Importing Boot Images

To prepare to service client computers, you must import a Windows PE boot image. Although Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2008 and later versions includes the boot loader code, it does not include the actual Windows PE boot image. You can import boot images directly from the Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 source files. You can also customize boot images with hooks into services, such as MDT 2010. For example, MDT 2010 builds custom Windows PE boot images that connect to MDT 2010 deployment points to install operating system builds. You can add these custom Windows PE boot images to Windows Deployment Services to streamline the LTI deployment process.

To import a Windows 7 boot image, perform the following steps:

1. Insert a Windows 7 DVD into the server's DVD-ROM drive or make an installation source available to the server over the network.
2. Right-click the Boot Images folder and then click Add Boot Image. Boot Images is located under Servers, server_name, where server_name is the name of the Windows Deployment Services server to which you're adding the boot image.
3. On the Image File page, click Browse to select the boot image and then click Open. For example, you can select the default boot image \Sources\Boot.wim on the Windows 7 media.
4. On the Image File page, click Next.
5. On the Image Metadata page, type a name and description of the image and then click Next. The default name and description is derived from the contents of the boot image file.
6. On the Summary page, click Next to add the image to Windows Deployment Services.
7. When the import task is completed, click Finish.