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Deploying Windows Server 2003 R2 using MDT 2008

By arwidmark / April 27, 2008

Deploying Windows Server 2003 R2 in MDT 2008

Credit goes to another Setup and Deployment MVP, Mikael Nyström (Who just happens to work at the same company I do :  )

  1. Add the Windows Server 2003 R2 Operating System (CD1) to the deployment workbench, and create a Task Sequence for it.in my example is was added it into D:\Distribution\Operating Systems\Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise SP2 Eng x86
  2. In the above folder, create a subfolder structure starting with $OEM$. It should look like this:
    D:\Distribution
    -Operating System
    –Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise SP2 Eng x86
    —$OEM$
    —-$1
    —–R2
  3. From Windows Server 2003 R2 CD2, copy the CMPNENTS folder to D:\Distribution\Operating Systems\Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise SP2 Eng x86\$OEM$\$1\R2
  4. In the $OEM$\$1\R2 folder, create a batchfile named InstallR2.cmd (using below content)

    reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup /v SourcePath /t REG_SZ /d C:\Windows\Source\i386 /f
    reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup /v ServicePackSourcePath /t REG_SZ /d C:\R2\CMPNENTS\R2 /f
    C:\R2\CMPNENTS\R2\setup2.exe /q /a /sr

    Note: There are only three lines, line 1 and 2 beginning with “reg”, line 3 beginning with “C:\R2” these lines may have been wrapped.

  5. For the Windows Server 2003 R2 Task Sequence, update the [GUIRunOnce] section in Unattend.txt to look like below:

    [GUIRunOnce]
        “C:\R2\InstallR2.cmd”
        “cscript.exe C:\MININT\Scripts\LiteTouch.wsf /start”
        “cscript.exe D:\MININT\Scripts\LiteTouch.wsf /start”
        “cscript.exe E:\MININT\Scripts\LiteTouch.wsf /start”
        “cscript.exe F:\MININT\Scripts\LiteTouch.wsf /start”

Note: If you also want to disable the Windows Server Post-Setup Security Updates window, you have two options for doing that.

Option 1:

Set “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ServerOOBE\SecurityOOBE\DontLaunchSecurityOOBE” to “0”

This will disable the Windows Server Post-Setup Security Updates window without turning off the firewall (Thanks Rob for the great tip)

Option 2:

Turn off the firewall in unattend.txt using the below settings (Warning, make sure you are building your reference images on an isolated segment before doing this)

[WindowsFirewall] Profiles = WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall

[WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall] Mode = 0

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arwidmark

arwidmark - May 20, 2008

Thanks for the tip Rob, I have updated the instructions

Stevenbr - October 3, 2008

We have used these instructions, and it worked great. We had a few minor changes in our environment, and thought I would pass along the knowledge.

1. We dropped the R2 bits into the $OEM$ directory within the task sequence directory. We found that when we had a stubborn driver, and needed to create an additional drivers directory using $OEM$ from the TS, the R2 bits were not copying down from the OS (not sure why, but have not found any good reason yet). Place the R2 bits into the TS $OEM$, and all was working again.

2. We have tested using this exact method on W2K3 x64 as well, and it also works flawlessly.

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