Step 4.1 The Task Sequence magic
Now that the Task Sequences are created, its important to note you are NOT done here yet. It is not yet soup…
Before we proceed any further, I typically implement the changes the Deployment Guys recommend to add your own custom actions to the Task Sequence editor, documented here. I implement the stock change they document. After that I restart my workbench so I can see the changes.
(Before and After)
So lets Right Click one of those Task Sequences you’ve created and select Properties, then the Task Sequence Tab, which should get you to where I am in the pictures above.
A couple key things you should probably be doing in a reference build, enabling Windows Update (pre and post application install).
Also, disable “Enable Bitlocker”, no need to try to Bitlocker our VM for the reference capture…
Also, on “Install Applications” I specify my bundle:
This is so in the Capture Task Sequence I don’t get prompted on what applications I want to install, I just breeze through that part of the deployment wizard.
Next thing I do is modify my customsettings.ini aka Rules for the Reference share.
So hit ok on that Task Sequence properties window and go to right click on the Reference Share root and select properties.
And click on “Rules”
Here are some things I add to my Reference Share properties:
(All of these are referenced in the Toolkit Reference.doc in the optional print ready docs)
[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty
[Default]
OSInstall=Y
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipCapture=NO
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
_SMSTSOrgName=Jeffs Capture Machine
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinWorkgroup=Workgroup
SkipFinalSummary=YES
SkipLocaleSelection=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipTimeZone=YES
SkipUserData=YES
TimeZoneName=Eastern Standard Time
UserID=administrator
UserDomain=MDT
UserPassword=P@ssword1
FinishAction=SHUTDOWN
My bootstrap.ini gets modified as well:
[Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
DeployRoot=\\mdt-share\Reference Share
UserID=administrator
UserDomain=MDT
UserPassword=P@ssword1
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
I then Right Click my reference share and select “Update Deployment Share” so my changes to the bootstrap.ini get written to the WinPE.