How to pause the capture

[Paul Goodson]

Hello All,

I want to let MDT install XP SP2 into a VMWare virtual machine. I then want
to manually do the microsoft updates and apply some other security settings.
THEN after I have finshed all of that, I want to capture the image. Then I
want to deploy this WIM to many different hardware types using MDT so that I
will be taking advantage of MDTs driver injection.

What is the recommended way of doing this? I really dont want to go through
the trouble of scripting all of the small security settings I will be
tweaking as they need to be apart of the base image.

If I use the built in "Standard Client Task Sequence" it doesnt give me the
ability to modify the installation of the OS before it captures it.

I realize thats a lot of 'wants'. I hope its possible!

Thanks in advance,

[Dave Guenthner [MSFT]]

Perhaps the best way for the first part of the question is using MDT to
deploy Windows to a workgroup, there is an option to:
a. capture an image
b. stage sysprep and required files but do not capture
c. do not capture.

You could choose option B and peform the deployment and have MDT stage the
sysprep files so that you could customize your machine. Then, run sysprep,
minisetup, shutdown. Boot to WinPE and use imagex to create the "gold"
wim. Then add the gold wim as a new OS and create new task sequence to
reference it.

As far as using a VMWare or Hyper-V platform to create the image I
personally would not do it that way. There are known documented issues
with HAL types and supportability with sysprep and Windows XP. You will
likely need to live with multiple images to support a variety of HAL types
with XP. Vista goes a long way to address many of those HAL limitations.

HAL options after Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Setup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

Dave Guenthner [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[Preben Justesen]

Hi Paul!

I have used a trick for some time now where I create an Application in MDT
that starts a small BAT-file that does nothing more than a:

START /WAIT Notepad.exe .\SomeTextFile.txt

Set the application to require a restart and then select to install it
during the deployment.

As long as you don't close Notepad the deployment will wait and you will
have plenty of time to do whatever you want (download updates and so on).

You can even restart the computer as often you need as long as you don't
close Notepad nicely! MDT will display a couple of application errors when
the reboot kills the MDT process but will start the application (=start
Notepad) again after the reboot and you can perform additional updates.

When you close Notepad MDT will register the application as successfully
installed, reboot the computer and continue the process performing a capture.

It's not pretty but it works very well. The text file can for instance
contain instructions about what you need to remember to do before closing the
file and doing the capture.

/Preben

Post by Paul Goodson
Hello All,
I want to let MDT install XP SP2 into a VMWare virtual machine. I then want
to manually do the microsoft updates and apply some other security settings.
THEN after I have finshed all of that, I want to capture the image. Then I
want to deploy this WIM to many different hardware types using MDT so that I
will be taking advantage of MDTs driver injection.
What is the recommended way of doing this? I really dont want to go through
the trouble of scripting all of the small security settings I will be
tweaking as they need to be apart of the base image.
If I use the built in "Standard Client Task Sequence" it doesnt give me the
ability to modify the installation of the OS before it captures it.
I realize thats a lot of 'wants'. I hope its possible!
Thanks in advance,

[Paul Goodson]

I actually ended up using Johan Ardwidmark's 'capture only' task sequence. So
I image the computer using MDT 2008 and tell it not to capture. Then I make
all my changes and then launch the capture only task sequence from the
LiteTouch.vbs

Using the notepad method I wouldnt have been able to restart the computer
after microsoft updates and such.

Thanks for your prompt responses and assistance.

Paul Goodson

Post by Preben Justesen
Hi Paul!
I have used a trick for some time now where I create an Application in MDT
START /WAIT Notepad.exe .\SomeTextFile.txt
Set the application to require a restart and then select to install it
during the deployment.
As long as you don't close Notepad the deployment will wait and you will
have plenty of time to do whatever you want (download updates and so on).
You can even restart the computer as often you need as long as you don't
close Notepad nicely! MDT will display a couple of application errors when
the reboot kills the MDT process but will start the application (=start
Notepad) again after the reboot and you can perform additional updates.
When you close Notepad MDT will register the application as successfully
installed, reboot the computer and continue the process performing a capture.
It's not pretty but it works very well. The text file can for instance
contain instructions about what you need to remember to do before closing the
file and doing the capture.
/Preben

Post by Paul Goodson
Hello All,
I want to let MDT install XP SP2 into a VMWare virtual machine. I then want
to manually do the microsoft updates and apply some other security settings.
THEN after I have finshed all of that, I want to capture the image. Then I
want to deploy this WIM to many different hardware types using MDT so that I
will be taking advantage of MDTs driver injection.
What is the recommended way of doing this? I really dont want to go through
the trouble of scripting all of the small security settings I will be
tweaking as they need to be apart of the base image.
If I use the built in "Standard Client Task Sequence" it doesnt give me the
ability to modify the installation of the OS before it captures it.
I realize thats a lot of 'wants'. I hope its possible!
Thanks in advance,