Adding Operating Systems

Windows 7 editions are in a single image file, Install.wim, which is in the \Sources folder on the distribution media. For more information about the Windows 7 distribution media and Install.wim, see the Windows AIK 2.0 documentation. To build images based on Windows 7, you must add the Windows 7 media to the MDT 2010 deployment share. Deployment shares must contain at a minimum the Windows 7 source files.

As well as adding Windows 7 media to the deployment share, you can add Windows 7 images that already exist in Windows Deployment Services. MDT 2010 will not copy these files to the deployment share. Instead, MDT 2010 uses the files from their original location during deployment. There is a requirement for doing this.

To add Windows 7 to a deployment share, perform the following steps:

1. In the Deployment Workbench console tree, right-click the Operating Systems folder (or a subfolder you created under this folder) in your deployment share and select Import Operating System to start the Import Operating System Wizard.
2. On the OS Type page, select Full Set Of Source Files. This option copies the entire set of operating system source files from the distribution media or folder containing the distribution media. Optionally, you can add operating system images from a specific Windows Deployment Services server by selecting Windows Deployment Services Images. You can also click Custom Image File to add a custom image, created by using the Windows Deployment Wizard. For more information about creating a custom image, see the section titled "Capturing a Disk Image for LTI" later in this tutorial.
3. On the Source page, type the path containing the operating system source files you're adding to the deployment share, or click Browse to select the path. If you stage (precopy the source files to the local computer) the operating system files on the same partition as the deployment share, you can select Move The Files To The Deployment Share Instead Of Copying Them to speed the process.
4. On the Destination page, type the name of the operating system folder to create in the deployment share. You can accept the default name, which Deployment Workbench derives from the source files, or use a name that describes the operating system version and edition. For example, you can use Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Professional to distinguish between the different operating system editions of Windows 7. Deployment Workbench uses the default name to create a folder for the operating system in the deployment share's Operating Systems folder.
5. Finish the wizard.

The copy process can take several minutes to complete; the move process is much faster. After you add an operating system to the deployment share, it appears in the details pane when Operating Systems is selected in the console tree. Also, the operating system appears in the deployment share in Operating Systems\subfolder[\subfolder], where subfolder[\subfolder] is the destination specified when adding the operating system.

To remove Windows 7 from the deployment share, perform the following steps:

1. In the Deployment Workbench console tree, click Operating Systems.
2. In the details pane, right-click the operating system you want to remove and then click Delete.

Note When an operating system is deleted from Deployment Workbench, Deployment Workbench also removes it from the Operating Systems folder in the deployment share. In other words, removing an operating system from Deployment Workbench also removes it from the file system.