Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013

 May 04, 2015

So I just finished delivering the 10747 SCCM 2012 R2 Configuration Manager training course and again, I was asked the same question.

MDT – is it useful for creating my images?
So, here's a blog article all about it in great detail, where I'll discuss a number of areas.

Environment information

A good idea would be to install a new Windows Server 2012 (or R2) virtual machine and call it MDT13. Obviously, you can call it anything you like, but that’s the machine name I'll use in this post. The server should have the following software installed:

  • Windows ADK 8.1
  • MDT 2013
  • Windows Server Update Services 4.0

MDT 2012 Update 1 is not supported with Windows 8.1, neither is the Windows ADK 8. That’s why we need to have the latest releases of both MDT and Windows ADK. The MDT13 server should be joined to a domain, ideally to a lab environment domain.

You’d also need to create an Active Directory user account, MDT_BA and give it a password like Pa$$w0rd. The MDT_BA account and the password is entered in the Rules section described further down and also used to connect to the Deployment Share.

Environment setup
  1. Begin to install Windows ADK 8.1. During the setup, you’ll have the option to install several features. The following features are required: Deployment Tools, Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE), and User State Migration Tool (USMT).
  2. Continue with the MDT 2013 installation. This is not brain surgery and should be fairly easy.
  3. Install WSUS 4.0 by running the following command in an elevated PowerShell console: Add-WindowsFeature “UpdateServices”,”UpdateServices-WidDB”,”UpdateServices-RSAT”,”UpdateServices-API”,”UpdateServices-UI”
  4. Paste the following into the same PowerShell console and press Enter after each line. $WSUSContentFolder = “C:WSUS” $WSUSUtil = “$Env:ProgramFilesUpdate ServicesToolsWsusUtil.exe” $WSUSUtilArgs = “POSTINSTALL CONTENT_DIR=$WSUSContentFolder” Start-Process -FilePath $WSUSUtil -ArgumentList $WSUSUtilArgs -NoNewWindow -Wait
  5. Launch the “Windows Server Update Services” console.
  6. The “Windows Server Update Services Wizard” now appears.
  7. Click “Next” on the “Before You Begin” page.
  8. Click “Next” on the “Microsoft Update Improvement Program” page.
  9. Click “Next” on the “Choose Upstream Server” page.
  10. Click “Start Connecting” on the “Specify Proxy Server” page. This might take a few minutes. Click “Next” when finished.
  11. On the “Choose Languages” page, select the languages you wish to download updates for. In this post, we’ll only be downloading updates in English. Click “Next.”
  12. On the “Choose Products” page, deselect everything except for Windows 8.1. If you’re going to create a reference image with applications embedded (e.g. Office), remember to add those applicable applications in WSUS later on. Otherwise, when the step for installing updates begins, your reference image will not have any updates for that application. For the purpose of this post, we’re only creating a thin reference image with no applications. Click “Next.”
  13. Click “Next” on the “Choose Classifications” page.
  14. Select “Synchronise automatically” on the “Configure Sync Schedule” page and specify a time schedule that suits your environment. Click “Next.”
  15. On the “Finished page”, select “Begin initial synchronisation” and click “Finish.”
Configure WSUS automatic approval and synchronisation schedule
  1. Launch the Windows Server Update Services console on MDT13, expand Update Services, select MDT13 and click on Options. Configure the “Automatic Approvals” according to the picture below:
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  2. Click on Run Rule.
Create a folder structure for the reference image
  1. On the MDT13 server, create the following folder structure: C:OSDReferenceImages (You could of course choose another structure that suits you better, but remember to edit the “Rules” section described further down in this post.)
  2. Right-click on the OSD folder and select “Properties.” On the Sharing tab, click on “Advanced Sharing” and then “Permissions.” Everyone should have Full Control. Click OK until you get back to the OSD Properties window.
  3. Click on the “Security” tab and then “Edit.” Add the MDT_BA account and amend its permissions with “Modify.”
Create a lab Deployment Share
  1. Open “Deployment Workbench” on MDT01.
  2. Right click on “Deployment Shares” and choose “New Deployment Share.”
  3. Enter C:DeploymentShare as the path for this deployment share and click “Next.”
  4. Choose the default share name suggested (DeploymentShare$) and click “Next.”
  5. Name the deployment share description “MDT Deployment Share – Lab Environment” and click “Next.”
  6. Click “Next” on the Options page.
  7. On the Summary page, click “Next.”
  8. Click “Finish” on the Confirmation page.
Configure the Deployment Share
  1. Right-click and choose “Properties” on the MDT Deployment Share – Lab Environment deployment share and click on the “Windows PE” tab.
  2. Select platform x64 and make sure that “Generate a Lite Touch bootable ISO image” is checked. Change “Scratch space size” to 128.
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  3. Under the Features tab of the Windows PE tab, check “.NET Framework and Windows PowerShell 3.0.” This step is optional, but necessary if you’d like to add some PowerShell scripts to your task sequence at a later stage.
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  4. Click “Apply” and then “OK.”
Modify the Rules
  1. Right-click and choose “Properties” on the “MDT Deployment Share – Lab Environment deployment share” and click on the Rules tab.
  2. Replace the existing rules with the following:
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  3. Make sure that you edit the rules so that they suit your environment. For example, my domain is contoso.com. Edit the following rows: UserDomain=contoso.com WSUSServer=http://mdt13.contoso.com:8530 BackupShare=mdt13.contoso.comOSD
  4. If you've chosen to give the MDT_BA user another password, remember to change that row as well: UserPassword=Pa$$w0rd
  5. Click on Apply and then OK.
Modify the Bootstrap.ini
  1. Right-click and choose “Properties” on the “MDT Deployment Share – Lab Environment deployment share” and click on the “Rules” tab.
  2. Click on “Edit Bootstrap.ini.”
  3. Replace the existing settings with the following:
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  4. Change the UserDomain=contoso.com row so that it contains your domain instead.
  5. If you've given the MDT_BA account another password other than Pa$$w0rd, change it here as well.
  6. Close Bootstrap – Notepad, click “Apply” and then “OK.”
Download the Windows 8.1 Enterprise installation media
  1. Log on to either MSDN or TechNet and download the Windows 8.1 Enterprise ISO.
  2. Mount the ISO on MDT01.
  3. Browse the mounted ISO and go to :sources.
  4. Copy the install.wim to C:Install (create the folder if necessary).
Add an Operating System
  1. Go back to the “Deployment WorkBench,” right-click on “Operating Systems” and choose “New Folder.”
  2. In the New Folder window, name the folder “Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64” and click “Next.”
  3. Click “Finish” when the task has completed.
  4. Right-click on the newly created folder and choose “Import Operating System.”
  5. On the OS Type page, select “Custom image file” and click “Next.”
  6. Browse to the install.wim file copied earlier and click “Next.”
  7. On the setup page, select “Setup files are not needed” and click “Next.”
  8. Specify the Destination directory name Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 on the “Destination” page and click “Next.”
  9. Click “Next” on the “Summary” page.
  10. Click “Finish” when the process has completed successfully.
  11. Optional: Right-click on the newly added operating system and select Rename. Rename it to Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 – Install.
Create a Standard Client Task Sequence
  1. Right-click on “Task Sequences” and choose “New Folder.”
  2. In the New Folder window, name the folder “Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64” and click “Next.”
  3. Click “Finish” when the task has completed.
  4. Right-click on the newly created folder and choose “New Task Sequence.”
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  5. Enter WIN81REF under “Task Sequence ID” and Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 – Reference under “Task Sequence Name” and click “Next.”
  6. Select “Standard Client Task Sequence” as your template on the “Select Template” page and click “Next.”
  7. Select the Operating System created earlier called “Windows 8.1 Enteprise x64 – Install” and click “Next.”
  8. Select “Do not specify a product key at this time” on the Specify Product Key page and click “Next.”
  9. On the OS Settings page, enter your organisation information into the Organisation field, but leave the Full Name and Internet Explorer Home Page values by default (you could change them if’you'd like) and click “Next.”
  10. On the Admin Password page, select “Do not specify an Administrator password at this time” and click “Next.”
  11. Click “Next” on the Summary page.
  12. Click “Finish” when the process has completed successfully.
  13. Right-click on the Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 – Reference task sequence and select “Properties.”
  14. Go to the “Task Sequence” tab.
  15. Under the “State Restore” group, enable “Windows Update (PreApplication Installation)” and “Windows Update (Post-Application Installation).” You can enable a step by selecting it and clicking on the Options tab for that step, then uncheck the Disable this step. It’s a good idea to enable both Windows Update steps, if you plan to install application in your reference image.
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  16. Disable the BitLocker step. Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013
  17. Click “Apply” and then “OK” in the task sequence window.
Update the MDT Deployment Share – Lab Environment
  1. Right-click on MDT Deployment Share – Lab Environment and select “Update Deployment Share.”
  2. Select “Optimise the boot image updating process” and click “Next.”
  3. On the Summary page, click “Next.”
  4. Click “Finish” when the process has completed successfully.
Create a new virtual machine and start the reference image creation
  1. Copy the LiteTouchPE_x64.ISO file from C:DeploymentShareBoot on MDT13 to either a network share or locally on your virtual machine host server.
  2. Create a new virtual machine and mount the LiteTouchPE_x64.ISO to the CD/DVD drive of the virtual machine.
  3. Boot the virtual machine and let the magic begin.
  4. Once the image has been applied, you’ll see the Start screen. Don't panic, it's running. If you click on the Desktop tile, you’ll see that the task sequence is still running.
  5. When sysprep is done, it will start to create a WIM file. At the end, the WIM file will be backed up to the path specified earlier in the Rules section.
    Create a Windows 8.1 Enterprise Reference Image with MDT 2013

You're now done. You now have a reference image ready to be deployed with ConfigMgr 2012. Of course, you can have slight variations on the above method, and Microsoft is constantly tweaking it's products with new updates.

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About the Author:

Barend Koekemoer  

Barend is one of New Horizon’s highly experience IT Technical trainers with over 15 years of practical IT experience as well as experience in administrating, planning and executing projects and automation systems. He began his career in IT working for a South African government organisation and has since become a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist and a Microsoft Certified IT Professional.

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