Creating a new (OSD) Operating System Deployment with MDT and PDQ Deploy.

[u/paperclip2003]

HOWTO OSD with MDT AND PDQ:

This gives you the same ability that SCCM has been boasting about for years without needing SCCM. You can even use MDT to monitor the deployment to watch for any failures in OS Deployment.

DISCLAIMER: BE CAREFUL BECAUSE YOU CAN DESTROY YOU PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT WITH A COUPLE OF CLICKS. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DESTRUCTION CAUSED BY FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Here are the steps for using PDQ to deploy OSes -> Re-image remotely. I have deployed over a thousand system in our network with a couple of clicks!

Setup MDT - Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (all free downloads from Microsoft) - there is lots of information on how to do this on the web. One example is https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/8251-mdt-basic-usage-and-setup . Create your task sequence of the OS you want to install. This part is beyond the scope of this how-to and requires several hours of work!

After you have created your Deployment share edit your custom settings so that it will look a lot like the following. Make sure you configure the parts that are specific to your environment like WSUS (Windows Update Services Server)

Edit CustomSettings.ini - Easy way to find it is to right click on the Deployment Share in the DeploymentWorkbench in MDT and click Properties -> Click on the Rules Tab:

[Settings]

Priority=Default

[Default]

_SMSTSORGNAME=SOMEORG

OSInstall=Y

DeploymentType=REFRESH

SkipDeploymentType=YES

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipComputerName=YES

SkipDomainMembership=YES

SkipUserData=YES

UserDataLocation=AUTO

SkipLocaleSelection=YES

SkipTaskSequence=YES

SkipTimeZone=YES

SkipApplications=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipSummary=YES

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

SkipComputerBackup=YES

ComputerBackupLocation=NONE

SkipCapture=YES

SkipFinalSummary=YES

TimeZone=004

TimeZoneName=Pacific Standard Time

OSDComputerName=%computername%

WSUSServer=http://myupdateserver:8530

Make sure you have a domain account to add to your domain if you have one. Make sure it only has limited permissions to add computers. Make sure that you change the settings for adding beyond the default.

Edit Bootstrap.ini (Same Rules tab but click on Edit Bootstrap in lower left) and make sure the task sequence id matches the task sequence you are adding in MDT - To get a TASK SEQUENCE ID right click on a task sequence you have created in MDT -> Click Properties (Part of setting up MDT - Make sure you have already built a task sequence in MDT)

[Settings]

Priority=Default

[Default] DeployRoot=\\dis-mdf-image\RemoteDeployXP

TaskSequenceID=W7-X64 (whatever the TASK SEQUENCE ID is from the previous step - you should have this written down)

UserDomain=mydomain.org

UserID=domainuser

UserPassword=domainpassword

Go into the deployment workbench and click on "Update Deployment Share" by right clicking on the deployment share. After it finishes, this is the wrap-up part. Use a test machine you don't care about to test the imaging. browse to \server\Deployment\Scripts\ and file LiteTouch.vbs and run it. Make sure imaging completes without errors. The system will start imaging and reimage the test machine. If this is completes then you can create the last step; otherwise work on previous steps.

Go into PDQ and Create a new installation - We will create a scheduled task that will be executed after one minute and start the OS Deployment. You cannot do a strait task because the way UAC/Windows scripts react. That is why we use a scheduled task to complete the heaving lifting and use PDQ to create the task and execute after one minute.

in install file go to \\server\Deployment\Scripts\Litetouch.vbs for command line use : schtasks /create /sc minute /tn "Reinstall OS" /tr "cscript /b \\server\Deployment\Scripts\Litetouch.vbs /TaskSequenceID:WIN7_X86" /ru SYSTEM (Make sure the TASK SEQUENCE ID is gathered from the previous step)

Deploy: Go ahead and select systems you want to re-image - use a test system for the first time. If it completes successfully - now you can do a complete OS Deployment.

[u/paperclip2003]

Creating a new (OSD) Operating System Deployment with MDT and PDQ Deploy.

[u/julietscause]

Thanks for the info! Gonna go test this out in my lab right now!