Creating an Easy MDT Wizard Pane for Mikael Nystrom :)

I have nothing but love for Mikael Nystrom.  He is a true genius when it comes to OS Deployments.  While I am certainly not up to the level as Mikael, I am scratching my head at his post “OS Deployment – Adding a Wizard to control the Task Sequence behavior when you create a Reference Image“.

In this post at the bottom of his Q & A, he states

Question: Why don’t you add a Wizard Page instead?
Answer: Because that is more complicated if you don’t know exactly how the wizard works

Well, I need to simplify things for everyone (it’s not really that hard)

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Create %ScriptRoot%\DeploymentSettings.xml

Create a file called DeploymentSettings.xml in your %ScriptRoot% with the following contents (I’d share the text, but apparently WordPress is not liking the XML that much)

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WinRE: So is there any good way to get MDT to place any form of WinRE on a partition other than C:?

This question was asked by Joe Zeppy.  The answer depends on a few things

• Operating System being deployed
• Partitions that are being used
• Size of the Partitions
• BIOS or UEFI

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Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10

If you are deploying Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10, WinRE.wim will automatically place WinRE.wim in the following locations:

Single Partition Deployments – There is no other options but to place WinRE.wim on C: since this is the only drive, which should be Partition 1.

BIOS with System Partition – WinRE.wim will be placed on the System Partition, which should be Partition 1.  This assume there is enough space on the System Partition.  If not, it will be on the C: Partition

UEFI with Recovery Partition – When deployed with MDT 2013 Update 1 (R2), a UEFI system will have an EFI System Partition (1), an MST Partition (2), Windows Partition (3), and Recovery Partition (4).  In this case WinRE.wim will automatically be placed on the Recovery Partition (4).  Prior version of MDT created a Recovery Partition at the beginning of the drive.  In these cases, WinRE.wim would be in the Recovery Partition (1).  This assumes that there is enough space on the Recovery Partition.  If not, WinRE.wim will be on C:, except in the case of Windows 10, which will create an additional Recovery Partition.

So as long as your Partitions are set properly there is nothing you need to do.

Tool: OSConfig (Preview) Why?

So I was asked a question about OSConfig on Facebook today.  The question was “Why don’t you want to create a reference image?”  I have several answers . . .

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OSConfig can be used to create a Reference Image

When I decide to create a Reference Image, there is nothing preventing me from using OSConfig.

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Threshold 2 Has Not Been Released

I don’t want to make a Reference Image today, when there is a major update next week

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Rapid Changes

We are still evaluating Settings and Configuration of Windows 10.  Not having a Reference Image right now allows me to make changes on the fly.  I can make a change within minutes if I need to make a change, rather than waiting for me to run a new Build / Capture for a new Reference Image

Tool: OSConfig (Preview)

I thought I would take the time to share something I have been working on for the last week.  Hopefully it will help speed up your Configuration and Deployment of Windows 10 (and other OS’s).  Please note that the screenshots are from my DEV build and may change prior to release.

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Purpose

The purpose of OSConfig is the following:

• Integrate OEM Folders into an Operating System
• Apply Settings to the Default User Profile (replaces Unattend CopyProfile)
• AppxPackage removal before the OS is initialized
• Theme configuration
• Registry Snapshot for comparing Registry changes

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Compatibility

OSConfig will be fully compatible with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Configuration Manager (OSD).  All versions.  Integration is through the Unattend.xml and the Task Sequence

Win10: Personalization Colorization Color (and Headaches)

Apparently I didn’t take a close enough look at the colors from yesterday’s posts with an eyedropper, so I am expanding on how the Colorization works in a little more detail, with a little more headache.

When customizing your Corporate Theme, you will want to pick a Colorization Color.  You can pick your Colorization Color in Personalization.  The easiest way to get there is to right click on your Desktop and then Personalize.

From there you can select Colors.  For this post I will be focused on the first color which is Yellow.

Win10: Customizing the Default Aero Theme

So you made it this far, now let’s see what damage we can do by changing Aero.theme

Modifying the Windows Theme

Some settings for Login and Wallpaper are actually part of the Windows Theme which is located at C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\aero.theme.  By default you should have a Windows Theme in Control Panel > Personalization

Win10: Customize the Logon Screen Background

The Logon Screen is where a user enters their credentials. By default the Windows Hero background is displayed.  This is found in C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Windows\img0.jpg

Win10: Customize the Lock Screen Background

When Windows starts, the Lock Screen is the first screen that is displayed.

Win10: The Default Lock Screen, Logon Screen, Wallpaper, and Shutdown Screen

I’m going to spend some time detailing how to customize the Windows 10 Visual Experience in my next few posts, so I’ll start with showing the defaults for Windows 10 Enterprise.

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 Lock Screen

When Windows starts, the Lock Screen is the first screen that is displayed.

Win10: Unattend.xml CopyProfile and OneDrive

You may find that OneDrive doesn’t work in Windows 10 after building a Custom Image and using the <CopyProfile> entry in the Unattend.xml.  I detailed how CopyProfile works in my last post

The problem with Windows 10 is Copy Profile seems to break OneDrive

To get to this point, the following steps were done:

• Create a Reference Image using a Build and Capture Task Sequence (Sysprep) in MDT.  In my test there were no updates or customizations.
• Deploy the Reference Image with CopyProfile set to True in the Unattend.xml
• After deployment is complete, login as a New User
• Run Regedit and search for ‘Administrator’