Microsoft

After installing the required software, we need to configure MDT 2013. You need:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 ISO
• VMware Tools for Windows ISO or a Server with VMware Tools installed

The deployment share

First of all we have to create a deployment share. This file share is used to access the software, drivers etc. during the deployment phase. Just start the Deployment Workbench, that can be found in the start menu. Right click the menu item “Deployment Shares” and click “New Deployment Share”.

Usually you can install virtual servers on four different ways:

• Installation from scratch
• image-based installations (e.g. Clonezilla)
• VMware templates and template customization specifications
• automated deployment

Except VMware templates you can use every technique to deploy physical and virtual servers. I would like to show you how you can install windows-based VMs with Microsofts Deployment Toolkit 2013 (MDT 2013). There are three articles in this series. The first article describes what you need for MDT 2013 and how you install WDS. The second article will show you how to configure MDT 2013, import the necessary drivers and OS images. The third article describes how to deploy a Windows 2008 R2 server with VMware Tools.

What are the requirements of MDT 2013?

The requirements are manageable. To recreate my small lab environment, you need two VMs or physical servers and a evaluation copy of Windows 2008 R2. MDT 2013 and ADK for Windows 8.1 can be downloaded for free on microsoft.com. I used two Windows 2008 R2 VMs for my setup. One VM as a Domain Controller with DHCP and the second VM for MDT 2013 and WDS.