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Building a CM Lab – Operating System Deployment [11]

Gary Blok

Published on: May 10, 2020

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In this post, number 11, we’re going to confirm OSD and make sure we have what we need for basic OSD. [OSD Overview MS Docs] [OSD Requirements MS Docs] [OSD Basics MS Docs]

This post will NOT cover the fancy stuff, but just the basics of getting OSD working.

At this point, the assumption is that you’ve done previous posts and have set up Boundaries, a Network Access Account, or Enhanced HTTP.

Requirements:

The boundary with DP associated [MS Docs]
Windows Media [MS Docs[]
Boot Media [MS Docs]

Windows Deployment Media

Let’s first confirm Windows media:

Boot Images

I then make sure I have Boot Media with the components I need to install the OS and support PowerShell scripts and a front end (Not covered here, but will need in the future):

Boot Images — On the Optional Components, I’ve added all these things, which will get used by Scripts I use during WinPE, to update BIOS, gather information, etc.

Boot Image — I also up the Scratch Space to 512, typically not needed, but I like to prepare for future.

Update Distribution Points Wizard — Once you’ve added your components and made you changes, you’ll need to update the DPs.

Distribute Content Wizard — Once you’ve updated it, you need to make sure it’s distributed, so go ahead and right-click on it and distribute it to your DP group.

Task Sequence Boot Media

Now that we have Boot Images, we need to make Boot Media, running the wizard will make it a snap. [MS Docs]

Create Task sequence Media Wizard — I typically use Dynamic, just because it’s the default and I’m too lazy to add the extra click.

create Task Sequence Media Wizard Security — I’ve enabled Unknown computer support, as it makes it easier for testing, avoiding the requirement of importing objects. I disable the password because this is for my lab, and I’m in full control of the boot media.

Create Task sequence Media Wizard Boot Image — Here you pick the boot image, the DP, and Management Points (There is only one, so it’s not hard to pick the right ones)

Customize Task Sequence — I don’t customize this typically, definitely no need for a proof of concept test.

Create Task Sequence Media Wizard Completion — And Success… we’ll use this media to boot the VM shortly to test.

Deployment Collection

Now I’m going to make a Collection that I’ll use as my OSD Deployment Collection. It will contain unknown devices, as well as any devices I want to image. I’m going to name the Collection OSD Bare Metal, implying they are going to be clean installs.

Create Device Collection Wizard Membership Rules — I’ve added the “All Unknown Computers” collection as an include rule. This will allow new machines never seen by CM before to be able to pull in a task sequence and be imaged without the need to import a record.

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Create OSD Task Sequence

Now let’s make a new Task Sequence to test OSD with. [MS Docs]

Create Task Sequence Wizard New Task — Install an existing image package is an option we want.

Create Task Sequence Wizard New Task Sequence — Pick the Boot Image that we’ve setup

Create Task sequence Wizard Install Windows — Then we need to pick the OS Image, I’m going with the 1909 default VLSC media

Create Task Sequence Wizard Configure Network — Next, we need to configure how we join the machine to the domain. First, pick the domain, then the OU. Then specify the account to join the machine to the Domain. See the previous posts where we cover accounts. [MS Docs]

ask sequence Wizard Configuration Manager Client — Here you can set the CM Client Properties, I’ve set the CCMCache size to 25 GB, depending on your environment, you might need to set more things. [MS Docs Client Settings] [MS Docs ConfigMgr Step]

Create Task sequence Wizard State Migration — I don’t have any of these items selected, for our Bare Metal tests, there are no settings/files that need to be migrated

Create Task Sequence Wizard Include Updates — For our test, there is no point to install updates, I also haven’t set up a Software Update Point yet either, so there aren’t any updates available. [MS Docs]

Create Task Sequence Wizard Install Application — On the Apps, I’ve added WMI Explorer to just confirm that app installs work during OSD [MS Docs]

Create Task Sequence Wizard Compeltion — Ok, and we have a TS.

Let’s take a look it and see what CM made for us.

Task Sequence Editor Apply Operating System — Well, it’s basic, but it will work for an initial test. To dive deeper into each step, MS Docs for each Step

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Deployment:

So now we need to Deploy the TS, and then we also need to create a Deployment.

Deploy Software Wizard — TS = the one we just created, and we’re going to deploy it to the OSD Bare Metal Collection

Deploy Software Wizard Deployment Settings — I’ve set it to available (Setting a TS Deployment to required on a collection that includes unknown devices.. bad idea. I’ve also set it to be restricted to Media (Boot Media) and PXE.

Deploy Software Wizard User Experience — Basic Defaults here

Deploy Software Wizard Distribution Points — Here, you don’t have a ton of choice, if you setup a boundary group with the DP, you won’t need to two bottom boxes checked.

Operating System Deployment

microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager — It booted our media and found the Task Sequence

Active Directory Users and Computers — Here you can see the machine joined the domain. I logged in with my domain credentials.

Configuration Manager Trace Log Tool — So looking at the log, I can see we ran into an issue, the TS failed before it installed our application, as it hung on enabling Bitlocker, which makes sense in this situation. Probably should have unchecked the BitLocker stuff when making the TS.

So now we’ve set up CM, the requirements to get OSD up and running, and ran a test to confirm it’s all working.

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Blog Post List

Series Introduction – Building a CM Lab from Scratch

Domain Controller – Setting up your Domain Controller
Gateway Virtual Machine – Creating a Router for your Lab using Windows Server
Certificate Authority – On Domain Controller [Optional]
ConfigMgr Server Pre-Reqs (Windows Features)
Configuration Settings (AD & GPOs)
Source Server (File Share)
ConfigMgr SQL Install
ConfigMgr Install
ConfigMgr Basic Settings
ConfigMgr Collections & App Deployment
ConfigMgr OSD
ConfigMgr Reporting Services

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