![\"wicd-1\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-1.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\nLet\u2019s face it, guys. \u00a0There are times that you JUST don\u2019t have access to SCCM, MDT or Kace, and need to deploy a completely automated and silent Windows install without our normal build tools. \u00a0If this is you, and you deploy systems frequently, you\u2019ve probably spent way too much time looking at screens like this one<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not only does it stink to have to type a user name and password every time, it also slows you down.\u00a0<\/strong>Admit it, whenever you start a Windows install, you start doing something else, and then an hour later check back and have to reload the whole task in your memory again. \u00a0It\u2019s a\u00a0giant waste of time and makes you less productive.<\/strong><\/p>\n To top it off, there are probably things you always do, like setup user accounts, join a machine to a domain, and set the time zones (we can\u2019t all live in the chosen timezone of Pacific Standard Time).<\/p>\n Previously, making these changes and baking them in to an unattended install meant using the terrible Windows SIM tool, which was horrible.\u00a0 Seriously, no offense meant, but if you had a hand in designing the System Image Manager tool, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re already ashamed.\u00a0 Good, you should be.<\/p>\n Thankfully we now have the Windows Image Configuration Designer (Wicd) which makes this all super easy!<\/p>\n In this post, we\u2019ll walk you through everything you need to do to make a fully silent, unattended Windows Install, along with some useful settings too. \u00a0We will be installing WICD, which is part of the ADK, and then walk through configuring the following settings:<\/p>\n To get access to the awesome WICD tool, you\u2019ll need to have the Windows 10 ADK.\u00a0 I recommend using version 1607, at a minimum (Download Link).\u00a0 When installing the ADK make sure to check the two red boxes shown below, for full features.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re installing the ADK as a prerequisite for SCCM, be sure to check all four boxes shown above, at a minimum.<\/p>\n Next, download you\u2019ll need a copy of your Windows ISO, mount or unzip it.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be looking for this file very soon, E:\\Sources\\install.wim. \u00a0Later on, we\u2019ll need to reference additional files from it too, so keep it mounted there till the very end!<\/p>\n Now, open WICD and click \u2018Windows image customization\u2019<\/p>\n Click through the next few pages, specifying a project folder and then selecting \u2018Windows Image File\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n WICD supports working with Windows Flashable Image files as well, the FPU file format. \u00a0This is the only option for Win10Iot, but not relevant to what we\u2019re doing here, so select the top option (WIM File)<\/p>\n On the next page, browse to your source ISO, which we mounted\u00a0earlier. \u00a0You\u2019re looking for the install.wim file, which will be found at E:\\Sources\\install.wim.<\/p>\n In the next page, we can import a ProvisioningPackage.ppkg if we have one available. \u00a0Import it, if you\u2019d like, or continue on if you don\u2019t have one available. \u00a0Now we should be in this screen. Let\u2019s work through the settings, one by one.<\/p>\n Since I\u2019m going to be deploying this image to my VMs, I want to natively be able to use the Enhanced Virtual Machine Connection feature available on Hyper-V Gen 2.0 VMs running a Windows 8.1 or higher.\u00a0 The only dependency is that the \u2018Remote Desktop Service\u2019 must be enabled, so let\u2019s go ahead and enable that.<\/p>\n In the left side of the screen, scroll down to Image Time Settings \\ Firewall \\ Firewall Groups<\/b><\/p>\n We\u2019re going to create a new Firewall Group, titled Remote_desktop.\u00a0 Type this in as the ID up top and click Add.\u00a0 This will add a new node to our configuration on the left hand side of the screen.<\/p>\n Clicking on the left side of the screen shows our available customizations. \u00a0 Select our group and choose \u2018Active = True\u2019, \u2018Profile = All\u2019 .<\/strong> \u00a0Now for one more setting, scroll down to \u2018Image Time Settings \\ Terminal Services \\ Deny TS Connections\u2019<\/p>\n Change this setting to false, and you\u2019re set. \u00a0Now Enhanced VM Connection will work out of the box for any VMs deployed with this image.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t all live in Pacific coast time, and I personally hate seeing the System Clock set to the wrong time.\u00a0 I\u2019ll assume you all live on the \u2018Right Coast\u2019 like I do :p<\/p>\n Scroll down to Image Time Settings \\ Shell \\ TimeZone<\/b><\/p>\n You\u2019ll need to properly type your timezone name here.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen it be VERY finicky, so use this list to make sure you get the desired timezone correct!\u00a0 If you need to customize this based on multiple office locations, you\u2019ll be better off looking at MDT, which can very easily configure this setting dynamically.<\/p>\n In order to silently deploy this image, you must provide at a minimum the default user account. \u00a0Once we\u2019ve done this, we can proceed to the next step of disabling the OOBE wizard. \u00a0But first things first, let\u2019s setup a user. \u00a0Scroll down to\u00a0Runtime Settings \\ Accounts | Users \u00a0> User Name<\/strong><\/p>\n As seen before, this will add a new node with some more configuration options. \u00a0At a minimum, you must specify a password and which group to stick this user in.<\/p>\n Finally, choose which group to put this user into.<\/p>\n With this setting completed, we can now disable the install wizard and have a completely silent, unattended install experience.<\/p>\n If you scrolled down to this point, make sure you specified a User Account first, otherwise this next setting will not do anything.<\/p>\n To enable unattended mode\u2013truly silent Windows Installs!\u2013we need to hide\u00a0<\/em>the Windows Out Of Box Experience. \u00a0Do this by scrolling down to Runtime Settings \\ OOBE \\ Desktop\u00a0\\ Hide OOBE > TRUE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n With these settings out of the way, now I\u2019ll walk through some of my favorite and must-have settings for Windows Images. \u00a0I absolutely hate connecting to a VM and seeing this icon in the corner.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll see this icon for a lot of reasons, but I normally see it if an AV scan has never run on a machine or if the definitions are too old. \u00a0It will typically resolve itself within a few hours, but when I\u2019m automating Windows Deployments I almost always have someone connecting to a machine within a few hours, and have to answer support calls.<\/p>\n No more. \u00a0Scroll down to\u00a0Runtime \\ Policies \\ Defender<\/strong> and set the following settings, which will run a QuickScan after Windows Install completes, and tell the definitions to update quickly.<\/p>\n Allow On Access Protection \u2013 Yes This is a simple setting but you\u2019ll want to be careful that you don\u2019t bake in a Domain Admin level account. \u00a0You should follow established guides like this one to be sure you\u2019re safely creating a Domain Join Account. \u00a0Once you\u2019ve done that, scroll down to\u00a0Runtime Settings \\ Account \\ Computer Account<\/strong> and specify the following.<\/p>\n Account\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Domain\\DomainJoinAccount (insert your account name here!) Once you\u2019re satisfied with all of your changes, it\u2019s time to export our settings and get to imaging. \u00a0Click\u00a0Create \\ Clean Install Media<\/strong>, from the top of the WICD toolbar.<\/p>\n Be sure to chose WIM format, then click next.<\/p>\n WICD has a super cool feature, it can\u00a0directly create a bootable Windows 10 thumbdrive for you!<\/strong> \u00a0AWESOME! \u00a0So if you\u2019re happy building systems this way, go for it! \u00a0If you\u2019d instead like to make a bootable ISO, select \u2018Save to a folder\u2019 instead.<\/p>\n Assuming you choose to save to a folder, provide the path on disk for the files.<\/p>\n Remember to click Build, or you can sit here at this screen for a LONG time!<\/p>\n When this completes, you\u2019ll have a folder like this one, which looks exactly like what you see when you mount a Windows Install disk.<\/p>\n We can now edit the files here on our build directory before we package it up in an image!<\/p>\n One thing I like to do on all of my images is include a good log file viewer. \u00a0If you\u2019d like to add some files to be present on your machines imaged with this WIM, give this a shot.<\/p>\n First, create a directory to mount the file system from the .WIM file. \u00a0I made mine at C:\\Mount.<\/p>\n Next, browse out and find the install.wim we just saved in the last step, mine is in C:\\temp\\2016LTSBCustom<\/p>\n Now\u2026to mount the filesystem.<\/p>\n With this done, we can now browse out to the disk and we\u2019ll see the install.wim file we just created earlier, as it will be expanded out on disk. \u00a0This is what it\u2019s going to look like when Windows has finished installing using our image!<\/p>\n It\u2019s such a pristine filesystem, just as it would be when freshly imaged!<\/p>\n Feel free to stage any files on disk, folders, you name it. \u00a0Go crazy here. \u00a0You can install portable apps and point it to the locations on this new Windows image. \u00a0Or you could copy your companies branding and logos down onto the machine, add a bunch of data or files you need every machine to have. \u00a0The sky is the limit.<\/p>\n For me, it\u2019s enough to copy CMtrace.exe into the C:\\mount\\Windows\\system32 folder, to ensure that it will be on disk when I need it!<\/p>\n If this good enough, scroll down to Pack up the image, or you could\u2026<\/p>\n While we have the filesystem expanded on our PC, you can also stage registry settings too! \u00a0That\u2019s right, you can edit the registry contained within a .wim file! \u00a0Awesome!<\/p>\n Most people don\u2019t know it, but the registry is just a couple of files saved on disk. \u00a0Specifically, they\u2019re found at C:\\Windows\\system32\\config. \u00a0That means in our expanded image, it will be found at c:\\mount\\Windows\\system32\\config. \u00a0Windows-chan is very shy and doesn\u2019t want you peeking under her skirt, so she makes you make SURE you know what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These translate like so:<\/p>\n HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\SYSTEM \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\\system32\\config\\system<\/em> We can mount these guys into our own registry and mess with them using Regedit! \u00a0Cool! \u00a0As an example, to mount the Default User\u2019s Profile for our new Image, you\u2019d run:<\/p>\n reg load <\/strong>HKLM\\Mount\u00a0c:\\mount\\windows\\system32\\config\\default<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n When that completes, we can open regedit and\u2026<\/p>\n When you\u2019re done hacking around, you can save the settings by running:<\/p>\n reg unload<\/strong> HKLM\\Mount<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, we\u2019re almost done\u2026<\/p>\n We\u2019ve made all of our changes, but still have the .WIM opened up on our computer, mounted at c:\\Mount. \u00a0To save the changes back into a .WIM file, run this command.<\/p>\n dism<\/strong> \/unmount-wim \/mountdir:C:\\Mount <\/em>\/commit<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the output\u2026.<\/p>\n And now, the very final step.<\/p>\n With all of our \u00a0changes completed, it\u2019s time to take our file structure on disk and make it into a bootable ISO file for mass deployment. \u00a0You could spend hours fumbling around\u2026or just use Johan\u2019s awesome script, available at this URL:<\/p>\n http:\/\/deploymentresearch.com\/Research\/Post\/495\/Beyond-Basic-Windows-10-Provisioning-Packages<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course, if you want to REALLY automate things, you need to look at WDS, MDT, or SCCM! \u00a0But for test lab automation, these settings here have saved me a load of time, and I hope they help you too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s face it, guys. \u00a0There are times that you JUST don\u2019t have access to SCCM, MDT or Kace, and need to deploy a completely automated and silent Windows install without our normal build tools. \u00a0If this is you, and you deploy systems frequently, you\u2019ve probably spent way too much time looking at screens like this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,26,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-tech-stuff","category-win_7","category-win_8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2103,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions\/2103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Setting up WICD<\/h3>\n
![\"wicd-2\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-2.png?w=636\")
![\"wicd-3\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-3.png?w=636\")
![\"wicd-4\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-4.png?w=636\")
![\"wicd-5\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-51.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-6\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-6.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\nEnable Remote Desktop out of the box<\/h3>\n
![\"wicd-7\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-7.png?w=206&h=316\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-8\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-8.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-9\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-9.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-10\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-10.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-11\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-11.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\nTimezone<\/h3>\n
![\"wicd-12\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-12.png?w=636\")
New User<\/h3>\n
![\"wicd-13\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-13.png?w=636\")
![\"wicd-14\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-14.png?w=636\")
![\"wicd-15\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-15.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\nEnabling Unattended mode<\/h3>\n
![\"wicd-16\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-16.png?w=636\")
Turn on Windows Defender & auto-update<\/h3>\n
![\"def\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/def.png?w=636\")
\nRealTimeScanDirection \u2013 IncomingFiles
\nScheduleQuickScanTime \u2013 5 mins
\nSignatureUpdateInterval \u2013 8 hours<\/p>\nJoin to a domain while imaging<\/h3>\n
\nAccountOU \u2013 DestinationOU (Optional)
\nComputerName \u2013 Want to change the computer name? \u00a0You can! \u00a0I use FOX-%RAND:5% to make computers name FOX-AES12 or other random names. (optional)
\nDomainName \u2013 Domain to join
\nPassword \u2013 Domain Join Account Password<\/p>\nHow to save this as a image<\/h3>\n
![\"wicd-21\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-21.png?w=636&h=223\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-22\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-22.png?w=636&h=362\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-23\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-23.png?w=636&h=276\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-24\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-24.png?w=636&h=101\")
<\/p>\n![\"wicd-25\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wicd-25.png?w=636&h=486\")
![\"file-on-disk\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/file-on-disk.png?w=636\")
<\/p>\nOptional: Add files to the image<\/h3>\n
\n
Dism \/Mount-Image \/ImageFile:C:\\temp\\2016LTSBcustom\\sources\\install.wim \/index:1 \/MountDir:C:\\Mount<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n
![\"wim\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/wim.gif?w=636\")
![\"file\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/file.png?w=636&h=296\")
<\/p>\nOptional: Make Registry Changes on the image<\/h3>\n
![\"Be](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/file2.png?w=636&h=249\")
![\"file3\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/file3.png?w=636&h=316\")
<\/p>\n
\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\SAM \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\\system32\\config\\sam<\/em>
\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\SECURITY \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\\system32\\config\\security<\/em>
\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\SOFTWARE \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\\system32\\config\\software<\/em>
\nHKEY_USERS.DEFAULT \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\\system32\\config\\default<\/em><\/p>\n![\"I](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/file4.png?w=636&h=403\")
Packing up the image<\/h3>\n
![\"unmount\"](\"https:\/\/foxdeploy.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/12\/unmount.gif?w=636\")
<\/p>\nConvert to a bootable ISO<\/h3>\n