On my thread about deployment on virtual hosts, someone wondered if it works on the Xen Hypervisor, the answer is… no. MDT is not able to detect XenServer as an Hypervisor. However… there’s another way get it work:
Execute the following command on a server installed on a XenServer:
wmic csproduct get name
You will hopefully get this output on a XenServer 5.6:
HVM domU
If you get something else, that’s fine, just write it down, exactly as its spelled. This is the model of your server. If this was a physical server, you would have gotten the model name of the hardware.
Now, we need to make sure that MDT identifies the model correctly. We do this in the Customsettings.ini file.
First thing we need to do is to tell MDT to start looking for different models. This is done by changing the priority and add model:
[Settings]
Priority=Model, Default
Second, we need to create a section named the after the model. This section can be created anywhere in the Customsettings.ini file since it will be prioritized over the [Default]-section anyway:
[HVM domU]
This section can contain whatever we want. The above image shows a sample where XenServer Tools will be automatically installed. If it’s XenServer Tools you’re going to install, you’ll need xensetup.exe from the xs-tools.iso which you can mount on any XenServer VM and then manually copy it to a temporary location. Then create a new application using MDT:s built in wizard. To install XenServer tools silently you run xensetup.exe /S /norestart.
Does this trick work for VMware and Hyper-V as well? Yes. Just run the wmic csproduct get name command and copy the output, you can add as many models as you want, as I said, works great on real hardware as well.
Here’s a hint of the output on different Hypervisors, the output changes very rarely so it should work on other versions as well:
| Hypervisor | Output |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V | Virtual Machine |
| XenServer 5.6 | HVM domU |
| VMware ESX 3.5 | VMware Virtual Platform |
Hi, nice post. The issue I’m currently experiencing with MDT 2010 and XenServer 6.0 is with the NIC drivers.
When I deploy Windows 2008 R2 via MDT it installs Realtek drivers for my NICs. These drivers are unable to mount a network share so my deployment can no longer continue.
I’ve tried injecting the drivers but that does not appear to work.
How could I run XenServer tools without having to map to the deployment share?
So, as I understand it, the main problem here is that Windows picks the wrong driver, not really that you need to install XenServer Tools in this part of the installation?
First, you need to extract the correct drivers from the XenServer Tools ISO file. Here’s some help on how to do that. That specific method is untested by me so please get back if you need additional help.
Second, have you added a lot more drivers then you need to your Out-of-the-Box Drivers folder? With a lot, I mean hundreds or thousands of drivers, through a driver pack or something? These packs seem to be a good idea sometimes but I promise you, they’re not! This is because Windows ranks its driver of choice. You can read about that here.
Third, when you have added the drivers to your Out-of-the-Box Drivers folder, don’t forget to update the Boot Image and replace the old one in Windows Deployment Services (WDS).
Please get back if you need any more help, good luck!
Thanks for your assistance.
I extracted the xenserver tools setup exe and imported the drivers from this folder into MDT 2010. The only drivers I have added to Out of the box drivers folder are the Xen PV drivers.
I then updated the boot image in Windows Deployment Services.
Still am not able to mount the network deployment share.
I check the c:\windows\system32\drivers folder and I cannot see the required xenserver drivers there.
By the way I have used the Citrix support link you provided previously and used the Citrix tech support exe to update the lite touch wim file in order to the deployment share mounted and the os image pulled down.
Just struggling to get the correct nic drivers loaded in the win 2008 R2 os itself. If I run the xenserver tools install the correct nic drivers are installed. That’s why I was looking at a way to run that executable immediately after the OS is deployed.
Thanks.
Resolved!
With help from yourself! We attempted to inject the XenServer NIC drivers into the image again. The drivers are present but the Windows 2008 R2 OS chooses to use the Realtek drivers instead. I should mention the hardware is a HP BL460c G7 blade and there have been numerous reports of issues with XenServer and these blades (http://forums.citrix.com/message.jspa?messageID=1603671#1603671)
We could not get the OS to select the XenServer PV drivers over the Realtek drivers.
In the end we installed XenServer tools and run sysprep to create new image with XenServer tools installed. This has worked succesfully.
Thanks!