Share via

Add a Boot or Install Image

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can add images by using the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in or by using WDSUTIL at a command prompt.

  • Add an install image

  • Add a boot image

Add an install image

To add the default install images included in the product installation DVD

  1. Expand the server that you want to add the install image.

  2. Right-click the Install Images node, and then click Add Install Image.

  3. Specify a name for the image group, and then click Next.

  4. Browse to select the default install image (install.wim) located in the \Sources directory on the Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 DVD, and then click Open.

  5. To add a subset of the images included in the install.wim, then clear the check boxes for the images that you do not want to add to the server. You should only add the images for which you have licenses.

  6. Follow the instructions in the wizard to add the images.

To add an additional install image

  • Do one of the following:

    • Right-click the image group where you want to add the image, click Add Install Image and browse to select the image. To add a subset of the images included in the install.wim, clear the check boxes for the images that you do not want to add to the server. You should only add the images for which you have licenses.

    • Type the following where the path is the full path to the install image:

      WDSUTIL /add-image /imagefile:\\server\share\sources\install.wim /image type:install

Add a boot image

The Windows Deployment Services boot menu will appear when you PXE boot a computer, and more than one supported boot image exists on the Windows Deployment Services server. You can accomplish many tasks by using Windows PE boot images—for example, you could have boot images that:

  • Launch Setup to install Windows.

  • Reformat the hard disks to support BitLocker Drive Encryption (using unattend) and then install Windows.

  • Contain the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) that you want to use when a computer fails to start.

  • Contain the Windows Deployment Services Image Capture Wizard, which creates an install image from the client computer's operating system.

  • Include a Windows PE image for administrators who want to perform other operations from within Windows PE.

In addition, x64-based computers can run x86-based or x64-based Windows PE boot images. Therefore, for each of these tasks, you could have two boot images—one for x86 and one for x64. The boot menu on x86-based computers will only display the x86 boot images because x86-based computers cannot run x64 boot images.

The following procedures outline how to add more boot images to the boot menu. To view help for WDSUTIL, type WDSUTIL /? at a command prompt.

To add the default boot image included in the product installation DVD

  1. Expand the server that you want to add the boot image..

  2. Right-click the Boot Images node, and then click Add Boot Image.

  3. Browse to choose the default boot image (boot.wim) located in the \Sources directory on the Windows Server 2008 DVD.

  4. Click Open, and then click Next.

  5. Follow the instructions in the wizard to add the image.

To add an additional boot image

  • Do one of the following:

    • Right-click the Boot Images node, click Add Boot Image, and browse tolocate the boot image that you want to add. The boot image must be located on the server, and it can be the same or different architecture.

    • Run the following command to add an additional boot image, where <bootimage> is the full path to the boot image on the server. The image can be the same or a different architecture.

      WDSUTIL /Add-Image /ImageFile:<bootimage> /ImageType:boot

To make additional changes to the boot menu, use Bcdedit.exe to edit the default.bcd file located at %REMINST%\boot\<architecture>. You can run bcdedit /? at a command prompt to see the command-line options. For more information, see Boot Configuration Data Editor Frequently Asked Questions (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=65818).

Additional considerations

  • The default behavior is for x64-based computers to display both x86-based and x64-based boot images when both are available. To change this default, run:

    WDSUTIL /Set-Server /Defaultx86x64ImageType:{x86|x64|both}

  • To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate user rights.

  • If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Administrators group may be able to perform this procedure.

  • As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure.

Additional references