[RESOLVED] WADS deployment not automatic

[tdbrm]

WAPT Server 2.6.1.17813, Enterprise Edition.

Hello,

I'm encountering a problem with WADS deployments.
On some of our computers, the deployment completes automatically from start to finish once the configuration is added to the WAPT console. However, on other computer models, the configuration stops after the ISO is extracted/read, and a window appears asking for a Windows 11 image (Pro, Home, etc.).
Yet, the same configuration XML is being used. I was wondering if this is a known issue? I've searched the forum and the documentation but haven't found anything on this.

Thank you in advance!

[sfonteneau]

Good morning

In the internal documentation (not yet public), I added this:

Code: Select all

Selecting the Windows edition from the ISO
------------------------------------------

When an ISO contains several Windows editions, the edition to install is selected in the XML answer file with the ``InstallFrom`` metadata block.

For example, the following configuration selects the ``Professional`` edition:

.. code-block:: xml

  <InstallFrom>
      <MetaData>
          <Key>/IMAGE/FLAGS</Key>
          <Value>Professional</Value>
      </MetaData>
  </InstallFrom>

The ``Key`` defines which image metadata is used to select the Windows image, and the ``Value`` defines the expected value for the selected image.

In this example, Windows Setup searches the image contained in the ISO whose ``/IMAGE/FLAGS`` value is ``Professional``.

Selecting the edition by image index
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It is also possible to select the Windows edition by using the image index from the ``install.wim`` or ``install.esd`` file.

Before running ``DISM``, the Windows ISO must first be extracted or mounted in order to access the image file located in the ``sources`` directory.

For example, after extracting the ISO, you can list the available images with the following command:

.. code-block:: bat

  DISM /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:"C:\tranquilit\Win11_25H2_French_x64\sources\install.wim"

Example output:

.. code-block:: text

  Index : 6
  Nom : Windows 11 Professionnel
  Description : Windows 11 Professionnel

In this example, ``Windows 11 Professionnel`` corresponds to index ``6``.

The XML answer file can therefore select this image with ``/IMAGE/INDEX``:

.. code-block:: xml

  <InstallFrom>
      <MetaData>
          <Key>/IMAGE/INDEX</Key>
          <Value>6</Value>
      </MetaData>
  </InstallFrom>

Windows Setup will then install image index ``6`` from the ``install.wim`` file.

If the ISO contains an ``install.esd`` file instead of an ``install.wim`` file, adapt the command accordingly:

.. code-block:: bat

  DISM /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:"C:\tranquilit\Win11_25H2_French_x64\sources\install.esd"

Microsoft documentation for the ``InstallFrom`` metadata block is available here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/unattend/microsoft-windows-setup-imageinstall-dataimage-installfrom-metadata

.. note::

  The value configured in the XML answer file must match one of the images available in the ISO.
  The image indexes can differ depending on the ISO used, so they must be checked from the ``install.wim`` or ``install.esd`` file associated with the configuration.

Try modifying your XML to put it in /IMAGE/INDEX mode to see what happens?

[tdbrm]

Hello,

it works perfectly! I had seen the information online but I had left the key flagged, and so it hadn't worked...

Thank you!

[sfonteneau]

I've just updated the online documentation:

https://www.wapt.fr/fr/doc/wapt-wads.ht ... mage-index