Operating System Deployment Feature Pack FAQs

The following list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) was assembled from a combination of the questions asked during Brady Richardson's presentation on the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack and the material he covered. If you've not had a chance to view the presentation yet, I would strongly encourage you to do so today by visiting:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032254841&Culture=en-US

Should you have any additional questions you'd like to have answered about this feature pack, you can contact me by using the Contact Me option.

Also, Collective Technologies has built an OSD Proof-of-Concept service to help Microsoft customers learn how to maximize their investment in SMS using the OSD. Learn more about the service here.

Question: Is Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) utilized in the image distribution process?

Anwser: No. At this time BITS is not used in the image capture/deployment process, but is being considered for a future version of the OSD.

Question: Why do I receive the error message “No distribution points were found for package package ID.“ when using the image installation CD?
Answer: Please refer to Knowledge Base article 888311 for more details on an available hotfix for this problem.

Question: Are there any available hotfixes for the OSD release?
Answer: Yes. There is a known issue with installing and uninstalling the English OS Deployment Feature Pack that was released on November 16, 2004. When installing or uninstalling the OS Deployment Feature Pack in the same timeframe as making site configuration changes, your SMS Site Control File changes may be reset and some of your configurations may be reverted; however, on December 17, 2004, Microsoft released an updated OS Deployment Feature Pack that addresses this issue. If you have already installed the OS Deployment Feature Pack without incident, you should also download this new file and run the installation over your previous installation to ensure you do not run into this issue if you choose to uninstall the OS Deployment Feature Pack at a later date.  You can find the installation here: (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3e51fd48-c412-48c9-942d-648914c2759e&displaylang=en).

Question: Has the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack been released to the public?

Answer: Yes. You can download it from Microsoft's website at: http://www.microsoft.com/smserver

Question: Can the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack FP manage the local administrator name and password?

Answer: Yes. You can configure the account name and password as part of the imaging process. With the password you have the option of using a static password or one that is randomly generated for you each time.

Question: How do you know what the local administrative password is for a systems that the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack feature package randomly generated.

Answer: You don't. But, neither should would-be attackers. The concept here is that you would use domain credentials and leave the local admin account essentially disabled, or use domain credentials to reset the password after the machine is updated.

Question: Generally how large are the image capture CDs?

Answer: This will depend on the master computer and which operating system and applications it has installed. Typically, you will find a 3:1 compression ratio. For example, a standard Windows XP SP1 system with Office 2003 (with full install) is about 600MB.

Question: Does the Sysprep process cause a new product key activation request?

Answer: Yes, running Sysprep on a machine does trigger the product activation once the image is deployed to a new system. However, you can specify a static Select product key or EA customers may provide an encrypted volume product key instead. This eliminates the issue with having to interact with the installation during deployment.

Question: What are the requirements for the reference computer that I’m capturing an image from?

Answer: The following are required for the reference computer, prior to the capture process:

• Operating System (Windows 2000 or higher)
• Service Packs (may be required for Advanced Client)
• Applicable Patches (optional, but recommended)
• Core Applications (e.g. Office, WinZip, )
• SMS 2003 Advanced Client (dormant state – no assigned site code)
• Must have a C: Drive
• Must boot from the C: Drive
• C: Drive must be formatted with NTFS

Question: If I’ve used SMS to install software packages onto my reference computer, will the SMS Advertisement history be saved so that the same packages will not be re-advertised to new systems?

Answer: Yes. The Advanced Client Prep saves SMS Advertisement history to prevent re-advertising of previously installed SMS packages.

Question: What is Windows PE?

Answer: Windows PE is a customized version of Windows that is use to boot the computer for the imaging process. It is used both in the image capture and installation phases. For more information on Windows PE, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/sa/support/winpe.mspx

Question: Which Operating Systems does the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack support?

Answer: It will support creating an image from Windows 2000 and later. However, you can deploy those images to any system running Windows NT 4.0 SP6 and later in an in-place upgrade scenario or to any bare metal machine by mounting the image to a RIS server.

Question: Can the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack add the computers to the domain as they are imaged?

Answer: Yes, with a named account with appropriate permissions for adding the computer account to the domain. It is recommend, however, that this be a limited access account with only enough privileges to add computer accounts to the domain.

Question: Can I specify which Active Directory container to create the computer account in?

Answer: Yes. When creating the program for the image package in the SMS Admin console you have the option under to specify which Active Directory container to add the system to.

Question: If I have Office 2003 in my image and later need to update Office, say with SP3, can the image be updated without having to recreate an image on the reference machine, and repeating the entire process again?

Answer: Not in the initial release of the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack. Microsoft is considering delta-based updates for a future version.

Question: Can I provide user notification that the deployment process is about to begin?

Answer: Yes. Very similar to how Systems Management Server handles user notification for the patch management process, the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack allows you to specify the department that is responsible for the deployment to be displayed during the bubble pop-up in the notification area. You can also include an RTF file to be displayed to the user logged in.

Question: If a user is logged it at the time of the deployment, can we allow them to postpone it?

Answer: Yes. You can specify to allow them to postpone it until a specify date and time. If they do not respond to the 'postpone' notification, you can have the default action taken after XX minutes/hours/days.

Question: Will the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack remember the time zone settings of the old system that has been re-imaged?

Answer: Yes. The Operating System Deployment Feature Pack will retain these settings.

Question: Will the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack retain the same static IP address for a re-imaged system?

Answer: Yes. If the system was previously configured with a static IP address this information can be retained or the system can then be converted to a DHCP-provided address.

Question: Can the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack preserve the SMS site code?

Answer: Yes. The Operating System Deployment Feature Pack runs an SMS State backup and restore that can retain this information. However, you also have the option to assign a new static site code or configure it to select one from the Management Point.

Question: Where is the user state data stored?

Answer: It can be stored locally on the hard disk, as the imaging process does not complete format/partition the drive or you can specify a secured network local with the appropriate account information.

Question: Can I add custom actions to be preformed during the imaging process?

Yes. The Operating System Deployment Feature Pack supports the ability to add any custom action during the Validation, State Capture, Pre-install, Post-install, or State Restore phases.

Question: What custom actions are already included in the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack?

Answer: The following custom actions are already included with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack. Others can be easily added through the user interface.

• User State Capture
• Connect to UNC Path
• Reboot System

Question: Is there a timeout available for custom actions that may fail?

Answer: Yes, there is a time out available when configuring your custom actions.

Question: What format are the images stored in?

Answer: The images captured with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack are stored in the Windows Imaging Format (WIM).

Question: Where are the images stored for distribution to Systems Management Server clients?

Answer: Using the existing Systems Management Server infrastructure, the images are stored on distribution points throughout the enterprise.

Question: How do I target systems to deploy an image to?

Answer: Using the existing Systems Management Server features, you can deploy images to collections of systems just as with any other Systems Management Server package.

Question: Do you need Systems Management Server SP1 to use the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack?

Answer: Yes, the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack feature pack requires Systems Management Server 2003 SP1 to be installed.

Question: Does Operating System Deployment Feature Pack support bare metal OS installations?

Answer: Yes. You would just boot with the install CD, and not from using an SMS deployment. But the CD would pull the image from the SMS distribution point. Alternatively, you can mount the CD to a RIS server.

Question: What happens during the validation phase?

Answer: During the validation phase any third party hooks that need to be applied along with any custom actions that you’ve specified are executed. The customized RTF user notification also takes place during this phase.

Question: What happens during the state capture phase?

Answer: During the state capture phase the following actions are performed:

• ISV/Custom Actions
• User State Capture (USMT)
• Machine State Capture
• SMS State Capture

Question: What happens during the Installation Phase?

Answer: During the installation phase the following actions are performed:

• Installs WinPE and sets to default boot
• Copies required files
• Reboots the system

Question: What happens during the Pre-Installation Phase?

Answer: During the Pre-Installation Phase, third-party disk utilities may be used to alter the geometry of the hard disk or perhaps diskpart may be used to alter the disk as well.

Question: What happens during the Installation Phase?

Answer: During the Installation Phase the following actions are performed:

• Old operating system is erased
• Management Point is contact to select appropriate Distribution Point
• The WIM file is copied locally
• Rebooted back into the operating system
• Mini-setup is executed
• Installation is completed

Question: What happens during the State Restore phase?

Answer: During the State Restore Phase the following items are performed:

• Machine State restored
• SMS State restored
• ISV/Custom actions performed
• Users State restored
• User Logon screen presented

Question: Will the state capture phase record all user profiles or only the currently logged on user?

Answer: The Operating System Deployment Feature Pack will capture all profiles stored on the local system.

Question: Can other SMS packages be run in specific order during the installation proceess?

Yes. You are able to specify which packages are to be installed as part of the image and which order they are to be installed.

Question: Can the operating system deployment be done without saving any system or user state?

Answer: Yes, you can configure the program not to migrate various machine and SMS state. There is no support for an image on the installation CD in this version but it will next version

Question: Does the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack client send status messages?

Answer: Yes. WinPE - With SMS SP1 modifications to the Management Point, will accept messages from the client from – using the previous client GUID to reassemble what a proxy status message would look like.

Question: What technologies are incorporated into the OSD?

Answer: The following technologies are incorporated into the feature pack:

• WIM – Windows Imaging Format
• WinPE – The Operating System Deployment Feature Pack Capture/Installs using the WinPE environment
• SysPrep – Reference computer preparation & Target computer configuration
• DiskPart – Partitioning option for installation
• USMT – Integration for user state capture and restore. Version 2.6 Unattended install – multi-user profiles

Question: Can PXE boot be used to deploy the image?

Answer: Yes, you can mount the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack installation CD on a RIS server.

Question: Is imaging supported in an NT 4.0 Domain or is Active Directory required?

Answer: SMS 2003 does not require AD, and does support NT 4 domains (but only supports Windows 2000 SP3 or later as a site server).

Question: Is the image distribution process interruptible by a local user?

Answer: The only way a user can interrupt the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack process once it's started is by powering off the machine.

Question: Does Virtual Server support PXE boot? And if so, can you use the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack to deploy images to virtual machines?

Answer: Yes. You can boot to CD images within a virtual image, thereby allowing you to use the Feature Pack in this scenario.

Question: When you add a custom executable, does it remain on the machine after it's done running? If so, where?

Answer: No, everything is run off of the DP. If you want to copy anything locally then you will have to make that part of your custom action.

Question: What is Microsoft’s support policy regarding imaged systems?

Answer: Microsoft will fully support both server and workstation imaging. However, they will not support server imaging beyond normal file/print services. For example, Exchange and SQL Servers would not be supported.

Question: Can I target a client that is currently a FAT or FAT32 file system with the NFTS file system-based image?

Answer: Yes. The deployment process will validate that the targeted client is formatted with NTFS. If it is not, the drive will be converted.

Question: Can we totally wipe/repartition the hard disk drive with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack?

Answer: No. WinPE is installed onto the drive so full wipe and loads are not supported in this release. The next release of WinPE will support boot in RAM which will remove this limitation.

Anwser: No. At this time BITS is not used in the image capture/deployment process, but is being considered for a future version of the OSD.