MDT 2012 Beta 2 – Configuring User Driven Installation (UDI) with ConfigMgr

MDT 2012 Beta 2 – User Driven Installation (UDI)

User Driven Installation (UDI) is a solution, based on ConfigMgr 2007/2012, to allow technicians and/or end-users select various deployment settings during an installation: Settings like language settings, BitLocker settings or what applications to deploy. Shorthand story, it’s a deployment Frontend. But it’s not only that – UDI also comes with a designer that allows you as an administrator to design the frontend.

UDI version 2

In MDT 2012 Beta 2 you will find a completely rewritten version of UDI, a version where extensibility has been the major driver. The UDI Designer is all new, built from the ground up that supports all the features of version but a lot easier to manage.

Another big thing is that UDI is written for all major ConfigMgr 2007/2012 deployment scenarios – New Computer, Refresh and Replace. It is also the first UDI to support the Pre-staged Media feature that shipped with ConfigMgr 2007 R3. 

Using UDI in ConfigMgr 2007/2012

To use UDI you obviously need to install MDT 2012 Beta 2, and make sure to run the integration script (Configure ConfigMgr Integration) that extends the ConfigMgr 2007/2012 console with the additional MDT menus and task sequence templates. You also need to create at least one Task Sequence using any of the MDT templates so that the MDT 2012 Files package is created.

After doing that you can open the UDI Designer which you want on the start menu, in the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit node.

Configuring the UDI Designer

After starting the UDI designer, in order to add packages and applications to it, you need to configure the Site Settings with your Site Server Name and Site Code.

Creating a custom frontend

The UDI Designer stores its main information in the UDIWizard_Config.xml file (the application information is stored in the UDIWizard_Config.app.xml file). The default UDI Task Sequence templates looks for a file named that by default, but it can really be named anything as you long as you modify the required actions in the UDI Task Sequence. For now, I will use the default template.

In the File menu, select open, navigate to where you have your MDT 2010 Files package, and select the UDIWizard_Config.xml file. After opening the file, click the Flow tab, expand the New Computer Scenario.

Then double-click the Welcome page. Update the text to anything you like. I decided to update the default support information slightly  J

In my frontend I only want four of the default items. In the New Computer scenario Flow, delete all items except Welcome, Deployment Readiness, Install Programs and Summary. To delete an item, right-click the item and select Remove Item.

Note: Since we are deleting some of the pages, we need to make sure we have the corresponding settings in our settings package. UDI keeps its own list of properties, only used by the UDI task sequence templates.

Configure your settings package with the following settings

[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=OSDMigrateAdditionalCaptureOptions,OSDMigrateConfigFiles,OSDMigrateMode

[Default]
DoCapture=NO
ComputerBackupLocation=NONE
BDEInstallSuppress=YES
MachineObjectOU=ou=workstations,dc=sc2012,dc=local
OSDMigrateMode=Advanced
OSDMigrateAdditionalCaptureOptions=/ue:** /ui:SC2012*
OSDMigrateConfigFiles=Miguser.xml,Migapp.xml

; UDI Specific Settings
OSDDiskPart=TRUE
OSDDomainName=sc2012.local
OSDDomainOUName=ou=workstations,dc=sc2012,dc=local
OSDJoinAccount=SC2012CM_JD
OSDJoinPassword=Password01

Note: The Select Target page really need to have set the OSDDiskPart property to True in your MDT 2012 Settings package. Remember, this is a wizard for a bare metal scenario which assumes there is no user state to capture (The Offline User State Capture action in the UDI Task Sequence has a condition to not run if OSDDiskPart is set to True). If you don’t set the OSDDiskPart property the task sequence will fail with error code: 0x000025EA – Yes I have tested  🙂  ).

Next it’s time to customize the applications pane, so click the Flow Tab, and then double-click the Install Programs Pane.

In my example I will have two groups of applications named Microsoft and Adobe. First, delete the Sample Application by select the Sample Application and select Remove Item. Then select the General software group and click Edit item, and in the Name textbox, type in Microsoft.

Then click Add, and select Add Software Group, in the Name textbox type in Adobe, and in the Next Under drop down box, select Root Level.

Now it is time to add some applications, and in my ConfigMgr 2012 RC1 environment I have two applications named Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus x86 and Adobe Reader X. Select the Microsoft software group and select Add Software to Group and use the following settings for the Add Software To Group Wizard.

What type of software item do you want to add

• Add an Application
• Select / Search – Select Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus x86
• Display Name (automatically populated): Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus x86

Note: Since the applications are installed by the Task Sequence (the Install Applications action), the applications need to be configured for that. Make sure the “Allow this application to be installed from the Install Application task sequence action instead of deploying it manually” check box is select on each application properties.

Repeat the above steps, but select the Adobe software group and the Adobe reader X Application this time. The end result should look like this.

Save the configuration and don’t forget to update the DP’s for your MDT 2012 Files package.

After configuring the wizard you only need to create a UDI Task Sequence using the Create MDT Task Sequence wizard. Use your normal OS Deployment packages but make sure to select one of the UDI templates.

After creating the UDI Task Sequence, you only need to deploy it and the UDI wizard will be displayed on the client. Here follows a few screenshots from a bare metal (New Computer) deployment using the UDI Task Sequence I created. Please note that, when doing bare metal deployments, it will take a while for the wizard to appear since its being called by the Task Sequence.

Happy Deployment

/ Johan