{"id":6157,"date":"2013-12-19T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T08:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ingmarverheij.com\/?p=6157"},"modified":"2013-12-19T13:21:06","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T12:21:06","slug":"mdt-select-operating-system-based-computer-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ingmarverheij.com\/en\/mdt-select-operating-system-based-computer-name\/","title":{"rendered":"MDT: Select operating system based on computer name"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WindowsBy default a single operating system is linked to a task sequences in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit<\/a> (MDT). This means that if you have different operating systems you need to built (and maintain) a task sequence for each<\/strong> operating system.<\/p>\n

A customer has different client types and wants to use a single task sequence <\/strong>to deploy different images<\/strong>. For this purpose a custom <\/strong>task is added that selects an operating system based on the prefix <\/strong>of the provided computer\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h1>\n

Naming convention<\/h1>\n

The customer has a naming convention which uniquely identifies the different client types. Simply put, the first two characters determine the client type followed by a numerical identification number.<\/p>\n

\n

AAnnnn<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Where AA is the computer type and nnnn <\/em>is the numerical identification number. The following computer types are available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Computer name prefix<\/strong><\/td>\nDescription<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MC<\/td>\nMedical clients<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NB<\/td>\nNotebooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PC<\/td>\nWorkstations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
VC<\/td>\nVendor clients<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Based on the naming convention the following machines could exist: MC1234, NB4321, PC1494, VC2598, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Operating Systems<\/h1>\n

Besides unattended installations MDT can deploy images<\/strong> (injecting model specific drivers) captured from a reference machine. These images are stored as Windows Imaging Format<\/a> files (the same format that\u2019s used to boot and install Windows operating systems) and a referred to as Operating System<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For each <\/strong>client type an image is captured and added to MDT as an operating system.<\/p>\n

\"Deployment<\/a><\/p>\n

The name of the operating system in MDT is AA-BB where AA is the computer type and AA is the platform of the operating system (x86 or x64).<\/p>\n

Based on the naming convention the following operating systems could exist: MC-x86, MC-x64, PC-x86, PC-x64, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Task Sequence<\/h1>\n

Each task sequences has a reference to a single <\/strong>operating system, the base properties of this OS determine the how the task sequence is built-up (for instance which unattended.xml).<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

The identifier of the OS is stored as OSGUID<\/strong> in the globalVarList<\/strong> in the ts.xml<\/strong> for for that task sequence.<\/p>\n

\"Control<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Install Operating System<\/h6>\n

The \u201cStandard Client Task Sqeuence”\u00a0 template contains a task Install Operating System<\/strong> which will install the operating system on the client. The operating system provided during the creation of the task sequence is stored at this task AND in the OS Info tab of the task sequence, I recommend choosing the default WIM <\/strong>file of the Windows installation <\/strong>your deploying, not <\/strong>a captured image.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h6>\n
Select OS based on OSD computer prefix<\/h6>\n

Right before the operating system is installed an operating system is selected based on the name of the computer. A Run Command Line<\/strong> task is added to execute a custom script:<\/p>\n

cscript.exe \"%SCRIPTROOT%\\Z-CustomSelectOSBasedOnComputerPrefix.wsf\"<\/pre>\n
This script will determine the prefix of the computer name, the first two characters of the OSD Computer Name<\/strong>, and select the operating system whose name matches the prefix of the computer name + the operating system platform.<\/p>\n
\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
Z-CustomSelectOSBasedOnComputerPrefix.wsf<\/h1>\n
The script that determines the OS to install, called from the task sequence, is relatively easy. It executes a number of tasks:<\/p>\n