MDT AND POWERSHELL,
VOLUME 2
Michael Niehaus
Andreas Hammarskjöld
Director of Product Marketing
Co-Founder
Microsoft
2Pint Software
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus
Michael
Niehaus
@mniehaus
Recovering
Deploying
developer
Windows for 21 years
Cookies
Andreas
Hammarskjöld
@AndHammarskjold
Coding
addictive
Deploying
Wine
19 years
BACK TO THE STONE AGES

Remember “state of the art” for deployment in 2004?

Business Desktop Deployment 1.0

Third-party imaging tools

Other random command-line tools

Kixtart scripts, batch files as “glue”

Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 moving to Windows XP

Needed minimal runtime footprint
MOVING FORWARD

Shifting to new technologies in 2004-2005:

Business Desktop Deployment 2.0 and 2.5

Switched to ImageX (WIM) imaging tools

Other random command-line tools

VBScript as “glue”

“Monad” beta released in 2005, released as PowerShell in 2006


Required Windows XP SP2 (2004), .NET Framework 2.0 (2005)
Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 to Windows XP
THE MODERN AGE

Solid foundation established in 2007:

Business Desktop Deployment 2007

PowerShell-based MMC console

Task sequencing engine borrowed from SMS 2003 OSDFP

Other random command-line tools

VBScript as “glue”

HTML-based Hypertext Applications (HTAs) for wizards

Windows 2000 to Windows XP, Windows XP to Windows Vista, Windows Vista to Windows 7,
Windows 7 to Windows 10
DABBLING IN POWERSHELL

PowerShell features added in MDT 2012

“Run PowerShell Script” task sequence action

Custom PowerShell host


Automatically captures script output into a CMTrace-friendly file

Uses the task sequencer progress dialog for first-level PowerShell progress
Task sequence variable provider


Exposes task sequence variables via TSENV: and TSENVLIST: PowerShell drives
Long-term vision was to slowly replace VBScripts with PowerShell scripts…
“STAGNATION”: THE EXCUSES

No architectural changes from BDD 2007 to MDT 2013 due to:

Adding support for new operating system releases

Requirements for new features (UEFI, BitLocker pre-provisioning, SecureBoot, in-place upgrade,
DISM, etc.)

Heavy use requires high quality, heavy testing

About 39,000 lines of VBScript code (includes comments, blank lines)

Limited personnel

“It still works”
VBSCRIPT VS. POWERSHELL
VBScript
PowerShell
Language robustness
Minimal
Great
Extensibility
COM (ActiveX controls)
Cmdlets, COM, .NET components,
dynamical code (C#)
Useful extensions
A handful built into Windows
Scripting Host, a few available,
fairly hard to create (e.g.
Scripting.FileSystemObject)
Many built into PowerShell,
additional available, reasonable
easy to create
Debugging and diagnostics
capabilities
Minimal
Great
IT pro knowledge
Declining
Growing
Windows PE footprint
~5MB
~125MB
Client-side requirements
A still-supported OS
Windows Management Framework
(20MB), .NET 4.5 (60MB) on
Windows 7, built into Windows 10
TOOLS VS. CMDLETS
Tool(s)
PowerShell
Module
Concerns or issues
DISKPART.EXE
Storage
Unable to use PowerShell cmdlets to completely set up UEFI disks
DISM.EXE
DISM
Somewhat fragile (e.g. must be loaded before MDT modules)
SCANSTATE.EXE/
LOADSTATE.EXE
(none)
No module exists
BCDBOOT.EXE
(none)
No module exists
BCDEDIT.EXE
(none)
No module exists
MANAGE-BDE.EXE
BitLocker
Don’t know yet…
MSHTA.EXE
.NET Framework
Dynamically execute XAML
PnpUtil.exe (MDT)
PnpDevice
Looks promising
MICROSOFT DEPLOYMENT TOOLKIT: COMPONENTS
Key Component
Primary Purpose
Suitability
Workbench
Gather all the content needed.
Good, PowerShell-based tools for
maintaining content support lots
of automation possibilities
(although on top of an aging MMC
UI).
Task Sequence Engine
Orchestrate the process, tracking the state
from old OS to Windows PE to new OS,
across reboots.
Good, overall capabilities meet the
needs (with some enhancements,
e.g. nested sequences, an easy
possibility). Challenging use of
state outside of task sequence.
Task Sequence Templates Specify the steps to be performed to
complete an OS deployment.
OK, legacy carried forward from
SMS 2003 underpinnings,
somewhat risky to make significant
modifications.
Task Sequence Scripts
VBScript with lots of Windows XP,
SMS 2003, and other legacy “junk.”
Do the real work.
MICROSOFT DEPLOYMENT TOOLKIT: THEOREMS

Some pieces aren’t worth replacing (at least not yet)


Some organizations want a fully-supported solution


Workbench, Task Sequence Engine
Continue providing current, fully tested and supported task sequences and scripts
Some organizations are willing to use community content

Create new task sequence templates, scripts, and wizards that work with MDT, Workbench, and Task
Sequence Engine

Maintained and tested by open source volunteers
INTRO: POWERSHELL DEPLOYMENT FOR MDT


Open source scripts, wizards, task sequence templates

Available via http://github.com/mniehaus/PSD

Leverages Deployment Workbench, task sequence engine, and MDT PowerShell modules (task
sequence variable, provider)

Creates a new deployment share, completely separate from any other deployment shares
Most definitely a work-in-progress

Proof-of-concept starting point

Enough to run simple task sequences, focusing on virtual machines (for now)

Months of work still needed
Setting up PSD for MDT
SETTING UP PSD FOR MDT

Simple process:

Download zip file from http://github.com/mniehaus/PSD and extract the contents somewhere.

Launch an elevated command prompt (or PowerShell ISE) and open the Install.ps1 file from the
extracted Installer folder

Make sure the path and share names are to your liking, edit if needed.

Run the script to create a new PowerShell-only deployment share (no VBScripts used, although they
are still there).

Import an operating system (only Windows 10 will work right now).

Create a task sequence using the “PSD Client” template.

Populate CustomSettings.ini as desired.

Update the deployment share to create an ISO.

Boot the VM from the ISO, type in your task sequence ID in the wizard.
A NEW DEVELOPMENT:
USING A WEB DEPLOYMENT SHARE

MDT has always used a file share for accessing content (via SMB)

But it doesn’t have to be that way – using HTTP/HTTPS could work too, and potentially opens
up new options (e.g. peer-to-peer caching, cloud-based deployment shares, etc.)

The current scripts on GitHub support this:

Specify “DeployRoot=http://myserver/DeploymentShare” to use it.

Content needed is downloaded using BITS (when in the full OS) or individual file downloads (when
in Windows PE)

All content-retrieval logic goes through one function, making it easier to add other methods too (if
ever needed)
USING A WEB DEPLOYMENT SHARE

Steps required:

Create a web app in IIS, with the path pointing to the deployment share folder.

Configure authentication as desired (Windows NTLM is suggested).

Configure WebDAV, file extensions

Configure CustomSettings.ini with the URL for the web site
Setting up PSD for MDT
LOTS STILL TO DO
Features
Operating Systems
Scenarios
Gather
Windows 10
Bare Metal
Partition and Format
Windows 7
Custom Task Sequence
Apply Image
Windows 8.1
Refresh
Configure (Unattend.xml)
Windows Server 2008 R2
Replace
Capture User State
Windows Server 2012
Media
Restore User State
Windows Server 2012 R2
OEM Prestage
Enable BitLocker
Windows Server 2016
LTI
Inject Drivers
Windows Server 2016 Nano
ZTI
Inject Patches
Install Updates from WU/WSUS
Branding
Sysprep/Capture
Suspend
Static IP
Wizard
Orchestrator Runbook
OS Roles
Validate
UDI
Bare Metal Deployment
SO HOW DOES THIS WORK?

Additional people can contribute

Set up a GitHub account.

Create your clone.

Make your changes.

Submit pull requests to integrate changes into the main project.

The theory: New features can be added faster

Focus won’t be on migration/upgrade

Just create a new deployment share and start over
Using Visual Studio 2017
Using Visual Studio Code
IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS?

Some potential items to consider:

Integrating PowerShell DSC into a task sequence

Support for OneGet, Chocolately, etc.
https://keithga.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/mdt-package-now-on-chocolatey-org-ready-forwindows-10/

Remove built-in apps

Simplify start menu and task bar customization
Q&A