Quick Start Guide RSAT Windows 10 1903 Offline FOD – SCCM-MDT OSD

With the release of Windows 10 1809 and the current spring 1903 version, Microsoft changed the way the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) gets installed. With Windows 10 1809+ the Feature On Demand option must be used vs manually downloading the RSAT MSU installer from previous versions of Windows 10. There are PowerShell scripts you can find to install RSAT for 1903 and 1809 while the PC is ONLINE but that requires the task sequence have access to the internet during MDT or SCCM OS Deployment. However, in this post (Quick Start Guide RSAT W10 1903 Offline FOD – SCCM-MDT OSD), I will outline how to do this in an OFFLINE approach without the need for an internet connection when the OSD task sequence runs for Windows 10 1903. Sure a proxy service account can be used by an SCCM task sequence step but this approach removes that need.

High-Level Goals

• Install Windows 10 1903 x64 RSAT using Feature On Demand without an Internet Connection (No need to worry about Proxy or security team request)
• Use PowerShell script to integrate the process into the MDT or SCCM OSD task sequence for deployment use in production
• Use the custom PowerShell script to extract only the RSAT files to keep the MDT/SCCM package source files small (154 MB for Win10 1903) since the full Feature On Demand ISO is 5GB!

Requirements

• Applies to Windows 10 1809 or higher.
• Pre-download the MSDN/VLSC Windows 10 1903 (or 1809) Feature On Demand Part 1 ISO media only
• MDT / SCCM task sequence step configured to use the PowerShell install script set to “Bypass“
• Run the W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_CopySource.ps1 (linked here) PowerShell script to extract only the RSAT files
• Run the W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1 (linked here) PowerShell script to perform the Offline install of the Windows 10 1903 Feature On Demand RSAT features during the MDT/SCCM OSD task sequence
• Must have local administrator rights on the source PC where you will extract the ISO content
• Must set the PowerShell execution policy to “unrestricted” while you extract the ISO content

Get RSAT Capabilities using PowerShell Command

Run the following command on a Windows 10 1903 or 1809 PC to show that RSAT tools are not installed. The output will show “Not Present“.

Command: Get-WindowsCapability -online | ? Name -like Rsat* | FT

Download the MSDN/VLSC Feature On Demand ISO

Login to your MSDN subscription or Volume License site (VLSC) and download Part 1 (Disk 1) of the Windows 10 1903 (or 1809) “Feature On Demand” ISO content. Search for “Feature On Demand“. If the option is not available for 1903 VLSC, it may take some time for a newer version of Windows 10.

Click on the “Windows 10 Feature on Demand part 1, Version 1903 (x64) DVD” ISO. Save to an applicable download or package source location on a local PC where the W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_CopySource.ps1 script will be run.

The PowerShell Scripts

Download both PowerShell scripts from my Github locations found here:

Script 1: W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_CopySource.ps1
Script 2: W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1

The first script needs to be modified to include the path to the Feature On Demand ISO media that was downloaded in the previous steps. Modify line 3 of the script to provide the ISO path and line 17 to provide the extraction path (Default C:\temp). It’s also a good idea to rename the ISO media at this time to a shorter name.

W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_CopySource.ps1 PowerShell Script

CRITICAL NOTE: Lines 21 and 22 had to be modified to ensure the commands were one string and not word wrapped. The defaults from Microsoft were not in the same line so I kept getting errors for the -include and -Container parameters in the original files.

On a Windows 10 PC where you have copied the Feature On Demand ISO, from an elevated PowerShell command prompt run the following command and select “Yes To All”: Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

Run the W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_CopySource.ps1 PowerShell script downloaded from the previous step from an elevated PowerShell command prompt. The content will look like this:

Copy the W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1 that was previously downloaded in the previous step to the C:\TEMP\RSAT_1903_en-US folder location (or whatever folder name if it was changed in the script). This will be the source files for the Feature On Demand Offline MDT / SCCM package content that will be used in the OSD task sequence.

W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1 PowerShell Script

The RSAT source extracted ISO content will look like this. In the screenshot, I’ve renamed the folder to a different name that will be used for import into MDT or SCCM as package content. Make sure you copy the install PowerShell script into this location.

Create/Import the FOD RSAT Extracted Content into MDT or SCCM

Use the following steps to create the MDT application or SCCM package that will be used within the OSD task sequence.

MDT Deployment OS Deployment

For MDT OS Deployments, create an application and point to the source location where the RSAT content was extracted and where the “W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1” script was copied. Ensure the quiet install command line is as shown below to run the PowerShell command as a step in the MDT task sequence.

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -file W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1

Once the MDT application is added, reference the new application in the MDT task sequence as shown here.

Run the MDT Windows 10 1903 OS deployment and the RSAT Feature On Demand files will install OFFLINE as shown here.

When the MDT deployment is complete, the RSAT tools will be installed on the Start Menu as shown here like normal.

SCCM Deployment OS Deployment

For SCCM OS Deployments, create a legacy package and point to a network share source location where the RSAT content was extracted and where the “W10_FOD_RSAT_Offline_Install.ps1” script was copied. Create a Run PowerShell Script step shown below to run the PowerShell command as a step in the SCCM task sequence. There is not a need to create a program during the package creation wizard since a “Run PowerShell Script” option will be used within the SCCM task sequence.

Note: In the below example, SCCM 1902 was used so the Run “PowerShell script” may look different depending on the version of SCCM.

Ensure the step is set to “Bypass” for the execution policy.

Run the SCCM OSD task sequence and the RSAT Offline tools will install for the Windows 10 1903 (or 1809) deployment.

Once the SCCM OS deployment is complete, login and the RSAT tools for Windows 10 1903 will be listed and working as shown below.

That concludes this blog post “Quick Start Guide RSAT W10 1903 Offline FOD – SCCM-MDT OSD” to ensure the Windows 10 1903 (or 1809+) RSAT tools can be installed in an offline manner as part of the MDT or SCCM OS deployment task sequence. It’s great to be able to install RSAT in an OFFLINE manner approach especially for customers with Proxy restrictions to the internet for SCCM OSD. Also, with Windows 10 1809+ the RSAT tools will remain with each In-Place OS upgrade to the next release of Windows 10.

References:

RSAT on Windows 10 1809 in Disconnected Environments – Microsoft reference article showing how to install RSAT in an offline manner approach.

Nathan (moderator) / April 21, 2019 / Filed Under: 1809, 1903, Windows 10 RSAT /