Blog by PQR

In ConfigMgr 2007 R2 there can be created Task Sequence Media. This is extremely useful when PXE boot is not available, or not allowed, and an image must be created. Default there will be jobs for Stand-alone media (used for offline devices), Bootable media (used for deployment) & Capture media (used for capture a reference machine). With ConfigMgr R3 there is even more functionality available in the Task Sequence Media wizard. Then there will be a job added for Prestaged Media (used for re-deployment).

In this blog the Task Sequence Capture Media will be explained. Install a reference machine with Windows installation, Windows Updates and possibly Microsoft Office. Then start The burned Capture Media for starting ConfigMgr Task Sequence. For a Windows XP image the device must be placed in a Workgroup, and Sysprep deployment tools must be placed in C:\sysprep. On Windows Vista & 7 this is not necessary. Then only the device must be placed in a Workgroup. The Sysprep deployment tools are already build-in.

Choose Next, and fill in the path and name for storing the image, and use an account which has security rights for storing the image on that location. Choose Next again and Sysprep will start running. After the reboot WinPE will start, and a Capture job will save the image to the given location.

After capturing the only thing to do is importing the WIM image on "OSD - Operating System Images", and add it to the Distribution point. No additional Build and Capture Task Sequence is needed anymore! This becomes very handy when PXE boot is not working or not possible in a environment!

For OSD can also the "Bootable media" be used for deploying the image. This will be a different ISO file to create, and deployment will also works this way!