something called TFTP which according to ancient prophecy could be used to summon an Operating System from the ivory towers known as the Network Servers.

Emboldened, Arthur set off in search of the fabled TFTP.

Near the bottom of the other side of the hill, Arthur heard a ferocious noise. He turned to see a mighty beast with many heads. The beast was the Hydra of System Images.

Arthur pulled his trusty computer operator sword and engaged the Hydra. He cut off a head by creating a new systems image. But, two heads grew back in its place because now, Arthur had to create a new image for every single kind of system, and then Arthur had to manage and update all of those images.

Realizing he could not defeat the Hydra this way, Arthur searched about for another option.

There, shining in the sun was a server. This was no ordinary server, for it had installed upon it a Trivial File Transfer Protocol Server.

Arthur discovered that if he could somehow pull the images from this server, then he could keep them all in one place which would greatly simplify their management. With an easily managed collection of images, he could then create exactly what he needed and deploy them throughout Network.

Arthur seized upon the system and slew the Hydra. As he wiped the sweat from his brow, Arthur noticed something. Trivial File Transfer Protocol was TFTP! He had another piece of the WDS puzzle.

Now, all Arthur needed was a way to get WDS to use his images. As he headed back for his ship, a bolt of lightning shot from the sky, blasting his ship into a million pieces. Arthur mourned for his images, because all of his work had been in vain.

Or had it?

Upon a small outcropping of rocks, Arthur saw a beautiful maiden chained to a rock. Apparently something called a Kracken was on its way to eat her. Arthur wished her good luck with that, and prepared to go on his way when the maiden made him an offer.

She would show Arthur a new way to make system images if he would just help her with the chain. Arthur freed the maiden, and she told him of a glorious system in which images were not sector-based, but rather file-based which would make the images independent of the hardware they were created on.

Even better, each file would be stored in the image only once no matter how many times is was stored on the system. That way, the images could be much smaller.

An overjoyed Arthur quickly built a shaky new boat and headed for home with his treasure, a new wonderful way to deploy systems across the whole of Network.

Related posts:

• Arthur Installs and Configures Windows Deployment Services
• Arthur Uses the Images Stored on the WDS Servers
• Windows Deployment Services and the Real World