MDT 2012: Capturing a Reference Image – Part II

I was asked if there was another way to do the sysprep and capture process within MDT 2012. I said to myself, Heck! Yeah! There are several ways to do this, so this blog is a part II of  Episode 12 on my  BJTechNews Channel.

While you could use MDT 2012 to install all the software needed, or even group policy, imagine the time this would take and therefore the amount of time that PC would be sitting there installing software rather than using it :). The simple way around this is to create a reference image of a PC and then capture an image of it to install onto all your other computers [lazy; but it works :)]. With MDT 2012 this is a very simple task and here’s how to do it.

Disable Sysprep Task Sequence

In my experience the execution of the sysprep command from the task sequence is patchy, so to get around this issue you can follow these steps to disable the sysprep command in the task sequence and run it manually before capturing the image of the reference computer.

Right click on the task sequence you have just created and select Properties

Click on the task sequence tab

Click on the Execute Sysprep option and then click on the Option tab on the right hand side.

Now click on the check box next to Disable This Step and click OK to complete the configuration

Capturing The Image

On the reference computer install all your necessary software and then run Sysprep, the sysprep application can be found in the C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\ folder

Select the options for OOBE (Out Of the Box Experience) and tick the Generalize option

When the PC reboots ensure it boots to the network

As it boots up you will now have another task sequence to choose from as well as your original Windows 7 deployment one, selecting the capture task you have created will start the process of capturing an image of your reference computer and uploading it to your deployment share

In some network scenarios you can get an error message when capturing the image that references a blank UNC error. To solve this error right click on the task sequence and select properties and then select the task sequence tab

You now need to add a variable into the sequence with these settings

• Name: Set Image Folder
• Task Sequence Variable: ComputerBackupLocation
• Value: \\SERVERNAME\deploymentshare$\captures [this could whatever you want it to be, make sure that the share has the correct permissions and enough space]

I had some time to do a live event on this topic. The video below is a little long, but worth the watch due to it covering all the basics of capturing and sysprep in MDT 2012.

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