Demo from MMS 2011 – Using WDS without Active Directory – Configuring a standalone WDS

In Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft added support for using the PXE listener without Active Directory. Here is a complete guide on how to configure a standalone Windows Server 2008 R2 WDS Server. In addition to WDS the machine is also running DHCP.

Note: Using a standalone PXE server is way easier in Windows Server 2012, where you have a wizard based setup, and you can use the normal WDS console to manage it. For Windows Server 2008 R2, which this guide describes, it's much more complicated, and your admin tools are regedit and wdsutil. Anyway, if you still need to use Windows Server 2008, continue reading…

Pre-Requisites

In these steps I assume you have a server the following configuration

1. A Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 machine named WDS01, installed into a workgroup.
2. One network card with a fixed IPv4 address (I’m using 192.168.1.215 in my lab)
3. Two partitions, C: for the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating System, D: for Data

High level steps:

1. Download and install Windows AIK 2.0 (named Windows AIK for Windows 7 v3.0 on Microsoft download )
2. Install DHCP and create a scope for the network
3. Add the WDS transport role service
4. Create and share the RemoteInstall folder structure
5. Copy the x86 and x64 boot files
6. Copy the x86 and x64 boot images
7. Configure the WDS Providers
8. Configure the Policies
9. Additional DHCP and WDS provider configuration

Step 1 – Download and install Windows AIK 2.0

1. On WDS01, logon as Administrator.
2. Download and Install Windows AIK 2.0 (named Windows AIK for Windows 7 v3.0 on Microsoft downloads) with the default settings.

Step 2 – Install DHCP and create a scope for the network

1. On WDS01, using Server Manager, select Roles, and the select Add Roles.
2. On the Before You Begin page, select the Skip this page by default checkbox, and click Next.
3. In the Select Server Roles list, select DHCP Server and click Next.
4. On the DCHP Server page, click Next.
5. On the Select Network Connection Bindings page, accept the default settings and click Next.
6. On the Specify IPv4 DNS Server Settings page, in the parent domain: textbox, type in whatever DNS Suffix you want to use, I used deploy.net, and then click Next.
7. On the Specify IPv4 WINS Server Settings page, accept the default settings and click Next.
8. On the Add or Edit DHCP Scopes page, click Add. Use the following settings.Scope Name: 192.168.1.0/24
   Starting IP address: 192.168.1.100
   Ending IP address: 192.168.1.199
   Subnet Type: Wired (lease duration will be 8 days)
   Activate this scope: Selected
   Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway (optional): 192.168.1.1
   
   Click OK, and then click Next.
   
   

   

9. On the Configure DHCPv6 Stateless Mode page, accept the default settings and click Next.
10. On the Specify IPv6 DNS Server Settings page, in the parent domain: textbox, type in whatever DNS Suffix you want to use, I used deploy.net, and click Next.
11. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install.
12. On the Installation Results page, click Close.

Step 3 – Add the WDS Transport server role

1. On WDS01, using Server Manager, select Roles, and the select Add Roles.
2. In the Select Server Roles list, select Windows Deployment Services and click Next.
3. On the Overview of Windows Deployment Services page, click Next.
4. On the Select Role Services page, clear the Deployment Server checkbox so that only Transport Server role service is selected, and click Next.
5. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install.
6. On the Installation Results page, click Close.
   
   

Step 4 – Create and share the RemoteInstall folder structure

1. On WDS01, using Explorer, create the following folder structure:D:\RemoteInstall
   D:\RemoteInstall\boot
   D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x86
   D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x86\images
   D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x64
   D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x64\images 
2. Using Explorer, and the Advanced Sharing feature, share the D:\RemoteInstall folder as REMINST.
   
   

Step 5 – Copy the x86 and x64 boot files 

1. On WDS01, using Explorer, create the D:\Mount folder.
2. Start a Deployment Tools Command Prompt (found on the start menu, in the All Programs / Microsoft Windows AIK folder), type the following command + press Enter.Imagex /mount x86\winpe.wim 1 D:\Mount
   
   

   

   
   
3. Leave the Deployment Tools Command Prompt open.
4. Using Explorer, navigate to the D:\Mount\Windows\Boot\PXE folder, copy all content to the D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x86 folder.
5. Close all Explorer windows (the wim filter driver in WAIK 2.0 is really sensitive about open file handles when unmounting an image).
6. In the Deployment Tools Command Prompt, type the following commands + press Enter after each line.
   
   Imagex /unmount D:\Mount
   
   Imagex /mount amd64\winpe.wim 1 D:\Mount
   
7. Using Explorer, navigate to the D:\Mount\Windows\Boot\PXE folder, which now contains the x64 boot files, and copy all content to the D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x64 folder.
8. Close all Explorer windows.
9. In the Deployment Tools Command Prompt, type the following command + press 
   
   Enter.Imagex /unmount D:\Mount
   
10. Using Explorer, copy the C:Windows\System32\reminst\boot\boot.sdi file to the D:\RemoteInstall\boot folder.

Step 6 – Copy the x86 and x64 boot images

1. On WDS01, using Explorer, copy any x86 boot image that you want to use to the D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x86\images folder, name the boot image boot.wim.Note: If you just want a boot image to test with you can copy the default Windows PE 3.0 x86 boot image from WAIK. It is named winpe.wim and is located in the C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86 folder. After copying the file, change the name to boot.wim.
2. Using Explorer, copy any x64 boot image that you want to use to the D:\RemoteInstall\boot\x64\images folder, name the boot image boot.wim.Note: Again, if you just want a boot image to test with, you can copy the default Windows PE 3.0 x64 boot image from WAIK. It is named winpe.wim and is located in the C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64 folder. After copying the file, change the name to boot.wim.

Step 7 – Configure the WDS Providers

1. On WDS01, using the Registry Editor, configure the WDS Providers order by navigating to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WDSServer\Providers\WDSPXE key, and create a new Multi-String Value with the following settings:Name: ProvidersOrder
   Data: WDSSIPR
   
2. Using the Registry Editor, configure the TFTP root folder by navigating to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WDSServer\Providers\WDSTFTP key, and create a new String Value with the following settings:
   
   Name: RootFolder
   Data: D:\RemoteInstall
   
   

   

Step 8 – Configure the Policies

1. On WDS01, using Notepad, edit the C:\Windows\System32\wdssipr.dll.conf.ini file. In the IMAGES POLICY section, configure the following values:
   
   X86BootImage=boot\x86\images\boot.wim
   X64BootImage=boot\x64\images\boot.wim
   
2. Save the C:Windows\System32\wdssipr.dll.conf.ini file.
   
   
   
3. Note: If you don't want to press F12 to start the PXE boot process you can change the KnownClientPxePromptPolicy and NewClientPxePromptPolicy properties from the default OptIn value, to NoPrompt or OptOut. NoPrompt will do exactly what you think, simply continue the PXE boot process. The OptOut value will configure the computer to continue the network boot unless the user presses the ESC key.

Step 9 – Additional DHCP and WDS provider configuration

1. On WDS01, using a Command prompt, configure the transport server to use DHCP by typing the following command + press Enter.
   
   WDSUTIL /Set-TransportServer /ObtainIPv4From:DHCP
   
2. Leave the Command prompt open.
3. Using the Command prompt, configure the DHCP PXEClient option, by typing the following commands + press Enter after each line.
   
   Netsh
   dhcp
   server WDS01
   add optiondef 60 PXEClient String 0 comment="PXE support"
   set optionvalue 60 STRING PXEClient
   exit 
4. Leave the Command Prompt open.
5. Using the Registry Editor, configure the DHCP ports option by navigating to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ServicesWDSServer\Providers\WDSPXE key, and change the UseDhcpPorts data value from 1 to 0.
6. Using the Command Prompt, start the WDS transport server by typing the following command + press Enter.
   
   WDSUTIL /Start-TransportServer

Done! You should now be able to start the boot images over the network, having configured the WDS PXE listener on a standalone server.

/ Johan