Moved to WDS from RIS, most basic feature missing?

Am i being blind, or is its Microsofts new policy to ignore basic features in
new versions of their products (Vista is the best example of this, file copy?)

In RIS i would choose Custom Setup (Instead of Automatic Setup) on brand new
PC's and use this option to give the computer its name and it would create a
computer account in active directory for it too! Fantastic! Then obviously
use Automatic setup for any re-imaging after as it would pull the computer
name from active directory during setup.

Where is the computer name box is WDS? I would get around this by using
mixed mode, boot into legacy RIS mode first, create the computer name in
that, then reboot PC and boot into the WDS setup screen for selecting the
image.

But i really want the multicast feature available on the Server 2008 version
of WDS, so i'm playing with the RC1 of that, but there is no legacy ris mode,
so i cannot use my old trick for computer naming. So where is the Computer
Name box is WDS??? Is something that has been there in the last two versions
of Windows Server (2003,2000) so complex its been removed? Really feel like
i'm taking 3 steps forward then 2 back with MS in the last year.... :(

This is for Windows XP Deployment.

WDS has different modes, native, mixed etc. If the server was running RIS
previously than the WDS config should be in mixed. You will have two icons,
one for WDS and one for Legacy mode which is the same code as RIS. WDS gives
you the ability to deploy windows in wim format.

In the properties of the WDS console you can configure a naming scheme using
some expressions %MAC etc. You may want to also evaluate (MDT) Microsoft
Deployment Toolkit which interoperates with WDS for lots of tools and
customization wizards you may be interested in. Namely, the "driver" issue
is all but automated for you. You can also specify a computer name up front
via as you want. This is a free product.

Some helpful links:

Deploying and Managing the Windows Deployment Services Update on Windows
Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Microsoft Deployment
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
--
daveg

NOrmal way we auto create the PC account is to prestage in Active Directory
with the machine's GUID.

"David Lawton" <DavidLawton@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:76B75425-790B-4096-A2EF-5583F8E1DEA2@microsoft.com...
> Am i being blind, or is its Microsofts new policy to ignore basic features
> in
> new versions of their products (Vista is the best example of this, file
> copy?)
>
> In RIS i would choose Custom Setup (Instead of Automatic Setup) on brand
> new
> PC's and use this option to give the computer its name and it would create
> a
> computer account in active directory for it too! Fantastic! Then obviously
> use Automatic setup for any re-imaging after as it would pull the computer
> name from active directory during setup.
>
> Where is the computer name box is WDS? I would get around this by using
> mixed mode, boot into legacy RIS mode first, create the computer name in
> that, then reboot PC and boot into the WDS setup screen for selecting the
> image.
>
> But i really want the multicast feature available on the Server 2008
> version
> of WDS, so i'm playing with the RC1 of that, but there is no legacy ris
> mode,
> so i cannot use my old trick for computer naming. So where is the Computer
> Name box is WDS??? Is something that has been there in the last two
> versions
> of Windows Server (2003,2000) so complex its been removed? Really feel
> like
> i'm taking 3 steps forward then 2 back with MS in the last year.... :(
>
> This is for Windows XP Deployment.