Question

Configuring images in Windows Server 2012 - Part 2

Answer 1

Previously in the tutorial of Part 1 we saw the concept of the images, why it should be used and we started the configuration of an image loading the corresponding drivers.

Add packages and updates

As we saw previously we could add drivers with the tool Dism.exe through the command line, now using this same tool we will add a package, this can contain updates in files with extension. cab o. msu , for example:

Dism.exe / image: c: \ mount / Add-Package / PackagePath: "c: \ updates \ Update for Windows
Server 2012 (KB2756872) ".

We can use the option / Get-Package , to know the packages that we have installed.

Add Features and Applications

We can list the features that we have available in our image with the option / Get-Features , using it in the following way:

Dism.exe / image: c: \ mount / Get-Features

After we have them in knowledge we can activate them to convenience using / Enable-Feature e as we see in the following example:

Dism.exe / image: c: \ mount / Enable-Feature / all / FeatureName: NetFx3ServerFeatures

We can also add application packages that are in format. appx and are used both in Windows 8 and in Windows Server 2012 , to achieve this we can use the following commands:

• / Add-ProvisionedAppxPack-age
• / Get-ProvisionedAppxPackage
• / Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage

Make Commit of the image

Once we finish configuring our applications, set the permissions and user roles, and have left the operating system updated to date, comes the next step that is to commit the image, that is, close the changes to be able to use it in a real installation, for this we have available the / Commit command that as we have been doing we will execute it on the command line with the Dism.exe tool. It is important to mention that we can do the reverse of the changes and leave the original image if instead of doing / Commit we use instead / discard .

Here is an example of what we have been trying:

Dism.exe / Unmount-Wim / MountDir: c: \ mount / commit

Once the commit of the changes is done, we generate the file. wim with which we can deploy our image on the corresponding servers.

Construction and capture (Build and capture)

This consists of deploying the operating system, provisioning it with all the updates, applications, drivers and after it is stable to capture it, so that we can have it available as an image, we must keep in mind that to do this we must make the image as much as possible. It is possible to eliminate the specific configurations using the Sysprep.exe utility, thus making the system equal to the time of the first startup after installation.

As we have seen these tools are available to help us save valuable time when installing our servers, as system administrators we must be clear that it is very important to keep the updated images, both in update packages, as drivers or drivers , so that the post-installation process takes the least amount of time possible.

With this we conclude the tutorial part 2 and we must already be able to generate our images and save time and costs when installing Windows Server 2012 servers .

---