windows-itpro-docs/windows/deployment/deploy-windows-mdt/prepare-for-windows-deployment-with-mdt.md

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Prepare for deployment with MDT (Windows 10)	This topic will walk you through the steps necessary to create the server structure required to deploy the Windows 10 operating system using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).	5103c418-0c61-414b-b93c-a8e8207d1226		laurawi	greglin	deploy, system requirements	w10	deploy	medium	library	mdt	itpro	greg-lindsay	article

Prepare for deployment with MDT

Applies to

• Windows 10

This topic will walk you through the steps necessary to create the server structure required to deploy the Windows 10 operating system using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). It covers the installation of the necessary system prerequisites, the creation of shared folders and service accounts, and the configuration of security permissions in the files system and in Active Directory.

For the purposes of this topic, we will use two machines: DC01 and MDT01. DC01 is a domain controller and MDT01 is a Windows Server 2012 R2 standard server. MDT01 is a member of the domain contoso.com for the fictitious Contoso Corporation. For more details on the setup for this topic, please see Deploy Windows 10 with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.

System requirements

MDT requires the following components:

• Any of the following operating systems:
  • Windows 7
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10
• Windows PowerShell
• Microsoft .NET Framework

Install Windows ADK for Windows 10

These steps assume that you have the MDT01 member server installed and configured and that you have downloaded Windows ADK for Windows 10 to the E:\Downloads\ADK folder.

1. On MDT01, log on as Administrator in the CONTOSO domain using a password of P@ssw0rd.

2. Start the ADK Setup (E:\Downloads\ADK\adksetup.exe), and on the first wizard page, click Continue.

3. On the Select the features you want to change page, select the features below and complete the wizard using the default settings:

   1. Deployment Tools
   2. Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)
   3. User State Migration Tool (USMT)

   Important

   Starting with Windows 10, version 1809, Windows PE is released separately from the ADK. See Download and install the Windows ADK for more information.

Install MDT

These steps assume that you have downloaded MDT to the E:\Downloads\MDT folder on MDT01.

1. On MDT01, log on as Administrator in the CONTOSO domain using a password of P@ssw0rd.
2. Install MDT (E:\Downloads\MDT\MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit_x64.msi) with the default settings.

Create the OU structure

If you do not have an organizational unit (OU) structure in your Active Directory, you should create one. In this section, you create an OU structure and a service account for MDT.

1. On DC01, using Active Directory User and Computers, in the contoso.com domain level, create a top-level OU named Contoso.
2. In the Contoso OU, create the following OUs:
   1. Accounts
   2. Computers
   3. Groups
3. In the Contoso / Accounts OU, create the following underlying OUs:
   1. Admins
   2. Service Accounts
   3. Users
4. In the Contoso / Computers OU, create the following underlying OUs:
   1. Servers
   2. Workstations
5. In the Contoso / Groups OU, create the following OU:
   • Security Groups

Figure 6. A sample of how the OU structure will look after all the OUs are created.

Create the MDT service account

When creating a reference image, you need an account for MDT. The MDT Build Account is used for Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) to connect to MDT01.

1. On DC01, using Active Directory User and Computers, browse to contoso.com / Contoso / Service Accounts.
2. Select the Service Accounts OU and create the MDT_BA account using the following settings:
   1. Name: MDT_BA
   2. User logon name: MDT_BA
   3. Password: P@ssw0rd
   4. User must change password at next logon: Clear
   5. User cannot change password: Selected
   6. Password never expires: Selected

Create and share the logs folder

By default MDT stores the log files locally on the client. In order to capture a reference image, you will need to enable server-side logging and, to do that, you will need to have a folder in which to store the logs. For more information, see Create a Windows 10 reference image.

1. On MDT01, log on as CONTOSO\Administrator.

2. Create and share the E:\Logs folder by running the following commands in an elevated Windows PowerShell prompt:

   New-Item -Path E:\Logs -ItemType directory
   New-SmbShare -Name Logs$ -Path E:\Logs -ChangeAccess EVERYONE
   icacls E:\Logs /grant '"MDT_BA":(OI)(CI)(M)'
   

Figure 7. The Sharing tab of the E:\Logs folder after sharing it with PowerShell.

Use CMTrace to read log files (optional)

The log files in MDT Lite Touch are formatted to be read by Configuration Manager Trace (CMTrace), which is available as part of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager Toolkit. You can use Notepad, but CMTrace formatting makes the logs easier to read.

Figure 8. An MDT log file opened in Notepad.

Figure 9. The same log file, opened in CMTrace, is much easier to read.

Related topics

Key features in MDT

MDT Lite Touch components