How can I create a boot image with HTA support using MDT

[anyweb]

This guide assumes you have integrated MDT within SCCM, once done, startup your ConfigMgr console.

 

Disable the MDT Boot Wizard

 

Note: When creating the HTA FrontEnd boot.wim below, we will use the a Media Hook and those Media hook files are copied from your MDT installation folder, eg: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\SCCM.

 

If you want to disable the MDT wizard which prompts you for a MININT-xxxxxxxx computername, then do as follows:-

 

Locate the folder, and find a file called SCCM_Bootstrap.ini, Open the file in notepad and change

 

[settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
SkipWizard=NO

 

 

to

 

[settings]
Priority=Default

[Default]
SkipWizard=Yes

 

save the file

 

 

Create boot image using Microsoft Deployment

 

Expand the OSD section of ConfigMGr and right click on boot images, choose Create Boot Image using Microsoft Deployment

 

 

Enter the UNC path and make sure the folder you point to is Empty otherwise the wizard will fail

 

 

 

fill in the General Settings

 

 

for Image options select Add Media hook files to enable deployment Wizard for this boot media

 

 

 

in the Extrafiles field point to your ExtraFiles folder, in mine I have copied Trace32.exe and also point to the UNC path to your custom background

 

 

review the summary and click Next

 

 

this takes some time so be patient

 

 

 

Enable Command Support (F8)

 

Once done, enable command support by right clicking on your new Boot.wim file in boot images, select the Windows PE tab

 

 

 

Distribute your Boot image

 

Finally don't forget to update your HTA FrontEnd boot.wim to your distribution points, once done you can immediately add that boot image to an existing task sequence or create a new task sequence which will use the HTA frontend boot image we created above.. To see how to display your HTA within a task sequence, click here.

[Kevin79]

Anyweb,

 

Thanks for this tutorial (and pointing me to it in my other thread). At the end, you say

 

Distribute your Boot image

 

Finally don't forget to update your HTA FrontEnd boot.wim to your distribution points, once done you can immediately add that boot image to an existing task sequence or create a new task sequence which will use a HTA frontend. To see how to do that, click here.

 

There isn't a link to click though and a quick look at the forum doesn't show part 2. Where can I find this?

[anyweb]

i didn't do that part yet, due to lack of time, but i'll try and re-focus...

[anyweb]

the HTA's which this boot image are created for can be found here

[mniccum]

Although this is a very viable option for including an HTA in the task sequence process I do not use it. The reason I do not use it is that I find my self changing the HTA a lot to add new functionality, etc. The way I do it is add the additional components to the boot images such as WMI, Scripting and HTA. This way I only have to mess with the boot images once. I fond compiling boot images over and over has the potential to fail frequently as I typically have many NIC and hard disk drivers included. Probably only an issue experienced by me though. Once the boot images are updated I just include my HTA in a new package and add it to the task sequence near the top of the task sequence right after WinPE boots. I have been doing this for years and in many different deployments but I have never seen it documented anywhere else. I am not really concerned about it being wrong as I have been using it for years with much success. But I ran across this article and thought I would ask if you considered there to be any flaws with this process and why its better or worse than the process you are describing.

 

Here is the process I use to add components to the boot images. I used a similar script in the past for XP but exclusively have deployed Windows 7 for quite some time.

 

Install WAIK

create folder c:\winpe_x86

create folder c:\winpe_x86\mount

create folder c:\winpe_x64

create folder c:\winpe_x64\mount

copy C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe.wim to c:\winpe_x86

copy C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe.wim to c:\winpe_x64

 

Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_x86\mount

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-HTA.cab"

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-scripting.cab"

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-mdac.cab"

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wmi.cab"

Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Commit

 

Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_x64\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_x64\mount

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-HTA.cab"

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-scripting.cab"

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-mdac.cab"

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wmi.cab"

Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_x64\mount /Commit

 

 

I import these new boot images and replace the old boot images with these and distribute to the DPs.

 

I then create an HTA and create a new package and add the HTA.

 

I add the HTA in the task sequence very near the top right after it boots into WINPE

 

When I make an update to the HTA I just update the DP and its available on the next PXE boot.

 

Thanks

 

[vleedy]

Thanks for this article. My screenshots look a bit different - I am running SCCM 2007 with MDT 2012. On the Customization page, I am not sure what to fill in for the "Prestart command settings" section (especially the "Folder for prestart command files" line) - please see attached screenshot.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[anyweb]

look at what's in the ztimediahook.wsf file, is it referencing anything ? if not then dont worry about it

secondy the prestart files need to be a writable UNC path

 

eg; \\someserver\someshare