Deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 with SCCM 2012 and MDT 2013

In this article I’m going to show how to create a SCCM 2012 task sequence to deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013.

 

MDT 2013 has some features not found in SCCM 2012, such as installing Windows Server 2008 Roles and Features during a task sequence.

 

First, let’s get all the requirements out of the way.

Important: this document assumes that you have a working SCCM environment, and that you have a good background with SCCM 2012.

1. Make sure to have an Operating System Images and an Operating System Installers ready for Windows Server 2008 R2 already installed in SCCM
2. Download, install and configure Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 (Make sure to perform these steps on the SCCM server!)
   1. Make sure MDT is properly installed
      
3. Once you make sure that MDT is properly installed, then you need to create a MDT package in SCCM
   1. Basically, from the MDT installation folder, you’re going to copy the following folders to a network share that you’ll use to create the SCCM package: Control, Scripts, Servicing and Tools
   2. Once in the create package wizard, make sure you select This package contains source files and point it to the network share you created in step 2.1
   3. In the Program Type screen, select Do not create a program
   4. Once finished, make sure to Distribute Content
4. Make sure these steps are done properly or you’ll have major issues with the rest of this how-to. I found some great information about creating an MDT package on this link

 

Create MDT Task Sequence for Windows Server 2008 R2

1. Click on Create MDT Task Sequence
2. In the Choose Template screen, select Server Task Sequence
3. In the General screen, provide a name and description for the task sequence
4. In the Details screen, provide the domain and domain account that will be used to join such domain. Also provide organization name and product key number for the installation of the server OS
5. In Capture Settings screen, select This task sequence will never be used to capture an image
6. In Boot Image screen, select your WinPE boot image, in my case that will be Boot image (x64)
7. In MDT Package screen, you’re going to select the MDT package created earlier in this how-to (this portion will either make or break this how-to)
8. In OS Image screen, select the Windows Server 2008 R2 WIM file (Described in requirements step 1)
9. In OS Image Index, select the version of server you want to run, in my case it will be Sever 2008 R2 Enterprise
10. In Client Package, select the SCCM client package that you’ve been using in your environment
11. In Settings Package screen, in my case I selected just any package from the list…because I’m going to disable these tasks later on
12. In Sysprep Package, there’s only one option already selected, so just hit Next button
13. Hit Next until you get to Finish

Next, I’m going to Edit the previously created task sequence.

If you completed the requirements, you should not have any problems following these screenshots.

 

I deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 with only one partition, and that partition is labeled as Local Disk and uses drive letter C

Note: Grayed out steps are those that I do not use in my deployments. You’ll see that there are many steps grayed out by me, it’s up to you to disable them for your environment

Back in step 11, I asked you to pick any package from the list because I was going to disable it in the task sequence. Now, go through every single step in this task sequence and disable that package you selected for step 11. Again, this works for me and my environment.

There is one exception to this rule though, and you’ll see it soon!

In this step, we’re going to enable the Gather step found in the Install\Refresh Only section. Here’s the exception I mentioned earlier.

 

Also, pay close attention to the following fields in Apply Operating System Image section:

• Destination – Logical drive letter stored in a variable
• Variable name – System
  • System is used for drive letter, in this case C:

Next, we’re going to configure the Apply Windows Settings section.
Here, you’re going to type your company’s name and user name for this server, also you’ll need the server’s product key numbers.
In our environment, we have a licensing server, so I set the Licensing server field to Do not specify. Make sure you set the Time Zone as well.

Now, we’re going to Apply Network Settings to our server installation.
This section will allows us to join this server to the domain. You can specify your domain name and the domain organizational unit (OU) where the server account can be placed.
The account used to join the server to the domain can be just a regular domain account.

We’re now going to load drivers to our server installation, this is a nice to have option, but not required. Obviously, you have to have the driver packages created previously.

Next, we’re going to load the SCCM client to our server installation. In this section, I’m loading the default SCCM client, which comes with SCCM installation, and I’m also installing a hotfix for the SCCM client.

 

 

Now, we’re getting to the section where we’ll be adding server roles and features. As a matter of fact, this is the main reason why I decided to use MDT to deploy my Windows 2008 R2 servers.

Note: It’s very important to make sure that Use Toolkit Package, Gather and Tattoo steps precede the Install Roles and Features section.
This section is pretty much self explanatory, just select the server roles and features you want to add then continue.

I have disabled some section (New Computer Only and Capture the Reference Machine) on purpose, you don’t have to to that.

See you all next time! 🙂