Leveraging Windows Native Boot to Perform Scripted Installations of Windows with Deploystudio on Dual Boot Computers
Chuck Steel
Dickinson College
What I will cover• About Dickinson College
• Motivation
• What is Windows Native Boot?
• Required Tools
• Quick overview of process
• Creating a Virtual Hard Drive
• Applying the boot environment
• Booting to the Virtual Hard Drive
• Uploading to Deploystudio
• Installation workflows
• Demo
• Questions
About Dickinson College• Small liberal arts school with student enrollment of about 2400
• Quest KACE K1000 and K2000
• Deploystudio used for macOS imaging
• About 2,300 physical devices in inventory
• About 1,400 lab devices
• 2 to 1 ratio of Dell to Apple
Motivation• Increasing number of Apple devices on campus
• Many labs and classrooms moving to dual boot
• Difficulty imaging Windows 10 with Deploystudio
• Desire for consistency across devices
• Take advantage of packaged applications
Sidebar: Move to scripted installs• Initial testing of images was problematic
• Sysprep has always been a nightmare
• Easier to keep applications up to date
• Drawback with Windows updates
Windows Native Boot• Technology that allows booting directly to a VHD
• Computer doesn't need to have normal OS install
• MSDN Reference: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/commercialize/manufacture/desktop/boot-to-vhd--native-boot--add-a-virtual-hard-disk-to-the-boot-menu
Required Tools• Apple computer of the same vintage as your target devices.
• Windows 10 ISO
• Windows 10 ADK – must match version of Windows 10, e.g. 1067.
• The boot.wim file for your deployment environment
Quick overview1. Create Bootcamp partition
2. Install Windows
3. Create VHD
4. Upload to Deploystudio
5. Profit
Creating a Virtual Hard Drive• After using the Bootcamp Assistant to create the partition and install Windows...
1. Install the Windows ADK We only need the Deployment Tools option installed
2. Open the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment as administrator
3. Diskpart
1. Create vdisk file=c:\vhdboot.vhd maximum=10000 type=fixed
2. Attach vdisk
3. Create partition primary
4. Format quick label=vhd
5. Assign letter=v
6. exit
Applying the boot environment• While still in the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment
dism /apply-image /imagefile:boot.wim /index:1 /applydir:v:\
Booting to the virtual hard drive• In order to boot to the VHD we need to add it to the boot manager using
bcdedit
• Still in the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment
1. V:
2. Cd \windows\system32
3. Bcdboot V:\windows
• When the computer is restarted there should be an option for the VHD
Uploading to Deploystudio• Remove Windows Installation and other files
FOR /F "tokens=*" %d IN ('DIR /A:D /b c:\*') do rmdir /q /s "c:\%d"
• Remove Windows boot option
1. Open a command prompt
2. Run bcdedit to list the boot options
3. Copy the identifier for the Windows 10 option
4. Run bcdedit /delete
• You can now upload an image of the Bootcamp partition
Installation workflows• Deploystudio
1. Partition Disk – Macintosh HD and BOOTCAMP
2. Restore image to Bootcamp
3. Restore image to Macintosh HD
4. Other tasks
• Windows installation
Don't partition the drive!
Don't format the drive!
Demo
Questions?