Powershell script to mass import computers into MDT database

So I'm setting up a new Windows Deployment Server with MDT and have decided to try out the database function on it. To get started all you have to do is install SQL express on the server and then while in the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit crate a new database and note down what its called.

Now if your running the same kind of network I am you've got hundreds of computers and adding them one by one into the database and then going into the details and further adding information into the hundred or so fields is just not realistic, so what can you do. Well this is a very nice script that I've knocked up and it will read the contents of a CSV file and import the settings into the database.

First things first. You need to download the modules and import them into powershell. You can download the modules from Microsoft from HERE. Once done create a folder called scripts or something and then extract the files to that folder. Now go into MDT and open up your database, click on 'Computers' and on the right choose 'new'. It doesn't matter if its real or not I just want you to see the details. Click on the details tab, and see all the options on the left hand side. These can all be headers in your CSV file. Now create your CSV file with the headers of Name, Mac, Assettag and continue with the headers from the details section when you add a new computer into the database. Once you fill in the CSV and saved it you can populate the database. Try it with just a couple of computers in the CSV file to start with. You can always delete them if it doesn't work.

First change the file extension on the CSV file to  .TXT. So in the below example i've changed mine to 'machines.txt'

Now copy the below script into Notepad and save it as a .ps1 file. This will let you open it with powershell.

You'll need to change the SERVERNAME to your servers name and DATABASENAME to what ever your called your database.

Import-Module –name C:\Scripts\MDTDB.psm1

Connect-MDTDatabase –sqlServer SERVERNAME –instance SQLEXPRESS –database DATABASENAME

$machines = Import-Csv C:\scripts\machines.txt

For ($i=1; $i -le $machines.count; $i++)

{

   New-MDTComputer -macAddress $machines[$i-1].mac -AssetTag $machines[$i-1].AssetTag -description $machines[$i-1].description -settings @{

    OSInstall='YES';
    OSDComputerName=$machines[$i-1].Name;
    OrgName='My ORG'
    DomainAdmin=$machines[$i-1].DomainAdmin;
    DomainAdminDomain=$machines[$i-1].DomainAdminDomain;
    DomainAdminPassword=$machines[$i-1].DomainAdminPassword;
    JoinDomain=$machines[$i-1].JoinDomain;
    _SMSTSORGNAME=$machines[$i-1]._SMSTSORGNAME;
    AdminPassword=$machines[$i-1].AdminPassword;
    Home_page=$machines[$i-1].Home_Page;
    ProductKey=$machines[$i-1].ProductKey
    ServerA=$machines[$i-1].ServerA;
    TaskSequenceID=$machines[$i-1].TaskSequenceID;
    UserDomain=$machines[$i-1].UserDomain;
    UserID=$machines[$i-1].UserID;
    UserPassword=$machines[$i-1].UserPassword;
    KeyboardLocale=$machines[$i-1].KeyboardLocale;
    SystemLocale=$machines[$i-1].SystemLocale;
    UILanguage=$machines[$i-1].UILanguage;
    UserLocale=$machines[$i-1].UserLocale;
    SkipAdminPassword=$machines[$i-1].SkipAdminPassword;
    SkipApplications=$machines[$i-1].skipApplications;
    SkipBitLocker=$machines[$i-1].SkipBitLocker;
    SkipBitLockerDetails=$machines[$i-1].SkipBitLockerDeatils;
    SkipBuild=$machines[$i-1].SkipBuild;
    SkipCapture=$machines[$i-1].SkipCapture;
    SkipComputerBackup=$machines[$i-1].SkipComputerBackup;
    SkipComputerName=$machines[$i-1].SkipComputerName;
    SkipDeploymentType=$machines[$i-1].SkipDeploymentType;
    SkipDestinationDisk=$machines[$i-1].SkipDestinationDisk;
    SkipDomainMembership=$machines[$i-1].SkipDomainMembership;
    SkipFinalSummary=$machines[$i-1].SkipFinalSummary;
    SkipLocaleSelection=$machines[$i-1].SkipLocaleSelection;
    SkipPackageDisplay=$machines[$i-1].SkipPackageDisplay;
    SkipProductKey=$machines[$i-1].SkipProductKey;
    SkipSummary=$machines[$i-1].SkipSummary;
    SkipTaskSequence=$machines[$i-1].SkipTaskSequence;
    SkipTimeZone=$machines[$i-1].SkipTimeZone;
    SkipUserData=$machines[$i-1].SkipUserData;
    SkipWizard=$machines[$i-1].SkipWizard;
   

   }

}
You can customize this script all you want. Uts very easy. The main section simply lists all the headers i've chosen to import into the database. Make sure they are all in your CSV/TXT file or you'll have a load of missing information

Deploying a Windows 7 image with WDS and MDT 2010 - Part 3

This is the final part of the installment. Here you will learn how to install software after you PC has been imaged. For part 1 click here and for part 2 click here

Adding Applications

You may want the server to install certain software automatically after you have installed the image. It may be because software is only needed in a certain room or you have a problem with the anti-virus connecting if you don’t install it after an image is deployed. I will run through this now.

First adding software to the application list.

Still in MDT workbench, right click on the applications box and choose New Application.

Choose the option most applicable to you but I normally go with ‘Application with source files’

On the next box fill in the appropriate information

 

On the next screen, browse to the software folder and click next

Next specify the name of the folder to be created

Next specify the command you wish to run. This will normally be setup.exe or install.msi. You can also specify command line parameters. You will have to check if any apply to the install file but normally /s will do silently etc. you may even be able to pass a command file to the executable to fill in all the information.

Then click next and finish. The computer will copy across all the files that are in the directory and you will be able to  see it in the applications box in MDT.

Adding the software to a task sequence.

Click back onto the task sequence box in MDT and right click on the task sequence you wish to have install the software. Now choose properties. On the box that pops up choose the second tab called task sequence. What you see here is a complete breakdown of what the computer will do.

Under the sub folder ‘state restore’ there will be an option called install applications. If you click on this, you will have two options on the right. Choose ‘install single application’. You can then click on browse and choose which application you want.

In the above picture I have also added a restart computer command and then a second install application command. To do this you simply click the add button at the top of the task sequence and then choosing the option. I find it better to add a restart after it installs the software as most require a restart to work.

With all this done. You will need to update the deployment share. To do this you will need to go into the MDT workbench software, right click on ‘MDT DeploymentShare’ subfolder and then choose ‘update deploymentshare’. Leave everything as the default and click next, next and then finish. You should be able to see if the computer has updated the boot files. If it has then you will need to change them on the WDS software. I will go through this now.

Updating the boot file in WDS

Run the ‘windows deployment services’ program. On the left hand side click on the server and then the boot folder. In this you will be able to see all the boot files available. Right click on the boot folder and choose ‘Add boot image’

On the first box that comes up browse to the newly created lite touch boot image. These are normally stored under your 'DeploymentshareFolder\boot' folder and are called “LiteTouchPE_x86”. Then click next.

You can then change its name to something else (up to you), and then click next. Click next again and the boot image will be installed.

Once this is all done you are ready to deploy the image.

Reboot the computer and pxe boot to the boot images. Choose the one you want and let it load. It should ask you for authentication ( you will need to provide your root account details) and then the computer name. After this everything is automatically done and you should have no problems.

I hope you've found all this useful.

Deploying a Windows 7 image with WDS and MDT 2010 - Part 2

This post will follow on from the previous part. You can find it here.

Creating a task Sequence

Open up MDT workbench and right click on the task sequence box. Then choose ‘new task sequence’.

On the first screen of the wizard add the task sequence ID (must be unique) and the task sequence name (so you know which it is) and click next.

 

On the next screen choose ‘standard task sequence’

On the next screen choose the basic windows 7 files.

On the next screen choose the second option and specify the MAK

On the next screen fill in the three text boxes with the appropriate information.

On the next screen, fill in the Administrator password

Finally choose next and then finish. Your task sequence will be created. The ID of this task sequence should be included in the’customsetting.ini’ file that we talked about earlier. 

Ok, so that's part 2 over with. In the final part of this series you'll find out how to install software and how to finish it all off.

Click here for part 3

Deploying a Windows 7 image with WDS and MDT 2010 - Part 1

This post will tell you about the process of deploying an image using WDS and MDT. It expects you have a set up and working WDS server, and the base Windows 7 OS already installed.

First log onto the WDS server as you will need to edit a few files first.

Go to the deployment share  and go into the 'control 'folder.

 

The first file you will need to edit is ‘bootstrap.ini’. The correct text in the file should look like this.

[Settings]

Priority=Default

[Default]

DeployRoot=\\WDSSERVER\DeploymentShareFolder

SkipBDDWelcome=YES

SkipBDDWelcome – skips the welcome screen when you boot into winPE. This can be changed

DeployRoot – The path to the deployment share. This will need to be changed.

The second file is called ‘customsettings.ini’. The correct text should look like this.

[Settings]

Priority=Default

Properties=MyCustomProperty

[Default]

OSInstall=YES

SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES

skipBDDWelcome=YES

SkipCapture=yes

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipAppsOnUpgrade=YES

SkipCapture=YES

ComputerBackupLocation=\\WDSSERVER\deploymentshareFolder\Backup

BackupFile=MyCustomImage.wim

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipDeploymentType=YES

SkipDomainMembership=YES

JoinDomain=NameOfYourDomain

DomainAdmin=UserNameToJoinDomain

DomainAdminDomain=DomainName

DomainAdminPassword=PasswordOfUserToJoinDomain

SkipUserData=Yes

SkipTaskSequence=YES

TaskSequenceID=IDOfTaskSequence

SkipComputerName=NO

OSDComputerName=%SerialNumber%

SkipPackageDisplay=YES

SkipLocaleSelection=YES

UILanguage=en-UK

UserLocale=en-UK

KeyboardLocale=0809:00000809

SkipTimeZone=YES

TimeZoneName=GMT Standard Time

SkipApplications=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipSummary=YES

CaptureGroups=YES

SLShare=\\WDSSERVER\deploymentshareFolder\Logs

Home_page=HomePageForWebBrowser

_SMSTSORGNAME = Your Organisations Name

Most of these options (all of which are changeable) are self explanatory. I will point out TaskSequenceID. You will need to change this to which ever task sequence you wish to use. A list is provided in the MDT workbench.

All of the ones marked in red you will certainly need to change but you can change everything. Also note that the Locale is set up for UK and UK English. You'll need to change that depending on where in the world you are.

Remember to save both files when you finish editing them.

Now if you go back to the ‘control’ folder, you should see folders which have the names of the images you wish to deploy. If you choose the image you wish to deploy and go into the folder you will see 2 files. A ‘ts.xml’ and a ‘unattended.xml’. It is the ‘unattended.xml’ file you want to edit so open it up. This is where the computer gets the information from to set up the computer so you don’t have to stay there and provide it.

The windows system image manager should open up and in the centre pane will have a list of options.

Each one of these can be customized. You will need to go through each one of these to make sure it is customize to the image you will be using it with. 

Continue to part 2