How can I deploy Windows 8.1 x64 to the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 using MDT 2013 ?

[anyweb]

Introduction

In a previous post I showed you how you can deploy Windows 8.1 x64 to the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 using System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager.

 

In this post I'll show you how to do the same thing with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013, except this is fully automated, all you have to provide is a server, the operating system files and change a few variables in the script.

 

Note: As this is fully automated, and as this does install a WDS server role hosting a boot image, you should test it in a lab first and modify the script accordingly.

 

There are many PowerShell scripts out there to create fully automated labs (hydration kits) from MDT gurus like Johan Arwidmark or Mikael Nystrom or upcoming cool dudes like Nickolaj Andersen, but this script is tailored for one thing only, deploying Windows 8.1 x64 to the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with all drivers loaded.

 

You may want to download it and customize it to suit your needs for other hardware because what it does is pretty cool.

 

This script performs the following actions:-

• Downloads and then Installs Windows ADK 8.1 (if you have not done so already)
• Downloads and then Installs MDT 2013 (if you have not done so already)
• Downloads all required drivers for Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (see screenshot below)

• Adds the Windows 8.1 x64 operating system into MDT
• Adds the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 drivers into MDT (see screenshot below)

• Creates Selection Profiles for Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and WinPE x64 (see screenshot below)

• Creates a Deploy Windows 8.1 x64 - Surface Pro 3 task sequence
• Edits the Deploy Windows 8.1 x64 - Surface Pro 3 task sequence and adds an inject drivers step for Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (see screenshot below)

 

in addition, it sets the WMI query for the Surface Pro 3 on that step (see screenshot below)

 

• Injects the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 network drivers into the LiteTouchPE_x64.wim
• Creates new CustomSettings.ini and BootStrap.ini files
• Disables the X86 boot wim (not needed for Surface Pro 3)
• Changes the Selection Profile for the X64 boot wim to use the WinPE x64 selection profile (see screenshot below)

• Installs the Windows Deployment Service role
• Configures the WDS role and adds the previously created LiteTouchPE_x64.wim (see screenshot below)

• Starts the WDS service so that you can PXE boot (UEFI network boot).

All you have to do is download the script below, then place some files in the right place, PXE boot a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and sit back and enjoy the show. So let's get on with what you need to do...

 

Step 1. Download the script

 

This PowerShell script will do all the hard work for you, download it and place it on your server that is designated to be the MDT 2013 server. I've tested it on Server 2012R2 only, if you run it on a different operating system and have issues then post your results below.

 

Setup MDT 2013 for Microsoft Surface Pro 3.zip

 

Update: I've updated the script above to include the March 2015 drivers and updates and it's available here.

 

Step 2. Configure the variables in the script

 

Once you have downloaded the script, you should configure the variables interspersed throughout the script, the most important of them is the $SourceFolder variable as this decides where to get the content from (if you've copied it already) and where to store it. This variable should point to a valid drive letter, the folder name will be created if it does not exist.

 

 

The $FolderPath variable will be the MDT Deployment share root folder eg: E:\DeploymentShare.

 

There are other variables to configure, scroll down through the script to find them, such as the ones below

 

 

You will also want to edit the CustomSettings.ini and BootStrap.ini settings within the script to suit your own environment.

 

Step 3. Copy the Windows 8.1 x64 operating system files

 

Mount a Microsoft Windows 8.1 x64 Enterprise ISO and copy the contents to $SourceFolder\Operating Systems\ as shown below

 

 

Step 4. Copy MDT 2013, ADK 8.1, Surface Pro 3 drivers (optional)

 

If you've already downloaded the above files then place them in the source folder, otherwise the script will download them for you. In the screenshot below you can see I'm manually copying the offline ADK 8.1 files, you do not have to do this as the script will download the content for you if it's not found.

 

 

Step 5. Copy your Applications to the respective folders (optional)

 

If you have apps like Office 2013, copy them to their respective folders as shown below

 

 

If you do add apps, then you'll also need to change the following section of CustomSettings.ini

SkipApplications=YES

to

SkipApplications=NO

Step 6. Run the script

 

On the server that is to be your MDT server, start the script in PowerShell ISE or which method you prefer, below you can see the script in action, it has just created the selection profiles for the Surface Pro 3

 

 

After the script is complete, you are ready to test deploying a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 installation.

 

 

and below you can see the E:\Source folder after the script has run, it has downloaded a bunch of stuff !

 

 

Step 7. Sit back and watch the deployment

 

Take a properly shutdown Surface Pro 3, and power it on using the following sequence

 

Hold the down volume key and then press the power button while continuing to hold down the volume key, it should PXE boot

 

Press enter when prompted

 

 

and then it will load the MDT LitetouchPE_X64 boot wim.

 

 

before prompting you for a computername, note that it's currently set to SurfacePro3,

 

 

you can change it in the UI itself or automate it via the many methods available such as those that Mikael describes here

 

click next and off it goes, inject the Surface Pro 3 drivers (oh and of course, you've got working network in WinPE as the network drivers were added to the boot wim already)

 

 

and after a wee while, it's done.

 

 

Troubleshooting

 

If the script has issues starting WDS (and you see the error below)

 

An error occurred while trying to execute the command.
Error Code: 0x41D
Error Description: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

 

 

then restart the server, as you were asked to do at the end of the script ;-).

 

For deployment issues, you can review the logs found in the following locations depending on what part of the OSD process you are in:-

 

In WinPE

 

• X:\windows\temp\SMSTSLOG

 

In Windows

 

• C:\Windows\Temp\DeploymentLogs
• C:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS
• C:\Users\Administrator\Appdata\Local\temp\SMSTSLog

 

Summary

 

Automating the deployment of Windows 8.1 x64 Enterprise to the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is not only possible but relatively easy with MDT 2013 and a custom powershell script like the one above. I must also say a big thanks to Nikolaj who helped me with some issues in the script, you are awesome !

 

Related Reading

• Using PowerShell to modify settings in MDT 2013 - http://www.scconfigmgr.com/2014/08/23/using-powershell-to-modify-settings-in-mdt-2013/
• Where do I find the MAC address of my Surface Pro 3 Ethernet Adapter in order to use UEFI network boot ? - http://www.niallbrady.com/2014/09/11/where-do-i-find-the-mac-address-of-my-surface-pro-ethernet-adapter-in-order-to-use-uefi-network-boot/
• Why is my Surface Pro 3 not BitLockered after OSD via System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ? - http://www.niallbrady.com/2014/09/18/why-is-my-surface-pro-3-not-bitlockered-after-osd-via-system-center-2012-r2-configuration-manager/
• Why does my Surface Pro 3 take a very long time to UEFI Network Boot using System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ? http://www.niallbrady.com/2014/09/09/why-does-my-surface-pro-3-take-a-very-long-time-to-uefi-network-boot-using-system-center-configuration-manager-2012-r2/
• Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 2, and Surface Pro firmware and driver packs http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38826
• Updating the UEFI firmware offline - http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2014/10/20/how-to-update-the-surface-pro-3-firmware-offline-using-a-usb-drive.aspx
• Deploy Windows to Surface Pro 3 using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

[ccatlett1984]

Depending on what firmware your Surface Pro 3 has loaded, you may not be able to PXE boot at all.

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2013/05/16/pxe-deployment-with-surface-pro.aspx

 

If the device your trying to image still has the April firmware, you won't be able to PXE.

You can either use a usb boot drive to chain into MDT, or update the firmware while on the factory load, then PXE.

[anyweb]

that blog post was for the original Surface Pro surely based on the date (16th of May 2013...), this blog post is for the Surface Pro 3 which was released earlier this year

 

Surface Pro: February 9, 2013^[3]
Surface Pro 2: October 22, 2013
Surface Pro 3: June 20, 2014

 

there were issues with older firmware on Surface Pro 3 causing slow UEFI boot but that's fixable by a variety of methods including those below

 

• Why does my Surface Pro 3 take a very long time to UEFI Network Boot using System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ? http://www.niallbrad...anager-2012-r2/
• Updating the UEFI firmware offline - http://blogs.technet...-usb-drive.aspx

[ricardou]

Hey, have you released how to make a bootable MDT deployment for the UEFI Surface Pro 3. I have tried to do it a couple of ways, and have failed. I have been using an external usb hard drive, since it had a controller I could use to go between different partitions. Any suggestions?

[anyweb]

assuming you've completed my guide above and have run the script, and everything finished successfully, then try expanding Advanced, select Media, right click and choose New Media

 

 

point to a blank folder (such as E:\Media) for the Media Path step and select the Everything selection profile as shown below

 

 

continue through that wizard until completion, here's the powershell to do the above

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\bin\MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit.psd1"
New-PSDrive -Name "DS001" -PSProvider MDTProvider -Root "E:\DeploymentShare"
new-item -path "DS001:\Media" -enable "True" -Name "MEDIA001" -Comments "creating bootable media for the Surface Pro 3 (c) windows-noob.com October 2014" -Root "E:\Media" -SelectionProfile "Everything" -SupportX86 "True" -SupportX64 "True" -GenerateISO "True" -ISOName "LiteTouchMedia.iso" -Verbose
new-PSDrive -Name "MEDIA001" -PSProvider "MDTProvider" -Root "E:\Media\Content\Deploy" -Description "Embedded media deployment share" -Force -Verbose

Next, manually copy BootStrap.ini and CustomSettings.ini from E:\DeploymentShare\Control to E:\Media\Content\Deploy\Control and answer yes to the replace.

 

 

Next, right click on the new Media, choose properties

 

 

remove support for the X86 boot wim as it's not needed for support Surface Pro 3

 

 

Select the Windows PE Tab, and choose the drop down for X64, then select Drivers and patches and make sure the WinPEx64 selection profile is selected

 

 

close the wizard when done.

 

Finally, right click the Media001 and choose Update Media Content,

 

 

continue through that wizard

 

 

or use this powershell script

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\bin\MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit.psd1"
New-PSDrive -Name "DS001" -PSProvider MDTProvider -Root "E:\DeploymentShare"
Update-MDTMedia -path "DS001:\Media\MEDIA001" -Verbose

Once done, browse to your media folder, eg: E:\Media and use the ISO provided to image your Surface Pro 3.

 

 

alternatively, you can mount the ISO and copy the contents to a FAT32 formatted usb key/disc and boot from that instead,

 

you might need to use diskpart to make that partition (vol) active, the USB disc must be formatted as FAT32 as UEFI devices cannot boot from USB media formatted as NTFS.

[chandrashekar]

Dear Niall.

 

I am a big fan of you as many of your articles are real life savers. I am approaching now for a solution for Windows 8.1 custom image deplyment on surface pro 3 . I have an image which is around 10 Gigs and am unable to copy it in USB due to Fat 32 restriction as surface only supports fat32, I dont have an option of using WDS as BootP is not an option in my network. Only way out am thinking is boot using USB and install OS over the network using MDT 2013. am not successful in it,can you guide me in doing this and also any other ways of achieving this.desperately seeking your reply.

 

Regards

Chan

[anyweb]

hi Chan

 

I am a big fan of you as many of your articles are real life savers

 

 

thanks !

 

I have an image which is around 10 Gigs and am unable to copy it in USB due to Fat 32 restriction as surface only supports fat32, I dont have an option of using WDS as BootP is not an option in my network. Only way out am thinking is boot using USB and install OS over the network using MDT 2013. am not successful in it,can you guide me in doing this and also any other ways of achieving this.desperately seeking your reply.

 

 

Keith Garner explains how to work around that problem here

[chandrashekar]

Thanks Niall, that worked ,but I am now stuck with deployment, not sure if any changes to be made to task sequence, I am getting command prompt with X:\ windows\system32 prompt after the installation completes, I exit out of it, system reboots and gets stuck in :Getting ready screen" for long time and then "Unattend.xml parse ..could not access panther etc.. failure" message pops and another message says installation incomplete and asks to reinstall again, (IE welcome page - false) which was an issue is fixed in 2013,not sure what the issue with 2013.. kindly help

[chandrashekar]

 

 

Am attaching the actual error message and also the "unattend.xml with oobe system" screenshot.Am unable to attach xml file for your reference to this post,kindly let me know if I have to email you if you want to have a look at it.

 

Kindly let me know if any more info required

 

Eagerly Waiting for your reply.

 

[chandrashekar]

Thanks

Unattend.xml

[anyweb]

are you following my guide exactly ? are you using Windows 8.1x64 UPDATE, are you using a custom unattend.xml file (not needed)