Virtual server deployments involve creation of a virtual hard disk (VHD with a .vhd file extension or VHDX with a .vhdx extension) and then deployment of that VHD to another computer. This scenario is called native boot because the VHD doesn’t require an underlying operating system.For virtual server deployment, you need to create a VHD using a capture image from a reference computer. The reference computer contains the configuration and applications that you want to clone—in other words, the computer in its pristine state. The image captured from the reference computer can be deployed to other computers, sometimes called destination computers.
Some environments use PXE boot with a WDS image. In such an environment, virtual server deployment design can continue using this method rather than the VHD/VHDX method described.
Understanding virtual server deployment
