You must add at least one boot image and one install image to the server before you can boot a client computer and install an operating system.
Adding an install image
Install images are the operating system images that you deploy to the client computers. You can use the default install image (Install.wim) located in the \Sources directory on the Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 DVDs. You can also create and modify images using the tools in the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) at
 | To add an install image |
Expand the server that you want to add the install image to.
Right-click the Install Images node, and then click Add Install Image.
Specify a name for the image group, and then click Next.
Browse to the install image and click Open. You can use the default install image (Install.wim) located in the \Sources directory on the Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD.
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.
Follow the instructions in the wizard to add the images.
 | Note |
You can also perform this procedure from the command line by running the following: |
Adding a boot image
Boot images are the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) images that you boot a client into before you install an install image. In most cases, you should use the default boot image (Boot.wim) that is included in the \Sources directory of the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media. Except in advanced scenarios, you will not need to modify this file except to add driver packages (see Add Driver Packages to a Boot Image). To install an operating system, you first boot the computer into the boot image, and then you select the install image to install.
A 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 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.
| To add the default boot image included in the product installation DVD |
Expand the server that you want to add the boot image to.
Right-click the Boot Images node, and then click Add Boot Image.
Browse to choose the default boot image (Boot.wim) located in the \Sources directory on the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD.
Click Open, and then click Next.
Follow the instructions in the wizard to add the image.
| Note |
You can also perform this procedure from the command line by running the following: |
To make additional changes to the boot menu, use Bcdedit.exe to edit the Default.bcd file located at RemoteInstall\boot\<architecture>. For more information, see How to Modify the BCD Store Using Bcdedit (
Additional considerations
- 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.