Windows and Office deployment lab kit

Introduction

Microsoft just introduced an updated kit for IT pros to plan, test and validate deployment and management of desktops running Windows 10 Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. This was earlier known as “Windows insider lab for Enterprise” or “Olympia”.

 

The lab will cover technologies:

• Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager

• Desktop Analytics

• Office Customization Tool

• OneDrive

• Windows Autopilot and the list continues.

 

So why put the time into downloading this environment and set it up?

One thing is to plan your upgrade path if you are not already on Windows 10, this kit is ideal to test your upgrade path. It is an isolated environment build to test and plan, and that is why you should spend time on downloading and set this up, to minimize the risk of blowing up your production environment.

 

Requirements

• The lab builds on the Hyper-V platform.

• Hyper-V role installed

• Administrative rights on the host

• 300 GB of free disk space or more

• NVME / SSD drive recommended

• 16 GB ram or more

• Fast CPU

• An external virtual switch in Hyper-V for internet connectivity on the virtual lab.

 

A complete lab environment

Get the list of technologies you will have access to here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/modern-desktop-deployment-and-management-lab?view=o365-worldwide#a-complete-lab-environment

 

Download the kit

https://www.microsoft.com/evalcenter/evaluate-lab-kit

Fill out all the blanks and press continue

Be prepared to download 30 GB (it should start automatically)

 

Setup your lab

Install Hyper-V

Right click your Start Menu

Open PowerShell with admin rights

Paste this command to it

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All

Restart if needed

 

Start Hyper-V Manager

Create a Virtual Switch

External and “Create virtual switch”

I call it “Microsoft LAB” to identify where it is used in case, I want to change it later.

Press ok.

 

Unzip the downloaded content

For my device it took only 40 seconds to unzip the whole 30 GB of content

I have 2 drives on my device, and I have configured Hyper-V to place its content on my E:

Go to the folder with your unzipped lab and copy it to E:

Note: The environment will be loaded from this directory, so it is important to place it correctly before executing setup.exe.

Run the setup.exe

Next

Accept the license terms and next

The setup process fount our external adapter called Microsoft LAB

Press next

Next

Now patience! This process will unpack the Zpaq file containing all the virtual machines and afterwards import it to Hyper-V. Expect at least 30 minutes wait, so go for a cup of coffee or lunch

Press next

Now all the virtual machines are ready to use at a certain state.

 

Overview of the virtual machines:

Server Name	Roles & Products
HYD-DC1	Active Directory Domain Controller, DNS, DHCP, Certificate Services
HYD-MDT1	Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Windows 10 2004 ADK Windows Deployment Services
HYD-CM1	Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager 2002 Windows Deployment Services Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Windows 10 2004 ADK Windows Software Update Services Microsoft SQL Server 2017
HYD-APP1	Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring Microsoft SQL Server 2017
HYD-GW1	Remote Access for Internet Connectivity
HYD-INET1	Simulated Internet
HYD-VPN1	Remote Access for VPN
HYD-CLIENT1	Windows 10 2004 Domain Joined
HYD-CLIENT2	Windows 10 2004 Domain Joined
HYD-CLIENT3	Windows 10 2004 Workgroup
HYD-CLIENT4	Windows 10 2004 Workgroup
HYD-CLIENT 5, 6	Bare metal (No Installations)
HYD-CLIENT7	Windows 7 SP1 Domain Joined

 

User	Access Type	User Name	Password
Local Administrator	Administrative	Administrator	P@ssw0rd
Domain Administrator	Enterprise Administrator	CORPLabAdmin	P@ssw0rd

Go ahead and play with it.

If you like to add the cloud element to it, you should open the “Lab Kit_2004_lab_guide_v3.docx” from the folder Lab Kit_2004_Guides_v3.

See chapter 2.2.1 Set up Azure and Microsoft 365. Do not get scared it’s only a document on 275 pages

 

Summary

Microsoft released a set of virtual machines ready to use for test path and for developing practical skills. The document “Lab Kit_2004_lab_guide_v3.docx” guides you through a lot of stuff and will enable you to build future hybrid environments or at least upgrade your knowledge on how the different technologies works.

Happy testing!