Imaging and Deployment Software

[dlock13]

lots of access denied errors. format the disk first.

You're right. I see that now.

Is it possible for me to delete only the volume/partition that Windows/C: is located?

I captured C: when it was completely stock, and I just captured an image with it in Audit mode. I'm hoping that I can delete/format the volume/partition to then put the captured Stock/Audit images back on there.

EDIT:

Answered my own question!

Formatted just the C: partition.
Created a new C: partition.
Applied the stock image.
Rebooted and success!

 

[dlock13]

If anyone can assist with my unattend file, that would be fantastic.

Thanks!

 

[raf051888]

I can take a look. Did you modify the unattend.xml? Is the imaging being held up at some point?

 

[xSauronx]

If anyone can assist with my unattend file, that would be fantastic.

Thanks!

honestly i make very very few changes to it--so few i cant remember what they are. id be interested to just know what you are doing with it, however.

 

[dlock13]

PM'd both of you with the info.

Thanks!

 

[raf051888]

How did this work out for you?

 

[dlock13]

How did this work out for you?

I got my image working properly. I have my sysprep file working nicely as well.

The only issue I'm having is getting my start layout to stick in the default profile. I have searched and searched, and I cannot find anything.

I want the start screen layout to be exactly the same across each user. I saw there is a GPO that essentially forces a start layout with no user capability to change it, but I don't want to do that at all.

I want to just set a layout and allow my users to change the screen. This is probably one of the most annoying things right now as I can't find a good/easy way to do it.

 

[xSauronx]

I got my image working properly. I have my sysprep file working nicely as well.

The only issue I'm having is getting my start layout to stick in the default profile. I have searched and searched, and I cannot find anything.

I want the start screen layout to be exactly the same across each user. I saw there is a GPO that essentially forces a start layout with no user capability to change it, but I don't want to do that at all.

I want to just set a layout and allow my users to change the screen. This is probably one of the most annoying things right now as I can't find a good/easy way to do it.

what you have to do is export it [which you do for the gpo] but then you have to import it into the image BEFORE deployment.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn283403.aspx
this will tell you what you need to know

you need the DISM tools for this. setup the screen, export the layout into a file.
copy the file to your workstation.
capture the image to a whatever.
mount the image on your workstation and import that layout
commit / dismount the image.


another reference:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134269.aspx

note: this suggests you can set it in an image with copyprofile. im pretty sure that is not accurate, since you seem to have gotten copy profile working and the start screen didnt stick. i remember it not working when i had tested it last year.

it also says you can export the layout in audit mode and copy it to the default location and that will do the trick. no idea, worth a shot. my task sequence in MDT imports in during the deployment so i stopped importing it into a image once i got that working.

 

[dlock13]

what you have to do is export it [which you do for the gpo] but then you have to import it into the image BEFORE deployment.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn283403.aspx
this will tell you what you need to know

you need the DISM tools for this. setup the screen, export the layout into a file.
copy the file to your workstation.
capture the image to a whatever.
mount the image on your workstation and import that layout
commit / dismount the image.


another reference:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134269.aspx

note: this suggests you can set it in an image with copyprofile. im pretty sure that is not accurate, since you seem to have gotten copy profile working and the start screen didnt stick. i remember it not working when i had tested it last year.

it also says you can export the layout in audit mode and copy it to the default location and that will do the trick. no idea, worth a shot. my task sequence in MDT imports in during the deployment so i stopped importing it into a image once i got that working.

So you're saying run DISM on a workstation running Win 8 (because PowerShell doesn't have the proper command on 7). Mount the image. Import layout with PS command. Commit the image and then dismount it.

If that is the case, I tried that yesterday afternoon, and it didn't work. Maybe I did it wrong. Should I import the layout with an image running sysprep, in audit mode, or a standard image? That may be why it didn't work yesterday.

 

[xSauronx]

so fwiw that start screen doesnt show up as the administrator user, but only for other new user accounts if i remember right. when you deploy the image it may be logging in as the default admin? or are you using the OOBE and going through a new setup?.

my last deploy step is to reboot the pc upon success, so any new user logging in definitely gets my custom start screen.

did you get any errors importing the file to the mounted image?
did you try just copying the file to the default user profile path as mentioned in one of the above links?

this is a good opportunity to tell your superiors that a deployment server and a little cheap switch for a deployment area [and a kvm.] will save you time by automating things and logging errors so you can be much more efficient

 

[WinOutreach2]

I really want to stress the importance of using a virtual machine for your reference system/reference image. Capturing an image from the OEM environment that ships with the laptop is a recipe for conflict when deploying to disparate hardware. Sysprep can remove drivers to increase cross platform compatibility, but it doesn’t always remove the applications that come with drivers (e.g. control panel software, hotkey software, etc.), not to mention certain Sysprep-incompatible software (e.g. some security software). These components can wreak havoc on a deployment when even slight elements change (a model with different graphics, etc.).

The recommended process is to create a virtual machine on which you perform only tweaks that cannot be performed otherwise (for example default user profile creation through CopyProfile and Sysprep). You then would manage drivers and applications entirely with MDT and the deployment task sequence.

Note that while it is recommended to use a virtual machine, you can still use MDT to capture a physical machine with a complete configuration and deploy it to another machine. I believe you can capture to USB from the Windows Deployment Wizard, so if you have a USB hard drive or stick large enough, you could capture to a directory local to the MDT USB media. Note that because the deployment task sequence must specify the image to be deployed, you will not be able to capture and deploy without connecting the USB stick to the MDT computer and creating a new task sequence.

Some helpful links:
Deployment and Administration Guide for Surface Pro 3 (includes a detailed walkthrough of Windows deployment with MDT and SCCM, most concepts are applicable to any Windows PC)
Windows 8.1 Deployment Jump Start (a comprehensive video reviewing MDT and what it can offer to the deployment process)
Lenovo Driver Packs for SCCM and MDT (since you mentioned both Dell and Lenovo)

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

 

[WinOutreach2]

what you have to do is export it [which you do for the gpo] but then you have to import it into the image BEFORE deployment.

Note that the export for the GPO (XML) is not compatible with the import command, which requires BIN. Detailed here.

Another note, the shortcuts to applications must exist in the Start Menu folder for the user/all users or the tiles will not appear.

You would not use Import-StartLayout to inject the Start Screen Layout into the DISM mounted image. You would merely copy the file to %SystemDrive%\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\AppsFolderLayout.bin. You can add a step in the deployment task sequence to use xcopy to perform this copy during deployment (so that it’s not baked into your image and can be changed easily for future deployments).

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

 

[xSauronx]

Note that the export for the GPO (XML) is not compatible with the import command, which requires BIN. Detailed here.

Another note, the shortcuts to applications must exist in the Start Menu folder for the user/all users or the tiles will not appear.

You would not use Import-StartLayout to inject the Start Screen Layout into the DISM mounted image. You would merely copy the file to %SystemDrive%\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\AppsFolderLayout.bin. You can add a step in the deployment task sequence to use xcopy to perform this copy during deployment (so that it’s not baked into your image and can be changed easily for future deployments).

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

good notes, thanks
my task sequence has the import-layout being used with the mount location of c: near the end of deployment and it works fine. is there functionally any difference between that and using xcopy instead?

 

[Dahak]

Not sure if I should post this here or not, but have you got the Start Menu layout to work?
I cant seem to do so, I have some basic shortcuts in there.

I removed the defaults, and just added, file explorer, this pc, run, control panel, and office apps

the only thing that i can find, it seems that this only available on the Enterprise sku?

I am trying it with Pro. Also GPO is not an option, unfortunately.

 

[xSauronx]

i am doing it with the pro edition. how are you adding it, how are you deploying the image?i think there are enough links in this thread to tell you what you need

 

[Dahak]

Just as a quick rundown. Install Os, Enter audit mode, install drivers, apps, customize profile, customize start menu.
Did the Export-StartLayout command, copied the .bin file to usb stick
sysprep the machine, with the copyprofile (which does not seem to work either)
capture image
mounted captured image, copied the .bin to the location where they said to put it
unmount image, save changes.

Deployed new image, new user does not have start customization.

The copyprofile in the Unattended does not seem to work either. But that's another issue for later

One thing I did find with playing with this last night, in another post(cant find it now should have marked it) it says to copy over the appsFolder.itemdata-ms as well as the .bin from the export-startlayout to the default user and then do the import which seemed to work. Without the itemdata-ms file it would not.

 

[WinOutreach2]

Something noteworthy is that CopyProfile is processed during the Specialize pass, meaning when the computer turns back on (or the image has been deployed and is booted on the new machine). If you use a deployment solution that replaces the answer file during deployment (like MDT), your CopyProfile setting can be overwritten before it is ever processed.

As for the Import-StartLayout vs copying the BIN, they accomplish the same task, the only difference I can think of is that the BIN doesn’t have to have a specific name with Import-StartLayout.

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

 

[dlock13]

Me again!

I have a few more questions, and any help would be amazing!

I have a PC I installed Win Server 2012 R2 on. I've never actually used this OS, so I'm not sure what preliminaries I will need to do in order to get this to function as a proper deployment server.

I have a switch configured to pair with the server. I'm not going to be able to run this on our network at the moment due to port restrictions, so this will be a local set up. If necessary, I can probably hook into the external internet in order to provide any kind of internet connection.

Can anyone walk me through how I should start this process? Actually, if you can lead me down the right path, I can do the legwork in finding out what needs to be done in order to get this working properly.

In all honesty, I can probably get this working locally within the next week if someone can guide me in setting up Server 2012 properly as well as installing MDT and configuring it to automate the image process.

 

[xSauronx]

Me again!

I have a few more questions, and any help would be amazing!

I have a PC I installed Win Server 2012 R2 on. I've never actually used this OS, so I'm not sure what preliminaries I will need to do in order to get this to function as a proper deployment server.

I have a switch configured to pair with the server. I'm not going to be able to run this on our network at the moment due to port restrictions, so this will be a local set up. If necessary, I can probably hook into the external internet in order to provide any kind of internet connection.

Can anyone walk me through how I should start this process? Actually, if you can lead me down the right path, I can do the legwork in finding out what needs to be done in order to get this working properly.

In all honesty, I can probably get this working locally within the next week if someone can guide me in setting up Server 2012 properly as well as installing MDT and configuring it to automate the image process.

first, keep in mind that this is an automation tool that can do a lot. so there is a lot to read to get started.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfepl...8-using-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-mdt.aspx

google how to pause and capture with ltisuspend. instead of deploying an OS, customizing it, then running a capture task, you can just deploy, pause, customize and capture in one-ish sweep. very handy.

you want VMs. really. they will save a ton of time on testing. if you can get hyper v server on that thing instead, and run 2012 as your deployment OS and then be ready to run windows7/8 vms to test then that is what you should do. snapshots are the best.

you also want to log deployment tasks. and use cmtrace/trace32 to read the logs later.

also, if you have 50 - 200gb [depending on update needs] use the WSUS role. automating updates will save you many hours. many. internet access is required, unless you have a WSUS server already then you can work with your admins to make a second one, or maybe use the prod one at some point.

install the WDS and DHCP role and set up PXE booting so you can do this all on the network, you dont want to plug a usb drive or dvd into every silly computer you will deploy , and honestly, even loading the ISO for a vm is not needed once these roles are set up.

download the ISOs for your operating systems
download MDT 2013
download the windows ADK


if you can, get source files for apps or anything custom you guys have to put on, since you can automate most anything you need to install [pay attention to agent software like antivirus or monitoring software] but VPN, office, adobe reader, can be deployed

MDT guy, deployment research, the deployment guys, and deployment bunny will help a lot depending on what you try to get into or what you get stuck on

 

[dlock13]

first, keep in mind that this is an automation tool that can do a lot. so there is a lot to read to get started.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfepl...8-using-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-mdt.aspx

google how to pause and capture with ltisuspend. instead of deploying an OS, customizing it, then running a capture task, you can just deploy, pause, customize and capture in one-ish sweep. very handy.

you want VMs. really. they will save a ton of time on testing. if you can get hyper v server on that thing instead, and run 2012 as your deployment OS and then be ready to run windows7/8 vms to test then that is what you should do. snapshots are the best.

you also want to log deployment tasks. and use cmtrace/trace32 to read the logs later.

also, if you have 50 - 200gb [depending on update needs] use the WSUS role. automating updates will save you many hours. many. internet access is required, unless you have a WSUS server already then you can work with your admins to make a second one, or maybe use the prod one at some point.

install the WDS and DHCP role and set up PXE booting so you can do this all on the network, you dont want to plug a usb drive or dvd into every silly computer you will deploy , and honestly, even loading the ISO for a vm is not needed once these roles are set up.

download the ISOs for your operating systems
download MDT 2013
download the windows ADK


if you can, get source files for apps or anything custom you guys have to put on, since you can automate most anything you need to install [pay attention to agent software like antivirus or monitoring software] but VPN, office, adobe reader, can be deployed

MDT guy, deployment research, the deployment guys, and deployment bunny will help a lot depending on what you try to get into or what you get stuck on

A lot of information here! I dig it!


Here is what I have so far.....

PC running Server 2012 R2 with DHCP and PXE set up.
Have MDT and WDS installed as well.
I have Windows 7 x86 & x64 as well as Windows 8.1 x64 ISOs on here.
Downloaded driver packs for the 3 models of PCs we will be using.
I believe I followed the imaging and deploying guide for the Surface Pro 3, but the imaging process keeps failing on me.

I'm currently attempting to create another deployment share and see if I can figure out why it is failing on me.

We have a WSUS server set up, so there's no worries on that. I'm not going to worry about integrating that until I can get a PC imaged properly on the local network I've created. Once I get that and have a proof of concept, I can then bring this up to my superiors and hopefully get this incorporated to work on our network.

At the moment, I'm going to continue trying to use this client PC for testing purposes. When I finally get the PXE booting + imaging process down, I can then see about getting a server + VMs up and running with Win 7/8.1/10. That suspend feature does sound awesome, and I'm hoping I'll be able to incorporate that once I get this up and running.

Can you please explain what you mean by running Hyper V as the server and 2012 as the deployment OS? I'm not sure what you mean by that.

 

[dlock13]

Got my test deployment share set up with an 8.1 image as well as Dell and Lenovo PE drivers and OS drivers. I have the drivers for each make and model.

I was able to get my server (running 2012) to do DHCP and WDS which then allowed me to use a Dell Optiplex 7020 and Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 to PXE into PE. I was then able to deploy the image which is just stock 8.1 with only the administrator account password set.

Now that I got the base OS installed, where do I go from here? I need to get the desktop computer and laptop set up for our environment. The problem is that we use a network login via Novell on the desktops, and on the laptops, we use a local login and then a VPN to connect to our network.

I just don't know how to build the certain profiles or task sequences so that each version has the appropriate software and is then set up via the unattend file correctly.

Can anyone help lead me down that path?

Thanks!

 

[dlock13]

Anyone?

Thanks!

 

[Kaido]

I just don't know how to build the certain profiles or task sequences so that each version has the appropriate software and is then set up via the unattend file correctly.

If you have stuff you need to install unattended, there are some are some nifty tools like BatchPatch that let you pump out stuff like Windows updates, software across the network, and so on, without having to learn the server-side stuff - useful in a pinch:

https://batchpatch.com/

Also handles the usual stuff like Java & Adobe. If your app installers aren't already in MSI format for network rollout, you can use an application repackaging tool to turn it into one. Makes life super convenient if you're deploying a lot of computers. There's a basic free one called Smart Packager CE:

http://scalablesmartpackager.com/smart-packager-ce-free-msi-packager/

 

[dlock13]

If you have stuff you need to install unattended, there are some are some nifty tools like BatchPatch that let you pump out stuff like Windows updates, software across the network, and so on, without having to learn the server-side stuff - useful in a pinch:

https://batchpatch.com/

Also handles the usual stuff like Java & Adobe. If your app installers aren't already in MSI format for network rollout, you can use an application repackaging tool to turn it into one. Makes life super convenient if you're deploying a lot of computers. There's a basic free one called Smart Packager CE:

http://scalablesmartpackager.com/smart-packager-ce-free-msi-packager/

Those are nice tools and all, but I'm looking more along the lines of what my next step should be and what the best practices are.

We need to have a couple of pieces of software always installed. Would it be better to build the software into a custom .wim and use that as our deploying OS, or is it better to have the applications installed one-by-one as we're loading the OS?

It seems like right now it takes about 20 minutes on a LAN with no internet connection or other devices running. That is only loading the OS + drivers to the machine.

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

 

[Z15CAM]

Spanned 700Mb GHOST.GHO SysPrep Win Image, minus any 3rd party driver in SafeMode, on 32GB FAT32 Partitions accessible with a simple DOS Boot for your hardware.

Consider MS Boot's Win on an ACTIVE Primary DOS Fat32 Partition and a simple DOS Backup 1.34Mb App like DOS GHOST.EXE will over-write any partition you point it too on your System.

Migrate Win7 (32 or 64-Bit) to any Hardware that meets specs for Win7with Ghost Server Counsel.

The full GUI App of GHOST SERVER v8 Corp - Bld 8.0.0.984 is very capable of migrating your OS (Win, BSD or Linux) to most any new hardware on your Network.

GHOST SERVER v8 Corp - Bld 8.0.0.984 is so old no one cares if it's Hacked.

For your own System just copy an paste Ghost.EXE and Ghost32.EXE from it's installed directory into a FAT32 32GB Partition - Tweak the INI file and your all set to go with a simple ME DOS Boot Disc to Image and restore your System or a Win Designed Sys-Prep Image to Migrate to other Hardware on your Network.

The skill to use DOS Delpart.EXE, FDisk.EXE and the EFI Boot Diskpart.EXE is essential to prepare media when over-writing your own platform or Migrating your OS's via a Network through the GUI GHOST Server Counsel App. If you don't intent to Migrate your OS though a Network there's no need to Install the Counsel.

Screw MS methods of backup and migration (Save for their Sys-Prep), is noting but a money trap over the protection of your personal data.

Never place your Personal Data or Games, whatever (My Documents Folder), and that includes E-Mail on the same Partition as your OS - Preferably assigned to separate Media.