Unattended Install Using WDS

So far, you've been able to leverage WDS to help you load your captured Install image onto new systems over the network. Although that in itself can be quite useful, you can really extract the power of WDS by utilizing its unattended install capabilities. You can think of the Windows installation process as having two phases: The first phase has the preinstallation options such as OS and language selection as well as drive partitioning. In the second phase, installation of the core operating system has completed, but you still have a number of outstanding initial configuration tasks to accomplish.

WDS allows you to automate this process by specifying unattend (answer) files to help answer the selection for you. If implemented correctly, you can automate your server installation from soup to nuts so that a junior member of the team or a less-skilled resource can complete the tasks of setting up the servers for you. They can simply bootup the server using PXE, select the appropriate OS boot menu, select the OS they want to install, and sit back while the WDS does all the dirty work.

To create a fully unattended installation, you need to create the appropriate unattend files based on what you are trying to automate-for example, WDS client, Windows setup, or legacy setup. You then need to associate these unattend files with a specific image or architecture type (by globally defining it on the server as the default for a specific architecture). You can use the Windows System Image Manager (SIM) that is part of the Windows AIK to help create your unattend.xml file.

Windows System Image Manager

The Windows SIM is part of the Windows AIK. Although not part of WDS, SIM is a critical tool in developing unattended installations. You can still create an unattend.xml file using nothing but Notepad, but that process is error-prone. Using SIM makes it a lot easier not only to configure the options you want to set but also to explore other available options-for example, customizing Internet Explorer as part of your Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista installation. The Windows SIM also has the added advantage that it can verify the validity of your unattend.xml file as it's created. Just like a compiler, it will display error messages and warnings to indicate if you have entered invalid data or warn you if you have included options but not specified any values. Windows SIM is also context-sensitive, so the options available in the answer file vary depending on the type of Windows image you have loaded.

Open the Windows SIM, and you will see that it is divided into five distinct panes: Distribution Share, Windows Image, Answer File, Properties, and Messages, as follows:

• Distribution Share Create or select a distribution share; each share contains additional software and third-party drivers you may want to load as part of a Windows installation. A distribution share contains three folders: $OEM$ Folders, Out-of-Box Drivers, and Packages. The $OEM$ folders can contain software you want to install automatically as part of the installation. Out-of- Box Drivers can contain third-party drivers you want to make available during install. Packages are files provided by Microsoft such as hotfixes, security updates, service packs, language packs, and modifications to Windows features.
• Windows Image Add WIM files, which not only allows your images to be organized but also works as a context switch for answer files you will create.
• Answer File Adds entries for your answer (unattend) file.
• Properties Displays additional properties for any option you select in your answer file.
• Messages Displays success, error, or warning messages when compiling your answer file. Double-click an error or warning and you are directed to the property that triggered the message.

When you create an answer file, you will have to add one or more components from the Windows Image pane to the Answer File pane. The components can be added only to very specific configuration passes. In total, seven configuration passes occur during the installation and configuration of Windows Server 2008, as shown in Table-2 (next section).