Overview
MDT can generate “offline media” which is a way to install Windows, drivers, patches, and applications with no connection to a central server. It’s like creating your own custom Windows ISO but more!
In this guide I’m assuming you already have an MDT Deployment Share created and working as needed. This guide will build on that foundation to create an offline deployment solution.
Before you start here are some points to keep in mind:
- Offline media is essentially a new, separate deployment share structure that is created and packed into an ISO file.
- Offline media has a separate CustomSettings.ini and Bootstrap.ini file which can be customised the same as the online deployment share.
- You can specify what content from the main deployment share is included into the offline media by using selection profiles.
- Any content that exists outside of the online deployment share that you wish to be available offline, you can manually copy to the offline media file structure and then re-generate the offline media to have included.
Prepare Your Main Deployment Share
If you have a current deployment share that you wish to continue using alongside offline media, then it’s worth going through it and deciding what content you need in the offline media. This can be applications, drivers, operating systems, packages, and task sequences. I’d recommend creating an “Offline” folder in each section and then copy & pasting the item into the “Offline” folder. This is so we can then create an “Offline Media” Selection Profile that only includes these Offline folders.
How Duplicating Items in MDT Works
Copy & pasting items in MDT duplicates the item and doesn’t create a new copy of the item. So, for example, if you duplicate a task sequence and then make changes to it you are changing that single task sequence. If you need a new “offline” task sequence, then you’ll need to create a new one from scratch. This goes for everything in MDT.
Creating New Applications In MDT For Use With Offline Media
If you plan on including applications with your offline media, you should check that the application item has a “Source directory” configured. If this field is blank, then the application will not be included in the offline media as MDT doesn’t know where to get the files from.
The “Source directory” is configured when you create a new application and the “Application with source files” radio button is selected.
Creating a Selection Profile
In the MDT Deployment Workbench, under “Advanced Configuration/Selection Profiles”:
- Right-click on the “Selection Profiles” folder in the left-hand panel and select “New Selection Profile”.
- Give the Selection Profile a name - we’ll call it “Offline Media” and click “Next”.
- Here you’ll see a list of all the content in your MDT share. Note that you only see folders and not individual items.
- Select the items you wish to include in your Offline Media and click “Next” and then Next again.
- On the final screen the Process should have completed successfully, click “Finish”.
Creating Offline Media
In the MDT Deployment Workbench, under “Advanced Configuration/Media”:
- Right-click on the “Media” folder in the left-hand panel and select “New Media”.
- Select the path where the new Offline Media folder structure should be created - it should be outside of any deployment shares. e.g. E:\MDT-Offline
- Under “Selection profile” choose the selection profile we created earlier and then click “Next”.
- If you browse to the path that you chose in step 2 you should see a “Content” directory and inside that a “Deploy” directory which contains a structure a lot like a normal deployment share.
- Under “Advanced Configuration/Media” you should have a new item called “MEDIA001”, right click and select “Properties”.
- On the Properties page “General” tab you can configure the platforms (I recommend unchecking “x86” unless you specifically need it) and the name of the ISO file if desired.
- On the “Rules” tab you can configure the CustomSettings.ini and the Bootstrap.ini for the Offline Media only. These function in the same way as the main deployment share.
- On the “Windows PE” tab, once again this is the Offline Media’s configuration of its WinPE environment.
- Once all is configured as needed, right click on the “MEDIA001” and select “Update Media Content” and MDT will build an ISO file with all the content specified from the selection profile chosen in step 3.
- When the media creation has completed successfully you can use the ISO file with a VM to test or use a tool like Rufus to use it with a USB drive to image a computer.
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-Mike