What is New in Windows ADK for Windows 8.1

By Johan Arwidmark / June 5, 2013

Here is a quick summary of the changes in Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) for Windows 8.1. Both MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2 requires Windows ADK for Windows 8.1.

Windows ADK 8.1 is available for download here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39982

Note: If you try to run the adksetup.exe to download Windows ADK 8.1 on a machine that has Windows ADK 8.0 installed, you get the below error:

Fix: (thanks Mr Diagg for providing it) is to run adksetup.exe /layout "C:\OfflineADK".

The result of running adksetup.exe /layout "C:\OfflineADK". Works even if previous versions of Windows ADK are installed.

WinPE 5.0

Profiling in WinPE 5.0 is removed
WinPE 5.0 x64 supports 4 TB of RAM (still 64 GB for x86)
Scratchspace set automatically to 512 MB when having more than 1 GB of RAM, otherwise 32 MB
Note: WinPE 5.0 still requires NX/PAE/SSE2 support like WinPE 4.0 does

USMT 6.3

Support for Windows 8.1
You cannot use USMT 6.3 to migrate settings from Windows XP to Windows 8.1 (Workaround: Run backup with USMT 5.0, restore with USMT 6.3)
Supports Office 2013 (hotfix available for USMT 5.0).

Misc. Updates

Export compressed recovery image (/Export-Image)
Cleanup base components when superseded. (/StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase)

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Admin

9 years ago

Yes, joining Windows 8.1 to domain via unattend.xml works just fine, that's what MDT and ConfigMgr does…

/ Johan

Stoney

Has anybody been able to join a Windows 8.1 Pro to a domain via unattend.xml ?

I have no problem with a Windows 7 machine.

Indeed, yes, you simply configure USMT 5.0 for backup, and USMT 6.3 for restore…

Here is an article:
blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2013/09/12/how-to-migrate-user-data-from-win-xp-to-win-8-1-with-system-center-2012-r2-configmgr.aspx

samohtrelhe

Hi Johan I was at the MS Campus days in CPH. Too bad they didn't have you there! As far as I can read, the USMT v. 5.0 does in deed not support windows 8.1 AND USMT 8.1 does not support XP backup?Then it will raise the demand to have two versions (four with 32/64bit) of USMT on the SCCM AND programmatically use USMT v.5.0 if on XP and USMT 8.1 on Vista – 8.1 Is that how you see it too? (Regarding my USMT GUI, I apparently now have an issue since A LOT of people will still have… Read more »

It could be an issue with the MDT 2013 preview, are you using the RTM version of Windows ADK 8.1 and Windows 8.1? Do you get the same error if generating the catalog file with WSIM?

neftalyr

I'm also having the same issue as rgaspar when trying to generate a catalog file using the Windows 8.1 preview x64 ISO. My setup Server 2012, MDT 2013, ADK 8.1. This only happens with the 8.1 preview ISO. I needed to test "copy profile" on Windows 8.1 so that I can capture some screen shots before release.

You only need the catalog file if you want to modify the unattend.xml via WSIM, and is not required for the actual deployment. The unattend.xml (which is required) is always created in the control folder when you create the Task Sequence. If it's really not a x86 WIM image you are trying to generate a catalog file for, you should file a bug on connect.

What architecture did MDT 2013 think the image was? (Properties on the OS image, you can also open the unattend.xml file in notepad to verify the architecture)

rgaspar

Hello Arwidmark,
I generate catalog file for x64 image on x64 machine.
My system and software is Windows 2008 Server R2 (x64) + Adk 8.1 + Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 (x64) + ISO File Windows 8.1 Enterprise (x64).
I'm not creating any catalog x86 image on system x64 and the error persists.
Thanks

You simply cannot generate catalog files for x86 images on a x64 machine. Generate the catalog file on a x86 system, and copy it to the x64 machine.

Hello Guys,
Can i help me? I use windows 2008 server r2 (x64) + ADK 8.1 + MDT 2013 and cannot create unattend.xml file.

Windows System Image Manager
Catalog creation failed to complete. This 64-bit version of windows SIM can only create catalogs for 64-bit windows images.
For a list of supported architecture types, see link below.
go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=225751

Thanks

WinPE 4.0 does work in VMware as long as you have one of the supported versions of VMware. ESXi 5.1 or VMWare Workstation 9 (and having the guest configured for Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012).

I have seen updates for older vmware version, but I haven't tried those.

Graeme

Any idea if this works on VMWare guests now? ADK 8 didn't include or work with injected drivers for VMWare to be able to boot and partition the drive during a Lite-Touch install.

We'd like to be able to use Powershell in WinPE, but we can't for the time being.

Thanks for posting the link,

ZeusABJ

Hey Johan,

I was at TechEd 2013 and attended several of your sessions in which you mention the USMT 5.0 hotfix for Office 2013. I kept googling it and came up short every time. Ultimately it was bing that actually provided the link so I thought I'd post it here in the comments:

support.microsoft.com/kb/2846838