While capturing Image using Windows Vista WinPE environment, when you specify the server name and click on Connect, you may get error "The network is not present or not started"
This happens because the network is not yet initialized under the WinPE environment due a conflict of Ethernet drivers under WinPE.
1. While in Windows Vista WinPE environment, press Shift + F10 and it will bring up the WinPE Command prompt.
2. Type ipconfig to check the IP address details.
3. If the IP address does not show up, it means the network is not yet initialized and there could be a conflict of NIC card drivers within winpe.
4. Try to initialize the network using the command from X:\Windows\System32
Wpeutil initializenetwork
5. If the command completes successfully, you will be able to see the IP address details by executing command ipconfig /all. Try to ping the WDS server to verify network connectivity.
6. If the command fails, then you will have to install the NIC drivers again within winpe.
7. Locate the Ethernet driver cd and put it in to the cdrom. Browse to the CD drive from winpe command prompt and install the drivers again.
Alternate method, is to locate the driver file ex; driver.inf and burn it to a CD. Put the CD in the drive. From the prompt X:\Windows\System32 execute the command
DRVLoad Driverletter:\driver.inf
Replace the word driver with the name of the driver file, ex: e1000325.inf
8. Once the drivers are installed, switch to the X:\windows\System32 prompt again and execute the command wpeutil initilializenetwork command once again.
Now the command should initialize the network and you should be able to ping the WDS server.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Capture Windows XP Image using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) in Windows Server 2003
WDS is configured in mixed mode. WDS in mixed mode supports both the Legacy (RiPrep and RiSetup) and .wim based images for capturing and deployment.
This demonstration will focus on capturing Windows XP Image in .wim format. This is applicable in WDS for both mixed and native mode. Native mode supports only .wim based image format.
On the WDS Server
Download Windows Vista Automated Installation kit and burn it to a DVD.
1. Insert the Windows Vista Automated Installation Kit in the DVD Rom Drive.
2. Browse to WINPE.CAB on the root drive and extract the files F1_WINPE and F3_WINPE to a temporary folder.
3. Open the WDS console and browse down to the Server Name.
4. Right Click on Boot Images and click on Add Boot Image.
5. Browse to the location of the folder where the files are extracted and choose F1_WINPE and complete the wizard.
6. Repeat the above process to add the F3_WINPE image.
7. These will add the Vista (x86) and Vista (amd64) based images. We are however interested in x86 based image.
We will now create a WinPE Capture Image for Windows XP from the Windows Vista WinPE images.
8. Right click on Microsoft Windows Vista PE (x86), and click on Create Capture Boot Image.
9. Specify a name (For ex: Windows XP SP2) and save it to a temporary folder location.
10. Right click on Boot Images, and click on Add Boot Image.
11. Browse to the Window XP SP2 Image created in step 9 and import it.
12. Now create an Image group for the Image Capture to be placed in. Right click on Install Images, click on Add Image Group, and specify a name, ex, Windows XP Capture Image.
On The Client (Sysprep the client to be imaged)
1. Deploy Windows XP Pro on a workstation from a deployment CD or PXE Server, along with all the patches and software to be captured in the image.
2. On the System Drive (C:), create a folder by the name sysprep.
3. Browse the Windows XP Deployment CD to location \Support\Tools, extract the Delpoy.cab file to the sysprep folder on C:.
4. Run Setupmgr.exe to create the answer file needed for automatic installation.
5. Select Create a new answer file, and click Next.
6. Choose Sysprep Install, and click Next.
7. Choose Windows XP professional, and click Next.
8. Choose Yes, Fully automate the installation, and click Next.
9. Enter the details for Product Key, Computer Name, Domain, regional settings etc and click Finish to complete. This will create a file by the name sysprep.inf in the sysprep folder.
10. Run sysprep from C:\Sysprep now.
11. This will remove all the SID information from the machine now.
12. Choose the option Mini Setup and click on Reseal, and click on OK. The system will shutdown after completing the operation.
13. Assuming that the system is set to boot from network, restart the workstation and once DHCP IP is obtained, press F12.
Here you will see the Options Provided by the WDS Server to the client. In this case Since WDS is in Mixed mode, the options will be
Microsoft Windows Vista PE (x86)
Windows XP SP2
Remote Installation Services
14. From the Windows Boot Manager, select the capture image created earlier, in this case it is Windows XP SP2.
15. The Windows Vista PE environment will be loaded. Click on Next.
16. On Image Capture Source window, under Volume to Capture, choose C:.Type a name for the Image like, Windows XP Image (It could be the model number of the workstation to be imaged). Specify a Description and click on Next.
17. On Image Capture Destination, under Name and Location, click on Browse, and save the image on the local drive like; C:\Windows XP Capture.wim.
18. Tick the box, Upload Image to WDS Server.
19. Under Server Name, type the IP address or name of the WDS Server and click on Connect.
20. If it errors “The network is not present or not started”, check this.
21. You will be prompted for username and password.
22. Provide the credentials. Select the Image group that we created in the previous section (in this case it is Windows XP Capture Image) and click on Finish.
23. Once the Image capture process completes, it will upload the image to the server.
24. Click on Close. The client workstation will reboot into sysprep. To avoid it, shutdown the system on reboot.
25. The image is placed on the WDS server under the location Drive:\RemoteInstall\Image. A copy on image exists on the client as well.
26. Also the image will show up on the WDS console under the Image group created. In this case; Windows XP Capture Image -> Windows XP Image.
This demonstration will focus on capturing Windows XP Image in .wim format. This is applicable in WDS for both mixed and native mode. Native mode supports only .wim based image format.
On the WDS Server
Download Windows Vista Automated Installation kit and burn it to a DVD.
1. Insert the Windows Vista Automated Installation Kit in the DVD Rom Drive.
2. Browse to WINPE.CAB on the root drive and extract the files F1_WINPE and F3_WINPE to a temporary folder.
3. Open the WDS console and browse down to the Server Name.
4. Right Click on Boot Images and click on Add Boot Image.
5. Browse to the location of the folder where the files are extracted and choose F1_WINPE and complete the wizard.
6. Repeat the above process to add the F3_WINPE image.
7. These will add the Vista (x86) and Vista (amd64) based images. We are however interested in x86 based image.
We will now create a WinPE Capture Image for Windows XP from the Windows Vista WinPE images.
8. Right click on Microsoft Windows Vista PE (x86), and click on Create Capture Boot Image.
9. Specify a name (For ex: Windows XP SP2) and save it to a temporary folder location.
10. Right click on Boot Images, and click on Add Boot Image.
11. Browse to the Window XP SP2 Image created in step 9 and import it.
12. Now create an Image group for the Image Capture to be placed in. Right click on Install Images, click on Add Image Group, and specify a name, ex, Windows XP Capture Image.
On The Client (Sysprep the client to be imaged)
1. Deploy Windows XP Pro on a workstation from a deployment CD or PXE Server, along with all the patches and software to be captured in the image.
2. On the System Drive (C:), create a folder by the name sysprep.
3. Browse the Windows XP Deployment CD to location \Support\Tools, extract the Delpoy.cab file to the sysprep folder on C:.
4. Run Setupmgr.exe to create the answer file needed for automatic installation.
5. Select Create a new answer file, and click Next.
6. Choose Sysprep Install, and click Next.
7. Choose Windows XP professional, and click Next.
8. Choose Yes, Fully automate the installation, and click Next.
9. Enter the details for Product Key, Computer Name, Domain, regional settings etc and click Finish to complete. This will create a file by the name sysprep.inf in the sysprep folder.
10. Run sysprep from C:\Sysprep now.
11. This will remove all the SID information from the machine now.
12. Choose the option Mini Setup and click on Reseal, and click on OK. The system will shutdown after completing the operation.
13. Assuming that the system is set to boot from network, restart the workstation and once DHCP IP is obtained, press F12.
Here you will see the Options Provided by the WDS Server to the client. In this case Since WDS is in Mixed mode, the options will be
Microsoft Windows Vista PE (x86)
Windows XP SP2
Remote Installation Services
14. From the Windows Boot Manager, select the capture image created earlier, in this case it is Windows XP SP2.
15. The Windows Vista PE environment will be loaded. Click on Next.
16. On Image Capture Source window, under Volume to Capture, choose C:.Type a name for the Image like, Windows XP Image (It could be the model number of the workstation to be imaged). Specify a Description and click on Next.
17. On Image Capture Destination, under Name and Location, click on Browse, and save the image on the local drive like; C:\Windows XP Capture.wim.
18. Tick the box, Upload Image to WDS Server.
19. Under Server Name, type the IP address or name of the WDS Server and click on Connect.
20. If it errors “The network is not present or not started”, check this.
21. You will be prompted for username and password.
22. Provide the credentials. Select the Image group that we created in the previous section (in this case it is Windows XP Capture Image) and click on Finish.
23. Once the Image capture process completes, it will upload the image to the server.
24. Click on Close. The client workstation will reboot into sysprep. To avoid it, shutdown the system on reboot.
25. The image is placed on the WDS server under the location Drive:\RemoteInstall\Image. A copy on image exists on the client as well.
26. Also the image will show up on the WDS console under the Image group created. In this case; Windows XP Capture Image -> Windows XP Image.
Good Luck!!!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Access ESX network share from Windows
For this demonstration we are working on ESX 3.5 and Windows XP SP2. We will create a user by the name Smith
Since ESX uses linux shell, the linux commands will be used to achieve this.
1. Create a user using the adduser/useradd command and give a password
useradd smith
passwd smith
2. The new user, now needs to be added to smbpasswd file. To do so, type the following command and specify a password for the smb account
smbpasswd -a smith
-a This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new password typed (typefor the old password). This option
is ignored if the username following already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command.
3. By default user will get access to /home/smith from windows workstation. If you need to give user smith access to /share/data, the smb.conf file needs to be modified. The directory structure /share/data should already exist. Open /etc/samba/smb.conf , browse to the end of the file, enter the following details for data share and save the file.
[data]
comment = Personal Data
path = /share/data
valid users = smith
public = no
writable = yes
4. Restart the samba service
/etc/init.d/smb restart
or
service smb restart
5. Share the ESX share using a drive letter by net use command from Windows XP
net use H: \\IP Address of the ESX Server\data
Specify the username and password at the prompt.
6. Browse to drive H: to access the share.
Since ESX uses linux shell, the linux commands will be used to achieve this.
1. Create a user using the adduser/useradd command and give a password
useradd smith
passwd smith
2. The new user, now needs to be added to smbpasswd file. To do so, type the following command and specify a password for the smb account
smbpasswd -a smith
-a This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new password typed (type
is ignored if the username following already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command.
3. By default user will get access to /home/smith from windows workstation. If you need to give user smith access to /share/data, the smb.conf file needs to be modified. The directory structure /share/data should already exist. Open /etc/samba/smb.conf , browse to the end of the file, enter the following details for data share and save the file.
[data]
comment = Personal Data
path = /share/data
valid users = smith
public = no
writable = yes
4. Restart the samba service
or
service smb restart
5. Share the ESX share using a drive letter by net use command from Windows XP
net use H: \\IP Address of the ESX Server\data
Specify the username and password at the prompt.
6. Browse to drive H: to access the share.
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