How To Install Windows On Network

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How To Install Windows On Network
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Go down to the Troubleshoot Installing Printers in Windows 10 section to read more about solving common problems. If all is well, click on the printer you want to install and then click Next. Windows will automatically setup the printer by installing the appropriate printer drivers onto the system.

Continuing the series regarding installing Windows 7 over RHEL/CentOS 7 PXE Network Boot, where in the first part I have only covered setting up prerequisites on PXE Server, now in this article will be going to discuss how to build WinPE ISO image with the help of Windows Automated Installation Kit on Windows and then move the build image to PXE Server TFTP default location to access and install Windows 7 over PXE network.

Requirements

Step 1: Download and Install Windows Automated Installation Kit

1. On this second part, logon to a Windows 7 Operating System computer, go to Microsoft Download Center and download Windows Automated Installation Kit ISO image file by using the following link.

Download Windows Automated Installation Kit

2. After AIK ISO image finishes downloading, mount the image using a Windows mount software (Daemon Tools Lite Free Edition will do the job) and install Windows Automated Installation Kit software.

Welcome to Windows AIK

Step 2: Create WinPE ISO Image on Windows 7

3. After Windows AIK software is installed on your system go to Windows Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Windows AIK -> right click on Deployment Tools Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator and a new Windows Shell console should open on your screen.

4. Now it’s time to build the Windows 7 Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) x86 boot image by issuing the following commands on Deployment Tools Command Prompt.

Build WinPE Image

5. Although for this tutorial just the WinPE x86 Boot ISO Image is required, below you can find the commands to build PE Images for Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 8 architectures also.

To build WinPE Boot images for Windows 7 64-bit use the following commands:
To build Windows 8 32-bit WinPE bootable images run the following commands:
To build Windows 8 64-bit WinPE bootable images run the following commands:

Step 3: Copy WinPE ISO Image to CentOS PXE Server

6. After Windows 7 Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) x86 boot image has been created, use Windows Explorer to copy winpe_x86.iso image located in C:winpe_x86 windows path to PXE Samba shared directory at 192.168.1.20install network location.

Copy WinPE ISO Image PXE Server

7. After WinPE x86 ISO file is completely transferred to Samba “install” shared directory go back to PXE Server console and move this image from root’s /windows directory to TFTP windows directory path to complete the entire installation process.

Step 4: Boot and Install Windows 7 over PXE Network on Client Side

8. In order to boot and install Windows 7 via network and PXE server, first instruct the clients machines to boot over network by modifying BIOS device boot order or hit a custom key during BIOS post to select a network boot device.

After the first PXE prompt appears press F8 and Enter keys to continue and then select Install Windows 7 from PXE menu.

9. After WinPE image finishes loading, a customized minimal image of windows starts and a Command Prompt window will be displayed on screen.

Loading Windows 7 over PXE Boot

Windows 7 Command Prompt

10. In order to install Windows 7 over a Network Share, in the Command Prompt window, map the Windows installation sources (use the architecture
path you want to install), configured on PXE Samba share directory, as a Network drive.

Then enter network drive share, by specifying the drive letter, and run setup.exe utility. Use the following commands to start the installation process (replace the samba network address location and network drive letter accordingly) and continue with the installation process as you normally do it from a local DVD media.

Choose Windows 7 Language

11. If you want to install the 64-bit architecture, map the specific 64-bit network path using a different letter and continue the installation procedure by following the same steps explained above.

Choose Windows 7 Install Source

12. In case the installation sources are configured with authentication use the following command switch to specify the username.

13. After both architectures installation sources had been mapped you can change between them by switching to the designated network drive letter as presented in the screenshot below.

Change Network Installation Source

Thats all! Performing Windows installations over PXE and network has a lot of advantages, such as cutting down the installation time drastically, allowing the installation process to take place the same time on multiple machines without the need to use a physical installation media.

You can also setup multiple Windows Installation Sources (using Windows or Samba shares) on different machines over your network to avoid a bottleneck on RHEL/CentOS PXE Server, in case you install Windows on multiple machines the same time, and direct the network drive maps to use those specific network sources on installation process.

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Introduction

This guide demos how to install Windows 10 from network boot.

The steps discussed in this guide is for Windows admins. If you are a home user, use the steps in How to Install Windows 10 from USB.

Steps to Install Windows 10 from Network

There are two high-level steps in this guide:

  1. Install and Configure Windows Deployment Services (WDS) Server
  2. Install Windows 10 from Network Boot (Via WDS)
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Install and Configure Windows Deployment Services (WDS) Server

Choopulu kalisina subhavela serial in hindi. Before you can install Windows 10 from Network boot, you need a server with Windows 10 image. One way to make this available is to install and Configure a WDS Server.

For steps to complete this task, read How to Setup Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2016.

To be able to install Windows 10 from WDS over PXE boot, your WDS server MUST have at least one install and one boot image. The boot image is what you will boot to from the Network while the Install image is the actual OS image you will install. You must also have a DHCP server with a scope configured for PXE.

Here are the steps to install Windows 10 from network:

  • Boot your PC to BIOS and modify the boot sequence to boot from Network first. Save your changes and restart your PC.
  • Depending on how the WDS server is configured, you will either receive this prompt – press Enter for network boot. Or the PC will boot straight to PXE. If you receive the prompt, click Enter.
  • Your computer will initiate Windows 10 install via Windows Deployment Services. Confirm that the Locale and Keyboard layouts are correct. Then click Next.
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  • You will then be promoted to provide credentials to logon to the WDS Server. Enter the credentials in the DomainNameUserName format. Then type your password and click OK.
  • If your credentials are correct, you will receive the option to select an Operating System to install. This is the list of the WDS install images configured on the Install Image node. Select one and click Next.
  • To install windows 10 from network, select a hard drive to install Windows. Then click Next.
  • The installation will start. Wait for Windows 10 setup to complete this phase.
  • When setup completes this installation phase, your PC will restart.
  • Then it will initiate the next install phase. The installer will stay on the Getting Ready screen for some time (See the second image below).
  • When the screen below loads, confirm the options are okay. Then click Next.
  • If you receive this message, click Next.
  • From this point, the installation is very straightforward.

Conclusion

I hope this guide was helpful. If you have a question or comment, use the “Leave a Reply” form found at the end of this guide.

For more Windows guides visit our Windows How To page.

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