Microsoft Windows deployment services (WDS) helps you for Windows deployment of the client computers on your business network environment. The WDS is a server technology from Microsoft for network-based installation of Windows operating systems. It is the successor to Remote Installation Services an old OS deployment service. Here you can learn to configure WDS on Windows Server 2016 for Windows Deployment.

Microsoft WDS is intended to be used for remotely deploying Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2016, but also supports other operating systems because unlike its predecessor RIS, which was a method of automating the installation process, WDS uses disk imaging, in particular, the Windows Imaging Format (WIM).

Install WDS in Windows Server 2016

The above video tutorial explains you to install WDS in Windows server 2016 quickly. For Installing Windows deployment services, you need a virtual server or a physical server.

Install and configure Windows deployment services:

1. Prepare Virtual Server.
2. Installing Windows Deployment Services.
3. Configure WDS.
4. Add OS Image.
5. Deploy Client OS.

Using WDS is the best way to deploy Windows 10 images on network client machines and network servers.

After watching this video, you must be able to install the WDS server on a virtual server or a physical dedicated server.

Configure WDS on Windows Server 2016

The next step, after installing Windows Deployment, you need to configure WDS on Windows Server 2016 for Windows deployment. Just watch the WDS configuration video tutorial.

Good, your Windows Deployment server must be configured accurately. The next step using WDS as the best way to deploy Windows 10 images you have added to WDS.

You can find a step by step configuration of Windows Deployment Services here: Step by step guide to configure WDS.

Best Way to Deploy Windows 10 Images

Here you find the best way to deploy Windows 10 image to the client machines on your business network environment. If your Windows Deployment server configured properly, you can deploy Windows 10 without any problems. Otherwise, you must troubleshoot the Deployment server configuration. Find out the issue and try to solve it or share with us to help you.

No matter, if you faced some Windows deployment issue, just comment us under this post.

How to Capture Windows 10 Reference Image with WDS?

Create and capture Windows 10 reference image is important because that image serves as the foundation for the devices in your organization. In this topic, you will learn how to capture Windows 10 reference image using WDS.

This video is a short lab manual. If you need to know more about capturing an image with Windows Deployment Services read the article “Capture Windows 10 reference image using WDS“.

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In a Enterprise network, directly upgrading the network operating systems are difficult task. But upgrade to Windows 10 using MDT is the easiest way to upgrade the old machines. As network admin you already know the importance of OS and application deployment rules in a enterprise network. And also must be familiar with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, Windows Deployment Services and deployment operations.

In this practice lab I will show you how to upgrade to Windows 10 using MDT and refresh old machines with new operating system. You need to be familiar with MDT installation and creating deployment share with MDT. If you are beginner and don’t know the basic of deploying Windows with MDT and WDS, I recommend you to read the below article before continuing this post.

1. How to install MDT and ADK in Windows Server 2016?
2. How to Deploy Windows 10 using MDT?

Try to create your own test lab and continue this article. In the final stage I had faced with an error, hope it will not issue that for you.

Step 1: Import Windows 10 full source to MDT

Adding Windows 10 full sources to MDT will be done through MDT Deployment Workbench. I already have my deployment lab which installed and configured MDT as deployment Server in a Windows Server 2016. So go to open deployment workbench and import Windows 10 and create an upgrade task sequence.

1. Open Deployment Workbench from start menu in your MDT machine. Create a folder for Windows 10 on Operating system section.

2. Simply right click Windows 10 folder and select Import Operating System to open the OS Type page.

3. On the OS Type page select Full set of source files and go to the next page.

4. Put the Windows 10 disc to DVD ROM or mount the Windows 10 Image and select the directory drive then click Next.

5. On the Summary page read details and click Next to start importing Windows 10. Finally on Confirmation page click Finish to close the page and the Windows 10 should be ready.

Step 2: Create an Upgrade Task Sequence in MDT

On the Task Sequence section of Deployment workbench, create a folder relevant to upgrade to Windows 10 using MDT.

1. Right click the Task Sequence and create a folder, so do right click the folder and select New Task Sequence. Now on the General Settings page fill out the task id, name and comments then click Next.

2. Select the Standard Client Upgrade Task Sequence for task sequence template then click Next.

3. Select the previously imported Windows 10 as operating system and click Next.

4. Select the first option Do not specify a product key at this time for now on the Specify Product Key page and click Next.

5. Enter the Full name, Organization and Internet Explorer Home Page correctly on OS Settings page then go to next page.

6. If you like the local Admin account with a password, enter the password, otherwise select Do not specify and Administrator at this time on the Admin Password page and go to Summary page.

 7. On the Summary page read the detail and click Next to being creating the upgrade task sequence. Finally on the Confirmation page of Task Sequence close the page.

8. Now expand the Upgrade Windows 10 folder and right click the created task sequence then click Properties. See the options on the Task Sequence tab that everything is okay.

Close Task Sequence properties and go to update the MDT deployment share.

Step 3: Update the Upgrade MDT Deployment Share

The final step before performing upgrade to Windows 10 using MDT, try to update the MDT deployment share.

1. Right click MDT Deployment Share and click Update Deployment share then select Optimize the boot image updating process and click Next. 

2. Read the Summary details and click Next to begin updating MDT Deployment share. Finally the update should be done successfully.

Close the page and go to begin Windows upgrading from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10.

Step 4: Upgrade to Windows 10 Using MDT

Lets begin with a Windows 8.1 to upgrade to Windows 10 using MDT in our lab. I hope you could perform all above steps successfully.

1. Login to your old machine such as Windows 7 or Windows 8. Then run the Lite Touch script form Windows run like the screenshot. Click Yes to run the script.

The Lite Touch script is a vb script that load the Windows Deployment Wizard from deployment server, where the MDT is installed.

2. When the Lite Touch script will load, select the upgrade task sequence and click Next.

3. Specify a product key if you have, otherwise select No product key is required then click Next. In a production environment you can activate your machine from KMS Server.

4. Do you need to install or update applications also? If you don’t click Next and go to the next page. You can install or updated the applications from this section also. But I don’t want to update or install any software to testing lab.

5. Specify a strong password for Administrator for security reason then click Next.

6. Type the appropriate deployment share domain account for connecting to network share then click Next. I’m using the domain admin user for this lab.

7. On the Ready to begin page, read the details and click Begin to start upgrade to Windows 10 using MDT form a network shared.

8. Let the Windows deployment perform the upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 10 successfully.

When the upgrade complete, the system will restart and finalizing the upgrade process. So don’t push it to restart or shutting down while installing new OS.

Ops! I don’t know why installation progress page disappeared? OK… Let me troubleshoot this error and find the problem. Try to your lab and share the result. I hope it work perfectly for you on your production environment.

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Deploying Windows 10 using Windows Deployment Services with Windows Server 2012 R2 is the third parts of Windows Deployment articles. You can read the previews articles about how to Install and configure the WDS from below links.

• Part 1. How to Install and Configure WDS In Windows Server 2012 R2
• Part 2. Configure Windows Deployment Services on Server 2012 R2?

So in this post we trying to install Windows 10 as client OS for network workstation computers. In part 2 we added Windows 10 install.wim image and created a boot image also.

The WDS Server is ready to response for client requests. Make sure that the active directory and DHCP Server are running and work perfectly. It depends to your network environment, I have installed Active directory and DHCP Server in one server and WDS on the separate server which is the member of domain. You can install them on one server, both of them work the same but installing on the same server is not a good practice in real environment.

Deploying Windows 10 Using WDS

If you are ready, go to client computer and boot it with network card (Pxe). I assume that you have set the boot option of the client to boot from the network and just turn on the system.

1. The system will boot from network, so ask you to press F12 for network service boot. Press F12 to boot the system with Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE).

2. The system will boot and trying to install. Just follow the steps.

Note: It is not necessary to press 12 always to boot the system. You can change the boot option from Properties of WDS. Just go to Windows Deployment Services properties and select the Boot tab. Now select the “Always continue the PXE boot” for known and unknown clients. But it is not a good practice in the real production environment, because of the security reasons.

3. On the Windows Setup page, select the language and keyboard then click Next. The system will ask you the credential, type user name and password and click OK.

You must enter the correct user name and password, otherwise you will face credential errors and unable to continue.

4. Now select each Windows image you want to install. Here I have just one enterprise edition. Select the and click Next.

5. The other process are the same as the the clear installation of a windows operating system. So don’t worry and just create the appropriate partitions and continue the installation till the end.

If you don’t know the process of Windows Installation, follow the step by step article of How to install Windows?

Deploy Windows 10 with WDS Using Server 2016

This video demonstrate the process of deploying Windows 10 using WDS with Windows server 2016.

Hope you find this short Windows 10 deployment article and video demonstration helpful. Feel free to ask you question about deploying Windows 10 with WDS and MDT. Read the article of deploying Windows 10 with MDT on enterprise network.

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The first part of Windows Deployment Services was about the Installation of  WDS on Windows Server 2012 R2. Read it from ‘How to Install and Configure WDS In Windows Server 2012 R2‘. But in the second part of WDS, we will show you how to add Windows Images for deploying, creating Boot Image and Capture Image for capturing the reference PC which is a custom image’s of a Windows operating system. So I don’t talk anymore and let’s deploy clients with Windows Deployment Services using Windows Server 2012 R2.

Add Image To Windows Deployment Services

We need to add two types of images in WDS, install.wim and boot.wim. Then install.wim images are the operating system images that you deploy to the client computer. You can also use the Install.wim file from the installation media (in the \Sources folder of Windows DVD), or you can create your own custom images.

To boot your system through the network card, you must add the boot.wim image of the latest Windows Operating System. The Boot.wim images are Windows PE images that you boot a client computer to perform an operating system installation. In most scenarios. Boot.wim image is also located in the Sources folder of Windows DVD.

While you are login in as a domain admin or member of the Administrators group to WDS Server, go to Server Manager and open Windows deployment services from the Tools tab of Server Manager Dashboard.

Expand the Servers then right-click the Install Images and click Add Install Image.

On the Add Image, Wizard page type the name of a group and click Next.

On the Image, Files page click Browse and select the install.wim image from Windows sources folder and click Open and then click Next. 

On the Available Images pages select Windows edition, whatever you want and click Next. Here we only have Windows 10 technical preview for the enterprise.

It will take a few minutes to check the integrity of image’s and adding images. When the image added successfully, just click Finish and see the Clients group that has the image ready for deploying to clients machines.

That is it. You can add as much as Image you want. But now try to add the Boot.wim image the same as an Install image. But instead of install.wim image select boot.wim image.

Now you can deploy and install Windows 10 for your network clients. In the next part, we will install the client operating system through the network using WDS.

Configure WDS on Windows Server 2016 – Video Tutorial

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How to Install and Configure WDS in Windows Server 2012 R2 is a step by step guide to Windows Deployment Services. Windows Deployment Services is a Microsoft server technology for network-based installation of Windows operating systems and It is the successor to Remote Installation Services of Server 2003. In Windows Server 2012 R2, the following requirements needed for installing Windows Deployment Services role, depending on whether you choose the default installation (both Deployment Server and Transport Server), or only the Transport Server role service.

WDS Prerequisites

• The Windows Deployment Services server must be a member of an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain or a domain controller. You may need to ‘Install Active Directory in Windows Server 2012 R2‘.
• The Domain Name System (DNS) server on the network before you can run Windows Deployment Services. DNS will install with Active directory domain services, but if you have not, read the DNS Installation article ‘Install and Configure DNS in Windows Server 2012 R2‘.
• For deploying IP address you must have a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server with an active scope on the network because Windows Deployment Services uses PXE, which relies on DHCP for IP addressing the clients that want to install OS remotely. Read the topic ‘Install and Configure DHCP Server on Windows Server 2012 R2‘ for DHCP Server.
• You must have the appropriate credential to install role. It means you must be the member of local admin or domain admin. The hard disk volume must be NTFS.

How to Install and Configure WDS?

In Windows Server, sign in to the server as a domain admin and open the Server Manager if it’s not will start automatically. If the step by step is time consuming for your, watch the video tutorial at the end of this article.

On the Server Manager click Manage and then click Add roles and features. On the Before you begin page click Next.

On the Select installation type page, click Role-based or feature-based installation, and then click Next.

On the Select destination server page, select the appropriate server, and then click Next. By default the MS2.technig.local server has selected.

On the Select server roles page, scroll down and then select Windows Deployment Services check box. in the Add feature that are required for Windows Deployment Services? click Add Features and click Next. This task will install the Windows Deployment Services Tools which included in Windows Remote server administration tools.

On the Select features page, click Next.

On the WDS page once read the information and click Next.

On the Select role services page, select the role services to install for Windows Deployment Services. Leave these role services selected by default if you want to install both the Deployment Server and Transport Server. Click Next.

Finally on the Confirm installation selections page, click Install.

When the installation process complete successfully, click Close and go to Server Manager dashboard.  Now we have the WDS role and lets try to configure it.

How to Configure Windows Deployment Services?

While you are log in as domain admin account or local administrators members, go to Server Manager and click Tools then click Windows Deployment Services in order to open it.

On the Windows Deployment Services console page expand the Servers and right click the MS2.technig.local then click Configure Server.

On the Windows Deployment Services Configuration Wizard page, read it once and click Next.

On the Install Options page select integrated with Active Directory and then click Next.

On the Remote Installation Folder Location, select the location where you want to keep all Windows Images and configuration files and then click Next.

On the PXE Server Initial Settings page select Respond to all client computers (Know and unknown) and click Next. Remember, we are in the test area so in the real network environment select whatever you want.

The sever will start and complete the configuration. On the Operation Complete page unchecked the Add image to server now and then click Finish 

Here is the Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2012 R2.

OK, that’s all Install and Configure WDS. The installation has completed successfully. To continue the WDS configuration, adding Windows images and creating capture image read the following articles: Configure Windows Deployment Services on Server 2012 R2?

Video Tutorial, Install WDS on Windows Server 2016

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