WDS and Symbolic Links

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is all my team and I use for OS deployments. We regularly use the $OEM$\$1 option to copy files and scripts to the target install. More on $OEM$

Recently we started updating scripts that are in a $OEM$, $$ or $1 folder. This was very time consuming because you had to update a large number (~50) different images.

The solution to this problem: Hard Links http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365006(v=vs.85).aspx
We use the Mklink command to create a Hard link to a “source file”. WDS follows this link and copies the script\file to the target OS during install. This allows us to have a GOLD set of scripts that will get copied yet we only have to make a change in 1 location.

The important thing when making the link with mklink is to pass the /k argument. This will tell mklink to make a hard link not a Symbolic link. You can find more on Mklink at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753194(WS.10).aspx


WDS will not work with a Symbolic link and will throw an error like:
Windows cannot copy files from \$OEM$ to C:\$WINDOWS.~LS\Sources. The files do not exist. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation. Error code: 0x80070003]


This works on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2.