Configuring Windows Deployment Services

Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is the updated and redesigned version of Remote Installation Services (RIS), which was first introduced in Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. You can use Windows Deployment Services to rapidly deploy the Windows 7 operating system by using Pre- Boot Execution Environment (PXE). Using Windows Deployment Services, you can deploy Windows 7 over a network. You can also use Windows Deployment Services to start remote computers using Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) boot images and then install Windows 7 using customized, scripted deployment solutions, such as Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (MDT 2010).

Windows Deployment Services delivers a better in-box deployment solution than RIS. It provides platform features that allow for custom solutions, including remote boot capabilities; a plug-in model for PXE server extensibility; and a client-server communication protocol for diagnostics, logging, and image enumeration. Also, Windows Deployment Services uses the Windows Imaging (.wim) file format and provides a greatly improved management experience through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and scriptable command-line tools. For organizations that already have a RIS implementation deployed, Windows Deployment Services maintains parity with RIS by providing both coexistence and migration paths for RIS. First, Windows Deployment Services continues to support RIS images in legacy or mixed mode. Second, Windows Deployment Services provides tools to migrate RIS images to the .wim file format.

This tutorial describes the architecture of Windows Deployment Services and the requirements for using it. It also describes the key features of Windows Deployment Services and how to use them in specific scenarios, including how MDT 2010 uses Windows Deployment Services to start destination computers and install operating systems. Finally, the tutorial describes the improvements to Windows Deployment Services introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2.