Deploying WinPE on the Virtual Appliance

You need to perform the following configuration tasks before using ASM to deploy Windows OS.

NOTE: You should use Microsoft ADK 8.1 or ADK 8.0 installed in the default location..

1.Create a Windows .iso that has been customized for use with ASM using ADK and build-razor- winpe.ps1 script. You will need to locate the appropriate drivers for your server hardware or virtual machines for the operating system you are trying to install. For Dell hardware, drivers can be obtained from support.dell.com. For other vendors such as VMware, follow the instructions from the manufacturer to locate the correct drivers. During .iso customization it will be updated to include the drivers required for VMware virtual machine VMXnet3 NICs, any other drivers specific to your hardware, and customizations for use with ASM. This will allow you to support operating system deployment through ASM of Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012, or Windows 2012 R2 to virtual machines or bare-metal servers. For more information see, Creating WinPE Image and Updating Install Media for Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2

2.Create a Windows repository and copy Windows installation media (customized Windows .iso from step 1) on ASM appliance. Ensure the build directory has space available for the working build files, as well as the final .iso file that is created. It is recommended to have enough space available for approximately three times the size of the .iso file. For more information, see Adding OS Image Repositories

Creating WinPE Image and Updating Install Media for Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2

You should have Windows Assessment and Deployment toolkit that contains the Windows PE environment used to automate the Windows installer installed in the DEFAULT location on a Windows machine. Licensing for Windows PE requires that you build your own customized WinPE WIM image containing the required scripts.

To create customized Windows.iso image for Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2:

1.Create a build folder on your ADK machine. For example, ADK machine build directory may be “c: \buildpe”.

2.Within this build folder create a directory called “Drivers”.