Deploying Vista using WDS

[barry]

I've been trying to get Vista to deploy on our recently installed WDS server, I'm hoping for an unattended install that requires no user intervention. I'm using the boot.wim and install.wim from the Vista Enterprise DVD (which i have renamed to vista.wim).

The problem that I'm having is that even though I've put the image I would like installed into the WDSClientUnattended.xml, no matter what i've tried it still asks me to select an image.

My Install group is called Vista and the image name is Vista.

WDSClientUnattended looks like this so far:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="windowsPE">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<SetupUILanguage>
<UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
</SetupUILanguage>
<InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
<UILanguageFallback>en-GB</UILanguageFallback>
<UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
<ImageInstall>
<OSImage>
<WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
<InstallTo>
<DiskID>0</DiskID>
<PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
</InstallTo>
</OSImage>
</ImageInstall>
<WindowsDeploymentServices>
<Login>
<Credentials>
<Domain></Domain>
<Password></Password>
<Username></Username>
</Credentials>
</Login>
<ImageSelection>
<WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
<InstallImage>
<ImageName>Vista</ImageName>
<ImageGroup>Vista</ImageGroup>
</InstallImage>
</ImageSelection>
</WindowsDeploymentServices>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>

[AdamV]

I'm no expert in Visat deployment by any means, but a couple of things that spring to mind:
you don't seem to reference the .wim files anywhere, sources I have seen would have something like:[code:1]
<InstallImage>
<ImageName>Windows Vista with Office</ImageName>
<ImageGroup>ImageGroup1</ImageGroup>
<Filename>Install.wim</Filename>
</InstallImage>[/code]
(from: http://tinyurl.com/2kdrvr)

Generally, this file would be called WDSClientUnattend.xml rather than WDSClientUnattended.xml
You can rename it to whatever you like, as far as I know, as long as you make sure your reference it properly.
Is it possibly being overlooked because of the non-default name?
Have you explicitly defined this as your unattend file? (by command line or through client properties associated with the image on the deployment server)

[barry]

Hi,

I managed to get this figured out

the problem was with the:

<SetupUILanguage>
<UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
</SetupUILanguage>

it turns out that the boot.wim only supports en-US, so changing it to that got round the problem.

According to the MS site you only need to list the filename if you have more that 1 image.

[AdamV]

Great - thanks for posting back and sharing the extra info for others to learn from

[PreviousPoster]

Hi Barry, thanks for the tip with the GB language. I've been trying lots of variations of the unattend.xml but keep getting asked to choose an image/disk etc and was hoping you might be able to confirm the XML above works.

I have created an install image using ximage. After adding it to WDS management console I've right clicked the image and selected the XML from your post above with setup UI language changed to en-US, the domain credentials filled in and the image name and group changed to match ours. However I still keep getting prompted for setup details and the image installs with US keyboard settings (I am in the UK).

Could you confirm the XML above works in your setup please? Am I missing anything?

Thanks