WDS from the Client's View
The Basics introduced you to Windows Deployment Services (WDS). In this tutorial you will start working with client machines to access the services that WDS provides.
When looking to perform installations of Windows images in the past, many organizations have turned to third-party solutions that require additional licensing. Microsoft has included a network-based image deployment solution called Windows Deployment Services (WDS) in every release of the server operating system since Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.
WDS allows administrators to capture and deploy operating system images using the hardware features of the computer being worked with. This makes it useful for deploying operating systems to computers that don't have a DVD drive, such as budget PCs or netbooks. WDS can be used as a stand-alone solution, or it can be used to extend the functionality of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (light-touch deployment) and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (zero-touch deployment). The best part is that WDS requires no additional license purchases.
In this tutorial, you will learn to:
- Use and customize the PXE client
- Create a customized installation image
- Automate WDS
Employing the PXE Client
Here's a quick refresher. The client computer that will be working with a WDS server will boot up using a PXE client in order to get a network configuration, connect to a WDS server, and download a WDS client. In this section you will learn how to use the PXE client and see how it works by default. You will then learn how to customize the PXE client so that it functions according to the needs of your organization.
The PXE client is a feature that is normally provided by the network adapter in a computer. It is used to boot up a computer, and it will obtain a DHCP IP configuration and connect the computer to a WDS server. This allows the PXE client to download the WDS client, after which you can either install a new operating system image on the PC or capture the existing installation, which can be copied to the WDS server for later deployment.
You are now going to see how the PXE client works without any customization. We will deploy an operating system to a computer that has no operating system. You'll also see how to configure the way WDS will respond to PXE clients.
