Tag Archives: pxe

WDS Image Creation

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As a continuation of my previous WDS post located here, these are the steps I follow for creating my WDS images.

  • Install OS, drivers, service packs, software, updates, and everything else to master system.
  • Copy Windows installation media to local drive: xcopy /H /E D:\* C:\windows\options\cabs\
  • Copy deploy.cab from recent installation media, extract to sysprep folder located on the administrator’s desktop.
  • From a Windows command prompt, browse to sysprep folder and run:  sysprep.exe -mini -reseal (with optional flags) 
  • Wait for system to shutdown..  start system back up, ensure PXE or network boot is enabled.
  • Boot from PXE/WDS, select Windows PE from options menu. 
  • At Windows PE command prompt, run: wdscapture
  • Follow Windows Image Capture wizard.

PXE and Kickstart, Automated Installations for Linux via WDS

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Today I decided to setup automated installations for Linux distros (RHEL, Fedora, CentOS), similar to how we deploy our Windows installations via PXE.  Since we already had WDS running for installing Windows, it was just a matter of reconfiguring WDS, setting up the necessary structure and kickstart files for our automated Linux installations.  While I do not cover the initial WDS installation process, I will attempt to go over the steps performed after the basic WDS install (native or mixed).  Continue reading →