One of the neat things you can do with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is you can customize it to show or hide screens when running through the deployment wizard.
Lets have a look at my customsettings.ini file, the file is found in the Control folder. This file is on my memory stick and installs my Patron computer builds. What I do is block all pages except the computer name field. I manually enter the computer name and I am off to the races. It also will give me the final summary letting me know if everything worked or not.
[Settings]
Priority=Default
Properties=MyCustomProperty
[Default]
OSInstall=YES
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipApplications=YES
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipComputerName=No
SkipComputerBackup=YES
SkipDeploymentType=YES
DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER
SkipDomainMembership=YES
JoinDomain=yourdomain.local
DomainAdmin=Deployment_Account
DomainAdminDomain=yourdomain
DomainAdminPassword=Pa$$w0rd
SkipFinalSummary=No
SkipLocaleSelection=YES
KeyboardLocale=en-US
UserLocale=en-US
UILanguage=en-US
SkipPackageDisplay=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipTaskSequence=YES
TaskSequenceID=VISTAPATRON
SkipTimeZone=Yes
TimeZone=035
TimeZoneName=Eastern Standard Time
SkipUserData=Yes
In order for this to work properly, we need ensure we modified our task sequences to install software we want installed. We also need to ensure when setting up the task sequence we entered in a license key (if needed) and the admin password.
I’ll be covering these customizations of a few blog posts. I am also going to be creating some instructional podcasts around MDT as well, so this could be included in that.
For more information on this as well, check out fellow MVP Mitch Tulloch’s posts on the subject at http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Deploying-Windows-7-Part7.html. He has a whole series dedicated to Windows 7 Deployment.