How to run a Sysprep and Capture Task Sequence From MDT 2010

Hello, my name is Kevin Ledman. I am a Support Escalation Engineer in the Windows group and today’s blog will cover how to run the new Sysprep and Capture Task Sequence included with MDT 2010.

If you choose to deploy an operating system manually or need to make customizations outside of the MDT task sequencer, you can still use MDT to automatically sysprep and capture the image for future use.

To configure the task sequence, launch the MDT 2010 deployment workbench and create a new task sequence using the sysprep and capture template. Answer the remaining wizard items, making sure to choose an OS source that matches the OS you are going to be capturing.

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Update your deployment points and switch to the reference computer to start the task sequence. **A common mistake at this point is to boot the reference computer from your LiteTouch image and start this task sequence. The sysprep and capture task sequence is designed to be run from the desktop of the reference machine similar to a post OS installation task sequence. To launch this, you will need to establish connectivity to the deployment share and launch LiteTouch.WSF manually. Because you are logged in to the reference machine as a local administrator and not joined to a workgroup, be sure to establish the session under the same security context that will be used for the task sequence:

net use * \\mdtserver\DeploymentShare$ /user:domain\username

Once the connection is established, execute LiteTouch.WSF:

cscript \\mdtserver\DeploymentShare$\Scripts\LiteTouch.WSF

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The MDT Wizard Screens will launch and prompt for the information required to complete this task sequence. **Note – we will still process customsettings.ini for this task sequence. If you have modified customsettings.ini to skip wizard screens, those settings will be honored with this task sequence as well.

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Choose the task sequence you have created.

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Choose the capture option and supply the location and file name.

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Supply the credentials that LiteTouch will use to connect to the deployment share.

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View the summary and click ‘Begin’ to start the task sequence. If you receive error “A connection to the distribution share could not be made” see the following blog:

https://blogs.technet.com/msdeployment/archive/2009/09/18/fix-for-multiple-connections-to-a-server-or-shared-resource-by-the-same-user-using-more-than-one-user-name-are-not-allowed-problem-with-mdt-2010.aspx

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MDT will copy the necessary files to the reference computer, launch sysprep, apply the LiteTouch Image and reboot the machine

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LiteTouch boots and begins the capture of the image. Depending on the size of the installation, this may take a significant amount of time.

Once the capture has completed, you can now import the captured image as a custom image file in MDT and use it for future task sequences.

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Add new operating system and choose custom image file.

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Point to the “Captures” path and move it to the to the deployment share.

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Include the setup files for the OS which you are importing and complete the wizards.

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The operating system is now ready for use with new task sequences.

Kevin Ledman
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support