Why Microsoft decided not to ship any deployment tools when Enterprise companies are supposed to evaluate Windows Technical Preview I have no idea. But I don't work for Microsoft so I guess I'm not supposed to understand those things.
Anyway, if you try to deploy Windows Technical Preview using MDT 2013 and Windows ADK 8.1 it fails by default because the servicing stack version is wrong.
Update 2014-10-02: For support for adding roles and features, check the comment from Seth Lerman (in the comments section).
The fix
First, this is not supported so don't blame me if something is not working.
Second, the fix is to simply have the the task sequence copy the right servicing stack to the WinPE 5.0 boot image.
On your MDT server, copy the dism.exe and DISM folder from a x64 WTP boot.wim file to your deployment share, in my case E:\MDTProduction\Tools\x64.
The dism.exe file and DISM folder are found in the X:WindowsSystem32 on your boot image (once booted), or E:\Mount\Windows\System32 if you just mounted the boot.wim.
The needed files, copied to the deployment share.
After copying the files, add two run command line actions to your Windows Technical Preview task sequence (and only this task sequence).
Copy WTP dism.exe
cmd /c copy %deployroot%\tools\%architecture%\dism.exe x:\windows\system32 /y
Copy WTP DISM subsystem
cmd /c copy %deployroot%\tools\%architecture%\dism* x:\windows\system32\dism /y
The additional actions in the task sequence.
Happy Deployment, Johan
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the tip, looks like a nice solution. I have added a link in my post.
/ Johan
And what sucks is that you have to clear the TPM every time you re-image. I've re-imaged the same tablet a few times, and I have to keep clearing the TPM. I know it's early, but this better be something that Microsoft fixes in the next few builds or they are going to have some very unhappy enterprise customers (me being one of them).
to h82loze,
Thanks, I have just literately found the same article on TechNet, tested it and can confirm that it actually works.
Weird that the TPM chip content affect Group Policies.
Many thanks for reporting this back here.
@NicZ
Try doing a TPM clear. Launch tpm.msc and select "Clear TPM…". Restart and you may be prompted in POST to verify that you want to clear the TPM, clear it, and finish booting. Your computer policies should now work. This solution was posted in this post: social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/azure/pt-BR/6423001d-234a-42ae-96af-3a09fd96c75b/group-policy-windows-10-technical-preview-enterprise?forum=WinPreview2014Setup
If you have your drive encrypted with BitLocker, make sure you suspend BitLocker before you do this as mentioned at the end of the previously mentioned post.
Hey Johan, check out my scripted solution that pulls DISM binaries from a boot or installation WIM automatically: goo.gl/frF8Ed
Would love to hear your feedback!
First, let me say thanks Johan! I came across this as I was getting ready to test the deployment of WTP. I had already done a couple of manual installs to check things out first; a desktop and a tablet to see the differences. But now I want to see how it reacts to the custom setup at our shop. Second, I just wanted to comment on Seth's comment. The sxs folder and command line option are only needed if you are enabling .NET 3.5. The cab file for .NET 3.5 is the only thing in the sxs folder. And… Read more »
Hi ogeccut,
The only time I have seen that error, is when the wrong dism files are not present when the dism /apply action runs.
Any info in the dism.log file?
What if you add a pause to the sequence, and copy the dism files manually, and run dism manually?
/ Johan
Hi NicZ, haven't tested group policies yet in Windows 10.
/ Johan
Yes, I can see the 2 task completed
Dism version before the update 6.3.9600.16384
dism version after the task ran is 6.98.41.0 in x:windowssystem32
DISM folder 3.68 mb before update and 6.52 mb after the update.
Not sure what am I still missing?
Thanks.
@wjbeckett, can you post your log files? One thing I find really helpful when developing a deployment scenario is to specify a log file directory on the server via SLShare= in CustomSettings.INI. Then you can use Trace32 or the Configuration Manager Trace Log Tool to quickly find a source of issues. @ogeccut, did you follow the steps specified by this article? It's specifically to address that issue. If you did follow the steps, can you open a CMD prompt in the failed deployment and confirm the updated DISM.EXE was copied to x:windowssystem32 and the x:windowssystem32Dism folder was created and populated… Read more »
I am gettign an error when trying to apply unattend.xml
This version of dism.exe /image:c: /apply-Unattend:c:windowspantherUnattend.xml /ScratchDir:c:MININTScratch is not compatible with the version of windows you are running.
I cant figure out what i need to change in xml or do i need to create a new one?
Thanks for the help.
I have successfully deployed Win10. It is basically just like 8.1 once we apply the fix for the DISM version issue. Of course I need to account for the OS version number being 6.4 now so I had to review all my scripts where the version gets checked. One problem I still have, which has been reported on the TechNet forum too, is that my GPOs don't get applied for the computer. They do for the user but the computer GPOs just get ignored. If I force the GPO update I get: The processing of Group Policy failed. Windows could… Read more »
Hi guys,Is anyone able to share their Build Unattend.xml and TS.xml as well as their Deployment Unattend.xml and TS.xml? I thought I had everything working okay (Captures the image fine) but I can't get it to deploy correctly. Seems to fall over after it applies the image and goes for a reboot. After the reboot the scripts don't continue. Possibly an issue with Local Admin account not being configured correctly. I've adapted my Win8.1 deployment tasks (Which work fine) for Win10 and have created the Win10 tasks from scratch too but still can't get it to deploy successfully. If anyone… Read more »
No worries. Your blog has been a valuable resource so am quite happy to have been able to provide a contribution.
Hi Seth
Great comment, thanks. I have added a note in the article
/ Johan
Thanks for the article. This blog was the first place I checked when I came across that same error. For those who have moved past, or will be moving past this error, if you were using the "Install Roles and Features" ability built into MDT, you will discover that doesn't work either. What I ended up doing, at least for now, is to disable that step and create right next to it a group called "Install Roles and Features". First item in there is to copy the SourcesSXS folder from the Win10 ISO to a local path on the PC… Read more »
Nice one Johan, thx
Wow, you are very fast :-)! Thanks for sharing!
The dism.exe file and DISM folder are found in the X:WindowsSystem32 on your boot image (once booted), or E:MountWindowsSystem32 if you just mounted the boot.wim. I updated the post with this info.
/ Johan
This is great! Where do you find the subsystem DISM folder?