MDT is very simple to use if you are familiar with the imaging process introduced in Windows Vista (Based on monolithic WIM image files that are "restored" instead of set of files that get copied). WIM files can be updated, customized then added back to an installation media or distribution shares.
Once you have MDT up and running, you will need to create what is called a Deployment Share.
- Open MDT (Start > All Programs > Microsoft Deployment Toolkit > Deployment Workbench).
- Right click on Deployment Shares the select Deployment Share.
- Choose the folder that will be shared over the network. Preferably on another partition (i.e. D:\Deployment). Click Next.
- Name the share: i.e. Deployment$ which will reside on \\MDTSERVER\Deployment$.
- Select a descriptive name like, let's say: "MDT Deployment Share".
- Leave all the other settings by default since we will modify most of them later.
The deployment share will then be built. You will see several folders:
It's a perfectly good time for some explanations:
- Applications: This is the folder where the post-install applications are listed. They are presented during the wizard if the rule SkipApplications is set to NO.
- Operating Systems: The OS images reside in there, they can be WIM files or complete OS CD/DVD contents (including Windows XP).
- Out-of-Box Drivers: Self explanatory, all the drivers you import will be in here. It is STRONGLY recommended to create folders in order to ease future updates (i.e. Out-of-Box Drivers\Ethernet\Broadcom for Broadcom Ethernet drivers or Out-of-Box Drivers\Dell\Latitude\D630 for Dell Latitude D630-specific drivers).
- Packages: Update packages for Windows, like Service Packs, Language Packs... Remember that if you have a Volume License agreement with Microsoft, updated ISO files are available (including the latest Service Pack).
- Task Sequences: The core of MDT, the task sequences will actually allow you to deploy operating systems. They are composed of 2 XML files, namely unattend.xml and ts.xml. The unattend.xml file is the same you would create with WAIK, based on a catalog generated for a specific image. The ts.xml file contains settings for the task sequence itself. A task sequence lets you configure installer behaviors for pre-installation (settings collection, drive formatting options), installation (image selection) and post installation (application and drivers installation, Windows settings and domain membership).
- Advanced Configuration contains some advanced features I will talk about in another article. Mainly replication rules and fine tuning.
Your MDT distribution point should now be running. The next article will show you how to add and image and configure it for the actual deployment.
Namaste.
