Troubleshooting Windows Deployment Services with MDT 2010


Problem: You have installed MDT 2010 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server and set up your deployment environment by adding Windows images to your deployment share, creating task sequences, and so on. You then installed the Windows Deployment Services role on the same server, and during installation of this role you selected your MDT deployment share as the image location. But when you open the Windows Deployment Services MMC console after installation of the role, you see that the Boot Images folder is empty. When you boot a PXE-capable target system and press F12, you get an error saying "Windows boot configuration data file does not contain a valid OS entry". What's wrong?

Solution: You must import your MDT boot images located in the DeploymentShare$\Boot folder into the Boot Images folder of the Windows Deployment Services console.  Once you've done this, you should be able to PXE-boot your target systems and the deployment should work properly.

Mitch Tulloch is a seven-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award and widely recognized expert on Windows administration, deployment and virtualization. For more tips by Mitch you can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.

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