Capture Windows 10 Reference Image using MDT 2013

In this article we are going to show you how to capture Windows 10 reference image using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 (MDT 2013). Later you can use such image to deploy it on multiple computers in your organization. We assume, that you are already familiar with article Deploy Windows 10 using MDT 2013 and WDS and have already installed MDT 2013 on Windows Server 2012 R2.

Capture Windows 10 Reference Image with MDT 2013

Before you begin capturing the Windows image, you should prepare already deployed Windows 10 PC by installing required drivers, apps, latest Windows security updates and performing necessary system configuration.

Creating Capture Task Sequence on MDT 2013

The first step is to create a new Task Sequence, which will control the image capturing process.

• Run Deployment Workbench console and expand branch Deployment Shares -> MDT Deployment Share
• Right click on Task Sequence and select New Task Sequence in the appeared menu
  
  
• This starts the Task Sequence Wizard. Enter Task Sequence ID (w10Capt) and Task Sequence Name (Capture Windows 10 Image).
  
• From list of predefined task sequence templates select Sysprep and Capture and click Next
  
  
• Choose operating system that matches the version of OS installed on captured PC. In this case it is Windows 10 Pro x64 install.wim (the operating system must be pre-imported into MDT 2013)
  
• Choose Don’t specify a product key at this time and press Next
  
  
• Fill the fields Full Name and Organization and click Next
  
• Select Don’t specify an Administrator password at this time
  
  
• On Summary page click Next -> Next -> Finish
  

Important! Before continuing, check that MDT server configuration allows to capture OS image. To do this, open MDT Deployment Share properties and switch to the Rules tab. SkipCapture option must be set to NO.

Update deployment share to regenerate boot media for WinPE environment.

Capturing Windows 10 Reference Image

Now you are ready to capture already installed Windows 10 image. Power on PC and boot Windows 10 as usual. Verify that necessary applications, updates and language packs are installed on Windows, Time Zone is configured and check other Windows settings.

• Open File Explorer and specify the network path to the DeploymentShare on MDT server. In our case, the path looks like this: \\192.168.1.17\deploymentshare$\. You may need to enter credentials to access network share on the server
• Open the folder Script, find and double click on file LiteTouch.vbs
  
  
• Wait until Windows deployment Wizard starts
• From task sequence list select Capture Windows 10 Image (we created it earlier)
  
• Enter current local Administrator password, which will be used to log in to the system after the reboot
  
• Select Capture an image of this reference computer and verify the UNC path to the folder on MDT server, which will be used to store Windows 10 WIM image file (in our case \\192.168.1.17\deploymentshare$\Captures. You should have read/write permissions on this folder. After that specify desired name for .wim file
  
• On the next screen you need to enter the domain credentials to access network share on the MDT server
• Wait for some time to start Task Sequence
• After completing the preparations, Sysprep task starts. Then the computer will reboot into WiNPE environment and begin to capture system image
  
• The process of capturing image takes quite a long time and after finished a wim file with Windows 10 image appeared in the Captures folder on the deployment share

Later you can directly import this WIM file to the System Center Configuration Manager, Windows Deployment Services or MDT and use it to deploy Windows 10 to the workstations. Thus, you save a lot of time on installing drivers and applications on multiple systems.

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