The World According to Mitch

The day to day ramblings of an IT Professional (and so much more…)

Creating a Multi-OS Deployment Point with MDT!

Hey folks,

I know for months you’ve been on me because the screen shots in my Multi-OS Deployment Share post were lost. Today I am glad to say that I have created a video of it for the DPE team, and am glad to share it with you here!

Remember, this video creates the deployment point only; in order to put it onto a USB key, you would follow the instructions in my post Creating a Bootable USB Key.

I created this demo using my trusty HP ProLiant server running Hyper-V, and as always relied on Camtasia Studio for recording the video. Thanks to HP and TechSmith for the help… couldn’t have done it without you! –M

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Mitch Garvis

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14 responses to “Creating a Multi-OS Deployment Point with MDT!”

  1. Adam Dean Avatar
    Adam Dean

    Hi Again,

    I’ve given this a go using just one OS to begin with, created the ISO file as you suggested (using Windows 7 as an initial test.)

    I also formatted the USB drive (HDD) using the Diskpart method and made it bootable.

    I now hit the “Bootmgr is missing” wall whenever I try to boot, any ideas?

    I can supply my test ISO if you want?

    Reply
    1. Adam Dean Avatar
      Adam Dean

      This seems to have been worked around, it boots from a DVD with the ISO burned so I tried using YUMI.

      With just this ISO on YUMI boots to the installer but it stalls when it can’t find the deployment share.

      On a reboot I could no longer get in to YUMI on the USB HDD.

      ALL INTERESTING!

      Reply
      1. Adam Dean Avatar
        Adam Dean

        Okay okay, I suspect the reason it can’t find the deployment share on the HDD but could find it on the DVD was because on the DVD I didn’t have to use a grub bootloader.

        Now, how to boot the ISO properly without using a GRUB bootloader…

        ORRRR

        Getting it to find the share despite the bootloader….

        Very interesting…

  2. Adam Dean Avatar
    Adam Dean

    Damn and blast, I appear to be back at stage one, the ISO is fine but when I boot in to the installer (Solution Accelerator part) it either can’t find the media (test PC) or can’t find the deployment share (Netboot.)

    I suspect this may be the bootloader, any ideas on why It gives me the “Bootmgr is missing” error when I try to make the HDD bootable by your instructions?

    Reply
    1. Adam Dean Avatar
      Adam Dean

      Possibly figured this one out.

      Oh this is fun.

      Reply
      1. Mitch Garvis Avatar
        Mitch Garvis

        Hey Adam! I am glad you might have figured it out; why don’t you ping me by e-mail if you still need help and I’ll see what I can do to guide you in the right direction! -MDG

  3. Thomas Gonzalez Avatar
    Thomas Gonzalez

    Hi. I managed to do everything up to where I boot up from the usb external hard drive and only get to the part where I choose the Os to install, the problem is that there is no operating system where to choose from. Would the problem be the type of OS (Windows 7 all in one x86 & x64) I was using or what could be the problem causing this to not happen.

    Reply
    1. Mitch Garvis Avatar
      Mitch Garvis

      Hi Thomas,
      There are a few different reasons why that could happen, but architecture is certainly one of them; if your Task Sequences are all x64 and you try to boot your media on x86 hardware you will not see any OSes. Good luck! -M

      Reply
    2. Thomas Gonzalez Avatar
      Thomas Gonzalez

      Ok. sorry. 🙂 forgot to do the task sequence part for every Os.

      Reply
      1. Thomas Gonzalez Avatar
        Thomas Gonzalez

        Forgot to say thanks 🙂 was looking for something like this for months and no clear answer or tutorial on installing more than 2 windows os from usb.

      2. Ramy Avatar
        Ramy

        The Guide ralley works, and the program to automatize the process of creating the bootable pendrive its even better!!!!! GREAT ARTICLE the easier i’ve read THX very much

  4. Marc Yaeger Avatar
    Marc Yaeger

    Hi! So I can boot into the Solution Accelerator, but when I start an install and go through the config, it’s asking for a language to install and a time and currency format. Both fields are blank and it happens for both 64 bit and 32 bit. Any ideas?

    Reply
    1. Mitch Garvis Avatar
      Mitch Garvis

      Hi Marc. My thinking is that in the file CustomSettings.ini there is something that is preventing the default Regional Settings from appearing. Clear out any customizations therein and try again. -M

      Reply
  5. Mustafa Avatar
    Mustafa

    Hi,
    I’ve been in same situation with my SONY VGN FE21S laptop. Problem is same. Laptop won’t shut down but restarts. What I’ve done to me computer so far is to replace the broken power jack connector & cable, install a new keyboard, and install a 2 x 1Gb memories. But later last night I found that problem relates to motherboard (most probably). Because my laptop shuts down as long as I unplug the power adapter. It is still annoying for me to unplug my adapter. Anyway I hope this can help someone else to go further to sort this issue out.

    Regards
    Mustafa

    Reply

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