Here is a download that builds a complete Configuration Manager 2012 R2 infrastructure, running on Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012 SP1, in either Hyper-V or VMware. The kit is built upon MDT 2013.

Update 2013-11-17: Added optional Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, MDT 2013, and Orchestrator 2012 R2 to the kit.

Download the Hydration Kit for ConfigMgr 2012 R2 (222 kb).

Overview

Shorthand, to build the lab there are three steps you need to do:

• Download the necessary software
• Prepare the Hydration Environment
• Deploy the virtual machines

Detailed instructions are further down this page... see the Step-by-Step Guide Guide section.

 
The Deployment Wizard displaying the available task sequences.

 The CM01 task sequence, building a complete ConfigMgr 2012 R2 site server.

 
The readymade applications in the hydration kit.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1 - Download the necessary software

• On the machine (client or server) that you use to manage Hyper-V or VMware, create the C:\Downloads folder.
• Download the following software:
  
• The Hydration Kit sample files (download)
• BGInfo
• MDT 2013
• Windows ADK 8.1 (make sure you download the re-release that was available after October 17).
• SQL Server 2012 with SP1
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Configuration Manager 2012 R2 + PreReqs
  
• Optional Software (Only needed if you want to deploy the optional Windows 7, Windows 8.1, MDT, and Orchestrator sequences)
  
• Windows 7 SP1 x64
• Windows 8.1 x64
• Orchestrator 2012 R2
• SQL Server 2012 Express with SP1
• Visual C++ 2005 SP1 runtimes
• Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes
• Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes
• Visual C++ 2012 runtimes
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
• Report Viewer 2008 SP1
• SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express with Tools

Note #1: To download ADK 8.1 run adksetup.exe /layout "C:\Downloads\ADK 8.1"

Note #2: To download the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 pre-requisites, run the SMSSETUP\BIN\X64\Setupdl.exe application from the ConfigMgr installation files.

 
Running the Setupdl.exe to download the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 PreReqs.

Step 2 - Prepare the Hydration Environment

Create the hydration deployment share

1. On the Windows machine that you use to manage Hyper-V or VMware, install Windows ADK 8.1 (adksetup.exe) selecting only the following components:

   Deployment Tools
   Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)
   
   
   The Windows ADK 8.1 Setup.

2. Install MDT 2013 (MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit2013_x64.msi) with the default settings.
3. Extract the HydrationCM2012R2.zip sample file to C:\.
4. You should now have the following folder containing a few subfolders and PowerShell scripts.
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\Source
   
5. In an elevated (run as Administrator) PowerShell command prompt, configure Execution Policy in PowerShell by typing the following command:
   
   Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted –Force
   
   Note: If you are running Windows Server 2012 R2 on your machine you don’t need to set the policy, it’s set by default. 
   
6. In the PowerShell command prompt, create the hydration deployment share by running the following command
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\Source\CreateHydrationDeploymentShare.ps1
   
   
   The result after running the CreateHydrationDeploymentShare.ps1 script.

Populate the hydration deployment share with the downloaded files

1. Copy the BGInfo file (bginfo.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - BGInfo\Source
   
2. Copy the Windows ADK 8.1 installation files to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - ADK\Source
   
   
          
   The ADK folder (including the Patches folder from the re-release of Windows ADK 8.1).
   
   
3. Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
   
4. Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 installation files (extract the download) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - ConfigMgr 2012 R2\Source
   
5. Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 PreReqs files to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - ConfigMgr 2012 R2\PreReqs
   
6. Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 EXTADSCH.exe file (SMSSETUP\BIN\X64) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Configure - Extend AD for ConfigMgr 2012\Source
   
7. Copy the Windows Server 2012 R2 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Operating Systems\WS2012R2

Populate the hydration deployment share with the optional downloaded files

Note: These steps are only needed if you want to deploy the optional Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, MDT, and Orchestrator 2012 R2 sequences. If you don’t want these, skip to the next section.

1. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
   
2. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
   
3. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
   
4. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 - x86-x64\Source
   
5. Copy the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 (dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - NET FrameWork 4.0\Source
   
6. Copy the Orchestrator 2012 R2 setup files to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Orchestrator 2012 R2\Source
   
7. Copy the Report Viewer 2008 SP1 setup file (ReportViewer.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Report Viewer 2008 SP1\Source
   
8. Copy the SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express with Tools setup file (SQLEXPRWT_x64_ENU.exe) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express\Source
   
9. Copy the Windows 7 SP1 x64 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:
   
   C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Operating Systems\W7SP1X64
10. Copy the Windows 8.1 x64 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:
    
    C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Operating Systems\W81X64
    
    

Create the hydration ISO (MDT 2013 offline media item)

1. Using Deployment Workbench (available on the Start screen), expand Deployment Shares, and expand Hydration CM2012 R2.
2. Review the various nodes. The Applications, Operating Systems and Task Sequences nodes should all have some content in them.

 
The Hydration deployment share, listing the task sequences.

1. Expand the Advanced Configuration node, and then select the Media node.
2. In the right pane, right-click the MEDIA001 item, and select Update Media Content.

Note: The media update will take a while to run, a perfect time for a coffee break…

After the media update you will have a big ISO (HydrationCM2012R2.iso ) in the C:\HydrationCM2012R2\ISO folder. With all optional software, the HydrationCM2012R2.iso should be about 20 GB in size, with only the files for ConfigMgr 2012 R2, about 12 GB.

 
The HydrationCM2012R2.iso

Step 3 - Deploy the virtual machines

Note: All accounts, including Administrator, have a password of P@ssw0rd.

Deploying DC01

1. Using Hyper-V Manager or VMware Sphere, create a virtual machine with the following settings:

• Name: DC01
• Hard drive: 100 GB (dynamic disk)
• Memory: 1 GB
• Network: Your lab network
• Image file (ISO): C:\HydrationCM2012R2\ISO\HydrationCM2012R2.iso

1. Start the DC01 virtual machine. After booting from HydrationCM2012R2.iso , and after WinPE has loaded, select the DC01 task sequence.
2. Wait until the setup is complete and you see the Hydration Complete message in the final summary.
3. Leave DC01 running while deploying the other virtual machine (CM01).

Deploying CM01

1. Using Hyper-V Manager or VMware Sphere, create a virtual machine with the following settings:

• Name: CM01
• Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
• Memory: 6 GB (6 GB minimum, 16 GB RAM recommended)
• Network: Your lab network
• Image file (ISO): C:\HydrationCM2012R2\ISO\HydrationCM2012R2.iso

1. Start the CM01 virtual machine. After booting from HydrationCM2012R2.iso , and after WinPE has loaded, select the CM01 task sequence.
2. Wait until the setup is complete and you see the Hydration Complete message in the final summary.

Additional Configuration Notes:

Note: Again, by default, all accounts, including Administrator, have a password of P@ssw0rd.

If you need to change server names, IP addresses, domain names, installation, passwords, etc. in the environment, the main configuration is stored in the four .ini files in the C:\HydrationCM2012R2\ISO\Content\Deploy\Control folder.

 
The configuration files for the Hydration Kit.

For SQL and ConfigMgr settings you need to update the following files in the C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications folder:

• Install - ConfigMgr 2012\ConfigMgr2012Unattend.ini
• Install - SQL Server 2012\ConfigurationFileCM2012.ini

If you need to change the various service accounts, you need to to modify the Configure-CreateADStructure.wsf script in the C:\HydrationCM2012R2\DS\Applications\Configure - Create AD Structure folder.

If you change the Administrator password, and/or domain name, you also need to update the Authorize DHCP credentials in the DC01 task sequence.

/ Johan