Windows Deployment Services

RIS has been replaced in Windows Longhorn and is now Windows Deployment Services. You can also install it on Windows 2003 Server where RIS is installed. You need a hotfix to install it. I spent some time looking for the hotfix, without much luck. Wasn’t looking hard but just in my spare time. I decided to focus a little bit on it today for an hour. What I found out was to get the hotfix you need to download the Windows Automated Installation Kit DVD image and the file is in the ISO. I downloaded the ISO, sure enough, there is the patch. I applied it to my existing RIS server and then upgraded the server to a Mixed mode server and that is where the server is at today. Nothing works right now, since I didn’t put a Windows Vista image but for now I just want to see if I can put up a Windows XP image. In my environment at the Court House, every computer is different, not one has the same hardware as another. Not a problem for Vista or Windows XP if I use BDD, but I want the images on the WDS server so what I plan to do is see if I can do a baremetal install of XP and WDS and be able to use it on other computers. I’ll keep you all advised.