Turns out, just preparing the new image.wim file for Windows 10 21H2 wasn’t enough. You will have to upgrade the Windows ADK along with a new set of PE add-ons as well.

Here is how to proceed.

Go to the Windows ADK download page, and download both ADK for Windows 10, version 2004, and Windows PE add-on for the ADK. If you already have version 2004 of ADK installed, make sure you have the PE add-on updated.

Then, uninstall the old version of Windows ADK and Windows PE add-ons and then install the new version you just downloaded above.

Once installed, open Deployment Workbench, right-click DeploymentShare, and choose Update Deployment Share.

Select option “Complete regenerate the boot image”, and click Next.

Once it’s finished, you can go to the DeploymentShare\Boot folder and use tools like Rufus to create a new bootable USB drive using the LiteTouchPE_x64.iso image.

A quick note, you could use Windows 11 ADK as well since it’s now also available. But I was having difficulty using the bootable USB to boot and launch the deployment wizard using Windows 11 PE version for some reason. Windows 10 ADK 2004 works for me now so I will just leave it like that since I have no plan to deploy any Windows 11 installs.

The preliminary thought is that it might be missing some drivers as out of the box, the MDT WinPE bootable drive doesn’t recognize the network adapter and I had to use a USB-network adapter to connect to the network.

Skipping the Inject-Driver step didn’t help, nor loading them all during the installation.

So, how can I prepare a WinPE bootable drive that recognize the on-board network adapter right away?

Here is a quick run-down of the steps that update the bootable WinPE disk that eventually solved my problem.

First, download the latest driver from the manufactory’s website.

Then, create a subfolder under Out-of-Box Drivers, let’s call it Lenovo M920.

Right-click the folder’s name and choose Import Drivers.

Specify the directory that contains all the drivers you want to import and click Next.

Once done, right-click MDT Deployment and choose Update Deployment Share.

Select Completely regenerate the boot images, and click Next.

It may take a while to regenerate all the boot images. Once done, you can re-make the bootable USB drive from DeploymentShare\Boot folder.

And now use the new generated bootable disk and it will pass through the Wizard.hta screen like wind.

Note that if you have a large amount of computers from various vendors with different models, you may consider using profiles and/or groups to separate the bootable drive and drivers.

On top of that, on some of the computers, I get nothing when I right-click on them in Devices and Printers.

And in Settings > Devices > Printers, I see something even worse.

I am still puzzling why it happens and have no idea what the issue is. I’ve tried to update the printer driver and installed all the updates but nothing helped.

So, I blame bugs caused by Windows Updates. Instead of trying to fix it, I am going to live with it and use PowerShell to manage it when needed.

To list all printers installed on your computer

Get-Printer

To list all network shared printers installed on your computer.

Get-Printer | Where {$_.Type -eq 'Connection'}

And if you don’t want “Let Windows manage my Default Printers”, this is to set any network shared printer as default.

(New-Object -Com WScript.Network).SetDefaultPrinter('\\printersever\printername')

That should be enough, for the time being. But I am still hoping to get the bottom of it, one day.

The error code reveals nothing. Nothing useful in the event viewer either. But the log from WSUS does.

(Unable to Find Resource ) ReportingEvent. Client 181: Parameters: Feature update to Windows 10 (consumer editions), version 20H2, en-us x64

More specifically, the message “unable to find resource” indicates that the workstation can’t find and download the upgrade package from the WSUS server. Since the update package has an extension name .esd that is a supported MIME type on IIS server out of the box, adding the extension name should fix the whole thing.

Go to the server that runs WSUS service, open IIS manager, and select the server name on the left and open the MIME type on the right.

Click Add and add the following type to the server.

File name extension: .esd
MIME type: application/octet-stream

Now back to the workstations that failed the updates earlier and give another try. This time, Windows 10 20H2 upgrade should go through fine with no more errors.

It has worked beautifully until recently I started upgrading them gradually to Windows 10. The ones graduated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 don’t reboot themselves anymore after any security updates.

Turns out, there is another new policy that needs to be enabled to force a reboot immediately after Windows Update installs important updates. It also lets you set up a restart timer, ranging from 15 to 180 minutes, to give users the opportunity to save their work. When the timer runs out, the restart will proceed even if the PC has signed-in users.

The policy is named Always automatically restart at the scheduled time and located at the following Group Policy location:

Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update

Setting it up wasn’t too bad, especially with very detailed documentation Microsoft has put in place. But it could be very overwhelming for anyone new to the system. Therefore, a simplified version of instruction would be beneficial in that regard.

Installation

There are two components you need to install to get a working MDT system.

• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK), and
• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)

You can install it on any of the operating systems you have, Windows Server or Windows 10. Installation is pretty straightforward. Because of the software size, it may take a little bit time to download and install.

Setting Up MDT

Deployment Workbench is the program you will use to prepare your MDT system for system deployment.

First thing first, you will need to create a new Deployment Share, which is simply just a hidden network share to store image files and installation scripts. By default, it uses DeploymentShare$ as the share name for remote access.

Next, import Operating System for system fresh installation or upgrade. Here is a post to follow for latest Windows 10 May Update upgrade via MDT.

Then, create Application Packages for specific software deployment, such as MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, or any required applications that can be silently installed during the deployment.

Finally, make some Task Sequences for either fresh installation, apply stored reference image, or upgrade. There are numbers of predefined Task Sequences that you can use out of the box. For example, a Standard Client Task Sequence is the most used procedure for fresh installation or image apply and a Standard Client Upgrade Task Sequence is made specifically for OS upgrade.

Making Bootable WinPE USB Drive

Right-click the MDT Deployment Share and choose Update Deployment Share. The system will create a list of bootable ISO files in Boot folder where you can use tools like Rufus to make a bootable USB drive that lets you boot into the WinPE environment where you can perform a new installation.

Building a Reference Windows 10 Image

Here are the steps I took to make a fully loaded Windows 10 image that can be deployed through MDT.

• Boot to the bootable MDT USB drive.
• Pick a Windows 10 install sequence for fresh installation.
• Select all the applications to install during the installation.
• Install the rest of the software that cannot be installed via MDT.
• Apply all Windows security patches.
• Sysprep the machine to generalize a Windows installation and shut down the computer.
• Boot to the bootable MDT USB drive again.
• Use command line DISM to capture the newly Sysprepped computer.
• Now import the captured image (.WIM file) in MDT as a new Operating System.

There are more steps involved in some of the steps above but that’s basically you need to perform to get a fully loaded and functional reference image for deployment.

Deploying Windows 10 via MDT

There are two ways to deploy a Windows 10 installation.

• Boot to WinPE to start a clean installation, or
• Perform an in-place Upgrade by going to the MDT shared folder and launch one of the deployment scripts, i.e. LiteTouch.vbs.

Either way, you will be prompted with a deployment wizard that guides you through the whole process.

A few comments

MDT is a perfect OS deployment solution for those who can’t afford a full-blown SCCM system. After I prepared one in place, I wish I could have done it years ago. It’s way more efficient than what I used before and works perfectly for both new installation and in-place upgrade. One benefit of using it to deploy a Windows 10 system is that it’s ready to use right away once deployed. No more tedious pre-configuration setups and domain joining afterward.

FXSound

FXSound is a free tool that brings you booming bass, crystal clear audio, and high fidelity by optimizing your music in real-time. You can simply boost the bass, add 3D surround sound or adjust the level of fidelity by using the slide bars in Effects tab.

It comes with a list of presets that you can choose right out of the box, Jazz, Rock, Pop, or R&B. Just pick whichever one comforts your ears the most and enjoy.

If none of these are satisfying, you can go to EQ tab and customize the tune according to your own preferences.

Equalizer APO

Equalizer APO is an open source tool that provides a system-wide sound equalizer for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. It’s a parametric/graphic equalizer implemented as an Audio Processing Object for the system effect infrastructure introduced in Windows since Vista.

While the tool is great using it takes a bit learning curve. You will need to launch the Editor from C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO folder and go from there.

One nice thing I like about Equalizer APO is that you can stack up a few equalizer setup and turn it on/off when needed. For example, I have two pairs of headphones, one needs more bass while another needs less mid-range. With Equalizer APO, I can set up two different EQ sets that suit for each of the headsets and use the on/off button to toggle them.

ViPER4Windows

ViPER4Windows is another free audio driver for Windows PCs, using the same Audio Process Object infrastructure. It comes with many audio effects such as Gain Control, Equalizer, Convolver, Surround, Reverb, Compressor, and Limiter. Open the tool as Administrator and click the Equalizer button to open up the EQ table.

Final thoughts

Among all three tools, I like Equalizer APO the most as it provides more flexibilities. But if you just like to have an EQ that is easy to use and follow, FXSound is your guy. Or, if you need a tool more than an EQ, give ViPER4Windows a try.

There is a Group Policy setting that you can alter to bypass getting the updates through WSUS.

Open Group Policy Editor (local or in AD), go to Computer Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → System, and open a setting called Specify settings for optional component installation… on the right-side panel.

Then select Enabled, and check the option “Contact Windows Update directly to download repair content instead of WSUS”

Click OK and done. Run “gpupdate /force” to update the changes on the workstations to avoid the reboot.

Ubuntu on Windows.  This has nothing to do with virtualization – but is a great way to get access to all the great development tools that Linux has – directly from Windows.

There is a lot of information out on the Internet right now on this – so I want to give out some pointers:

• We have a ~20 minute demo and discussion of the technology here: https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/P488
• We have the official team blog post here: https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2016/03/30/run-bash-on-ubuntu-on-windows/
• Dustin Kirkland – from Canonical – has done a great post here: http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2016/03/ubuntu-on-windows.html
• And Scott Hanselman has a post available here:http://www.hanselman.com/blog/DevelopersCanRunBashShellAndUsermodeUbuntuLinuxBinariesOnWindows10.aspx

//via the Virtual PC Guy