Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Drivers in Boot Images

You may have to occasionally add drivers to boot images. Don't confuse this with adding drivers to the operating systems being deployed. Boot images require only minimal functionality for proper operation, including connectivity to the network and the ability to write to the system's hard drive. The drivers added to boot images in no way impact or affect the drivers used by the deployed OS.

In general, only drivers for network interface cards (NIC) and storage devices should be added to boot images and only if necessary. The WinPE images used in ConfigMgr 2012 are based on Windows 7 and thus include a large driver store sufficient for most hardware used, including Intel SATA devices. Like the entire OSD process, test your boot image on all applicable hardware in your organization and add only a NIC or storage driver if the boot image cannot establish a network connection or use the hard disk.

On rare occasions, other drivers may also be needed to support basic WinPE operations; such as pointing devices on slate systems. In general, never add a driver to WinPE unless you verify it is required for WinPE operation and your boot image does not contain a suitable driver that provides minimal functionality for the device. Adding extra drivers bloats the boot images and introduces the possibility of driver conflicts.

As described in the "Importing Drivers" section, you can add drivers directly to a boot image at the time you import them. Unless you are importing only a single driver that you know must be added to a boot image, it is generally recommended you not add drivers directly into boot images during the driver import process. Instead, after importing the drivers, select or multiselect those that you want to add to a boot image in the console, and choose Boot Images from the Edit fly-out menu on the ribbon bar or rightclick context menu. This launches the Add or Remove Drivers to Boot Images dialog where you select boot images to which to add the selected drivers. An additional way to import drivers into a specific boot image is using its Properties dialog and selecting the starburst icon on the Drivers tab. From this tab, you can also remove drivers from a specific boot image using the red X icon.

TIP: USE CATEGORIES FOR BOOT IMAGE DRIVERS
Using a separate category (or set of categories) to organize drivers that you add to your boot images helps immensely should you ever recreate your boot images or create new ones.

Boot Image Customization

Although you can create completely custom boot images from scratch, there is generally no need to do so; the built-in boot images are sufficiently customizable to meet nearly any need. The following customizations are available from the Customization tab of a boot image's Properties dialog box:

• Enable prestart commands: Prestart commands run before the OSD process even begins. Prestart commands are typically used to display information and prompt the interactive user for some type of input such as the system's location, wanted name, or role. There are no predefined prestart commands, and this type of customization is completely up to your needs and abilities. In general, you can use any valid Windows script (batch, VBScript or Jscript; PowerShell is not [yet] supported in WinPE).
  Prestart commands often require additional files like scripts or executables that are not part of the default boot image. You can also add these files by specifying a folder containing them to this section in the Properties dialog, and they are added to the boot image when it is distributed to its assigned DPs. Even if you do not use a prestart command, using this section to add files to the boot image is helpful; such as diagnostic scripts that help during troubleshooting.
• Windows PE Background: In this section, specify an image to use as the background during OSD instead of the default one provided by Microsoft.
• Enable command support: Checking this check box enables you to launch a command prompt anytime during OSD. This is useful for troubleshooting issues during OSD and is discussed in the "Troubleshooting" section.

Although using these customizations should cover most needs, it is possible to create a completely new and custom WinPE boot image and import it into ConfigMgr. To do so, start with Microsoft's walk-through at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ cc766385.aspx and add whatever additional customizations are necessary. A common reason to create custom boot images is to add capabilities to the boot image such as supporting HTAs for displaying custom UI to the interactive user or the Microsoft Data Access Components (MSDAC) to query Active Directory or a database during the WinPE portions of OSD. Adding these packages is discussed at http://technet.microsoft.com/ en-us/library/cc749470(v=WS.10).aspx.

To import a boot image after you create it, follow these steps:

1. Copy the WIM file to its permanent home in your source repository. Each WIM file does not need to be in a unique folder. ConfigMgr directly references the actual WIM file itself making distinct folders for each WIM unnecessary.
2. In the console, navigate to Software Library → Operating Systems → Boot Images, and choose Add Boot Image from the ribbon bar or right-click context menu to launch the Add Boot Image Wizard.
3. The Add Boot Image Wizard has two significant pages:
   • Data Source: The exact UNC path to your WIM file containing the image you want to import and which boot image to import from the WIM file.
   • General: Descriptive metadata for you to add a Name, Version, and Comment.

When imported, custom boot images are treated exactly the same as the two default boot images.

NOTE: DON'T USE BOOT IMAGES FROM THE WINDOWS INSTALLATION MEDIA
Do not use the boot images (boot.wim files) included with the Windows installation media-these are specially customized boot images that do not work properly with OSD.