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Windows XP HAL independent WDS image

Hi,

I need some help with my WDS,
We currently have the WDS setup fine and are now trying to create a Windows XP image that can work on any hardware. We have looked at alot of these forums on the net and followed them to the T, however nothing seems to work.

We took an HP DX2000(lowest range of hardware on our network) and installed XP setup all the Sysprep and captured the image. However now when we try to deploy this image, on some pc's it shows "no images available" and on others, it show the image and it starts to install but after installing, the PC just keeps rebooting at the Windows XP startup screen.

Does anyone have a working step-by-step procedure that can help me?

Regards,

pjmcc

sysprep afaik is for computers with similiar hardware

but i can help you install XP over WDS by first creating a image on your computer with the XP cd files which can be used on ANY hardware you want you'll need to create the image in microsoft development toolkit 2008 with windows automated install kit

have you got these both installed?

avineshp

ASKER

Ok pjmcc,

I have WDS, MDT 2008 and WAIK installed now.
How can I create this image for any hardware?

pjmcc

let me know when you have installed microsoft development toolkit and windows automated install kit and then i'll guide you through it is quite an easy process

microsoft development toolkit 2008
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3BD8561F-77AC-4400-A0C1-FE871C461A89&displaylang=en

windows automated install kit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=94BB6E34-D890-4932-81A5-5B50C657DE08&displaylang=en

pjmcc

ok open up deployment workbench right click distrubtion share and click create destribution share directory

right click on operating system (under distrubtion share) then new > full set of source files > browse to the winxp cd or winxp cd files copyed to your hdd then ok and finish it should copy the winxp cd or winxp files into the distrubtion share folder from wherever they were on your hdd.

ok right click task sequence and new give the ID,sequence name can be whatever you want then next next next fill out the rest then finish.

now under deploy click deployment points right click on LAB and click update

tell me when youve done all this and i'll give you the last step

Member_2_3684445

Like pjmcc said, when you are repacking / syspreping an allready installed image, the image that has been installed allready has a specific HAL for a specific CPU.

But maybe you can incorperate the following vbs solution ;-)
http://www.msfn.org/board/WDS-WinPE-HALs-XP-Vis-t115243.html

rgrds,

avineshp

ASKER

Ok pjmcc,
Done with all that whats next?

pjmcc

under WDS click boot images and new and browse to C:\Distribution\Boot and select lighttouchpe_x86.WIM

disable other boot images make sure this is the only one online

then network boot and you should be able to complete the rest

let me know if u have problems

avineshp

ASKER

hi pjmcc,

ok done that, now i try to boot of network and when I get to the point of the username and password, it doesn't accept even it I try the domain admins account.

Any suggestions?

avineshp

ASKER

I also ran ipconfig and pinged my ad from the cmd console that was opened on that user authentication screen to see if i have network connectivity and I do, so have no idea

pjmcc

ok what error message do you get

also try the half domain name and full domain name aswell

avineshp

ASKER

ok, i sorted it out
There was no Distribution$ share for some reason so just created that and gave the permissions to that folder and seems to be working, will install now and let you know.

avineshp

ASKER

Hi pjmcc,

I completed the capture image steps, it installed XP, ran sysprep and uploaded the image, however now the pc that I used to create this image just keeps rebooting at the windows logo on startup.

This is after the image was created and upload to the server successfully.

Please advise.

avineshp

ASKER

Now i tried deploying the image that I captured and it deployed fine, and windows was starting, then it starts the sysprep part, and after it finished that I land up with the same problem ===> pc just keeps rebooting at the windows logo screen.

Any ideas anyone?

pjmcc

your not spose to run sysprep after the image has been installed and uploaded to WDS cause that would make the method i explained of installing xp over WDS no different to installing from a CD

you edit the image in WDT2008 after it has been uploaded to the server go to task sequences right click the xp one you did and go properties and edit sysprep.INF in there then be sure to update lab once your all done editing

you can edit unattended,sysprep.inf, add drivers add applications etc etc in MDT2008

avineshp

ASKER

Sorry, didn't mean I ran the sysprep after deploying the image,
Meant that after deploying the image windows boots the first time and then your see the mini-setup running, after it runs and restarts then the pc basic never startup into windows again as it just reboots at the windows logo screen

avineshp

ASKER

Ok, i got it so work now, had to edit the sysprep.inf and enable something in the TS and now that works.

But now got another problem:
When I test it on another pc, the LiteTouch boot image doesn't pick up the network drivers so can't even get to the installing part. I tried adding that nics drivers to the Out-of-the-Box part and then re-updated the deployment part in MDT, and then tried it again but still no luck.

I even tried manually inject drivers using the peimg but still no luck, does anyone know how I can add network drivers into this LiteTouch wim file? and if so do I use windows vista drivers or xp drivers as my image is an xp image that I am trying to deploy to this pc?

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pjmcc

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avineshp

ASKER

HI pjmcc,

Finally go it all sorted out, thanks for all the help