Who Does IT Imaging?

[olds]

Just have a question.
My wife's employer has about 10,000 employees. When they make images for an OS, they make 1. It doesn't matter if the PC has mechanical drives, SSD drives, cameras, back lit keyboards etc. So they deploy the device then the employees have to open a ticket for IT to fix what doesn't work.

Is that typical in IT? Just curious.

 

[Genx87]

If they are going off a single image. They should be slip streaming in all the drivers for every model they use..

 

[BarkingGhostar]

But that would mean the person responsible would actually have to do something. Maybe that person's logic is in the form of job security by having to work all of those trouble tickets. Personally someone should challenge him in front of his boss.

 

[KMFJD]

Just have a question.
My wife's employer has about 10,000 employees. When they make images for an OS, they make 1. It doesn't matter if the PC has mechanical drives, SSD drives, cameras, back lit keyboards etc. So they deploy the device then the employees have to open a ticket for IT to fix what doesn't work.

Is that typical in IT? Just curious.

no, we have images for every laptop/desktop model in our enviroment

 

[IronWing]

You mean the image that doesn’t include the audio driver for the onboard speakers in my laptop but does include the deprecated software packages that are incompatible with our server software?

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Just have a question.
My wife's employer has about 10,000 employees. When they make images for an OS, they make 1. It doesn't matter if the PC has mechanical drives, SSD drives, cameras, back lit keyboards etc. So they deploy the device then the employees have to open a ticket for IT to fix what doesn't work.

Is that typical in IT? Just curious.

Generally yes, a competent imaging team/person will be aware of the driver packages needed by the various models of laptop/desktop and include those drivers in the image (and not others) so that as Windows applies, it finds the appropriate drivers regardless of model. They'd also mandate that they receive any new models of desktop/laptop/whatever ahead of time, in order to obtain/package the appropriate drivers. They'd also-also make sure to stay on top of driver updates and depreciation and update the image appropriately. Easier if the org has only a single model, or a single laptop/desktop or something. One image per model would be an inordinate amount of work to shave a few KB off a given deployment package imo.

If they're lazy, they should at minimum just include the entire 7GB or whatever driver package that Windows itself comes with, to handle whatever misc garbage a user might have installed... that'd at least be preferable to a newly imaged machine having unknown devices.

 

[Exterous]

For someone with 10,000 (and much less really) people we'll usually set up something like a MS SCCM environment to manage 1-3 images (Win 10 plus maybe Win7\Win7 x32\Lab\etc) and can detect and install the correct drivers - assuming they are in the repository. Some manufacturers make it easy like HP who actually integrates enough to the console to have an "HP Drivers" button where you can easily get drivers. For others you need to fetch the cab files. Software packages can be made along with an interface allowing anyone with appropriate rights to preselect the software they want installed as part of the build process (Or later through MS Software Center). You can also use this setup to push updates to the OS and software along with decent reporting options. PXE booting or offline media creation is supportable. Generally we'd recommend setting up a 'recommended hardware list' to make it easy on IT staff to load drivers into the repository. You can make task sequences that target specific variables like a specific model number so only those builds get a particular action like needing a particular driver version or deploying bitlocker on laptops automatically.

With the right interface you can also run custom departmental commands at the end of the build process for added customization. You could set it up so you go into a webpage, create a machine name, select a department which generates a standard list of software to install and departmental commands to run. Then PXE boot the machine - enter the machine name and it pulls all the tasks automatically.

Windows allows a ton of automated build processes.You can do a lot with Kickstarters for linux or Mac build systems (whose names escape me atm) as well

 

[Exterous]

no, we have images for every laptop/desktop model in our enviroment

*twitch*

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If they are going off a single image. They should be slip streaming in all the drivers for every model they use..

Yes. But if you've got some kind of BYOD environment or you're allowing departments and teams to spec their own equipment, you're well and truly scr00d.

 

[KMFJD]

*twitch*

I actually just had a look, 51 different images not including EoL and archived ones



/actually over 102 images cause we are still w7 but piloting w10, and then there's the 32 and 64 bit versions....

 

[lxskllr]

In our massive five station enterprise, I image each computer individually as I feel like it(seems to be once every couple years). That excludes my machine, and the boss' machine. I keep my stuff backed up, and the boss doesn't do anything important. A virgin reinstall wouldn't be a big deal.

 

[Exterous]

Yes. But if you've got some kind of BYOD environment or you're allowing departments and teams to spec their own equipment, you're well and truly scr00d.

You could do an 'SCCM Lite' or something and deploy it to build with general drivers (and fix missing ones) or just install it on a factory imaged computer to get it into your management environment. You'll miss out on some control abilities but most of the management and reporting options will be available for it. For those with money to burn there are the MDM solutions too