Create a customized bootable ISO to install Server 2012 on a physical or VMware server

Question

Management would like us to create a pre-customized bootable 2012 ISO image.  I'm using previously created work instructions on how to create a 2008 R2 image which is used to boot on a physical server and also used to deploy VMware servers.  We
install some applications that we use in our standard builds and create the ISO.
So for a 2008 image we customize the 2008 server build using using a pre-created Autounattend file. 
We install all the applicaitons, remove guids and use a customized unattend to sysprep (/oobe /generalize)
We use a pre-prepared Pre Sysprep PE disk to create the Wim file.  
We use DISM to mount the WIM and add drivers.
We use imagex to split the wim file into sim files if the wim file is more than 4GB
We use a pre-prepared Post Sysprep ISO to add the wim or sim files to create the ISO.
Now with the requirement for deploying 2012 we have been asked to duplicate the same process.  I'd prefer to use a VMware image, clone or template so we don't have to start the build process all over each quarter as we need to update this image quarterly.
 We would use the VM template for VM's (and that's been the easy part).  But I'm not sure of all that is required for the physical image ISO.  I want to completely remove the physical server out of the picture except for the deployment option
to a physical server.  In other words create the wim file from the customized 2012 VM server.
I know we have to get the unattend files from AIK 8 or 8.1 and I think we need to use AIK to get a Pre Sysprep PE and Post Sysprep ISO but an not completely clear how to do this.
Can someone steer me in the right direction or provide any tips or gatcha's? 
Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi MHDay,
1.Install the Deployment Tools feature included in the
Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 8. 2.Extract your Windows 8 ISO
3. Launch the Windows System Image Manager
4.Under Windows Image right click and select a windows image, navigate to the sources\install.wim file from your extracted ISO or your DVD
5.It will ask you about creating a catalog of the image, say yes
6.Once that is done, under Answer File right click and select new answer file
7.Drag Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral to the "4 specialize" section
    a. Enter your product key
8. Drag Microsoft-Windows-International-Core_neutral to "7 oobeSystem"
    a. Set InputLocale to 0409:00000409
    b.SystemLocal, UILanguage, and UserLocal all to en-US
9. Drag Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral to "7 oobeSystem"
    a. In order to make the installation completely silent and not need any user interaction, under OOBE set each of the following to true: HideEULAPage, HideLocalAccountScreen, HideOEMRegistrationScreen, HideOnlineAccountScreen, HideWirelessSetupInOOBE
    b. Set NetworkLocation to Work
    c. Set ProtectYourPC to 1 (This enables windows update with recommended settings)
10. If you do not specify a local account in the answer file you will be forced to create one during image deployment, so be sure to create a new Local Account under UserAccounts -> LocalAccounts
    a. I have found that you can create a new account that is the same name as one that is already in the image for simplicity
11. If you need to join to a domain, drag Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin_Neutral to "4 specialize"
    a. Set your domain name in JoinDomain, set UnsecureJoin to false
    b. Enter credentials with domain join privileges -- **They WILL be stored in plain text in the file
Save your unattend.xml file. At this point if you are using WDS you can select the image in the WDS console and attach the unattend.xml file to that image.
If you want to slip the unattend.xml file in to the image itself, copy it to c:\windows\system32\sysprep, and run sysprep like this: sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:c:\windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml
For details please refer to
here.
Then you may follow your steps to create ISO file .
Best Regards
Elton Ji
We
are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this
interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time.
Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.