5. File Versus Sector Imaging
Sector-based
imaging has many issues that are time consuming and costly to work
around. Sector-based technologies have a number of stipulations:
The target for the image deployment must be the same HAL type as the reference PC.
The same mass storage controller must be present on the target and reference PCs.
The
contents of the disk are destroyed in the process by writing over the
destination disk Master File Table (MFT) and data, making it very
difficult to handle many required migration tasks.
Although
several sector-based imaging technologies allow you to edit an image
after creating it, there are very few tasks that the administrator is
capable of performing, and the file-deletion capability deletes the
files without reclaiming the space. The significance of this last point
means that a laptop image made from a reference PC with 4GB of RAM will
most likely have a several GB page file and a 4GB hibernation file.
That is approximately 6GB going into an image that is unnecessary,
because it will be re-created on the first boot. The deletion of these
files will not reclaim the space, but leaves the administrator with
lots of room to add other items that usually are not needed in this
volume. ImageX excels in this area, because it ignores the hibernation
and page files during the capture phase.
Because
sector-based imaging technologies image the disk at the “1’s and 0’s”
level, a file such as winword.exe, which may be located on the system
numerous times, is copied into the image as many times as it is
present. ImageX, on the other hand, will only copy winword.exe once per
version and place pointers for the other instances it finds. This
single-instance file imaging allows for even greater efficiencies
during the capture and apply phases, and produces smaller images in
general. Because ImageX works at the file level, it provides the
following capabilities:
More flexibility and control over the deployed media.
Rapid extraction of images to decrease setup time.
A
reduction in image size because of single instancing, which means the
file data is stored separately from the path information. This enables
files that exist in multiple paths or in multiple images to be stored
once, and then shared across the images.
Nondestructive
application of images. ImageX does not perform an all-inclusive
overwrite of the contents of your drive. You can selectively add and
remove information.
The ability to work across any platform supported by Windows.
Two different compression algorithms, Fast and Maximum, to further reduce your image size.
The
ability to treat an image file like a directory. For example, you can
add, copy, paste, and delete files using a file-management tool such as
Windows Explorer.
6. Boot Images
ConfigMgr
uses WinPE as its boot device for clients undergoing an OS deployment.
The WinPE image is stored on the ConfigMgr server as a WIM file. It’s
approximately 120MB in size and is named boot.wim. The ConfigMgr
administrator provides these WIM files; they are not created by
performing captures. In both the New PC and Replace PC scenarios,
boot.wim is downloaded to the client PC from PXE, USB, or a CD/DVD. In
the Refresh PC scenario, the client has boot.wim downloaded to the
minint folder, and boot.ini is redirected to point at this location.
This allows the reboot occurring after the user state capture to boot
the system into WinPE, and for the OS deployment to commence the
replacement.
ConfigMgr provides two
default boot.wim images: one for x86 and one for x64. As with any other
package, you must deploy these boot images to distribution points for
clients to be able to download and use them. The boot.wim files that
come with ConfigMgr will require customization to support the network
drivers and storage controller drivers utilized throughout the
deployments.
Tip: Customizing WinPE
ConfigMgr
administrators have found it very useful to add a variety of tools to
WinPE for troubleshooting deployments. Some of the tools found
beneficial include SMS Trace32, Sysinternals tools, Microsoft’s
Diagnostic and Recovery Toolkit (DART) tools, and other scripting
tools. Anything you can use on a system to troubleshoot a failed
deployment can be added to WinPE and made available on the client
system this way. Keep in mind, though, that the more tools added, the
larger the size of the boot.wim PE build.
Updating the boot images is a fairly simple process. Perform the following steps to update any boot image:
1. | Open the ConfigMgr console.
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2. | Navigate to System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database <Site Code> -> <Site Name> -> Computer Management -> Operating System Deployment -> Boot Images.
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3. | Select the boot image desired, right-click, and select Properties.
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4. | Select the Windows PE tab to add drivers.
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5. | Select the Image tab to add/change an image property.
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Another approach would include the following:
1. | Open the ConfigMgr console.
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2. | Navigate to System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database <Site Code> -> <Site Name> -> Computer Management -> Operating System Deployment -> Drivers.
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3. | Select the driver to add, right-click, and select Add or Remove Drivers to Boot Images.
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Alternatively, simply select the driver to add and drag it to the boot image under the Boot Images node.
Tip: WinPE Updates
If
you update WinPE, the distribution points it resides on must also be
updated. This same process must occur when there are updates to package
source files, and is frequently overlooked.
7. Driver Injection
ConfigMgr
can maintain a driver catalog. This catalog keeps drivers external to
the images and enables a centralized, easily administered location to
store drivers. The driver catalog allows storing multiple versions of
the same device driver to support systems that may still require older
versions for support. The driver catalog is broken up into drivers and
driver packages. A driver is an INF
file, as well as several other files, that defines how an operating
system is supposed to use a specific piece of hardware. The operating
system matches the driver to the hardware by the Plug and Play ID
(PnPID). The driver package is merely a grouping of drivers for a
specific purpose that later can be deployed to distribution points.
As
images are being built without drivers installed locally, the OS
deployment process will have to provide the drivers to the target PC at
the appropriate time. This occurs through the task sequencer by
leveraging the WinPE Auto Apply Drivers task sequence step. This step
automatically detects and installs all applicable Plug and Play device
drivers it can locate in the driver catalog. For ConfigMgr to search in
the driver catalog for the new device drivers, you should add the Auto
Apply Drivers task sequence step to an existing task sequence. Auto
Apply Drivers contains the following options:
- Name—A short user-defined name that describes the action taken in this step
- Description—More detailed information about the action taken in this step
- Install only the best matched compatible drivers—Specifies that the task sequence step will install only the best matched driver for each hardware device detected
- Install all compatible drivers—Specifies
that the task sequence step will install all compatible drivers for
each hardware device detected and allow Windows setup to choose the
best driver
- Consider drivers from all categories—Specifies that the task sequence action will search all available driver categories for appropriate device drivers
- Limit driver matching to only consider drivers in selected categories—Specifies
that the task sequence action will search for device drivers in
specified driver categories for the appropriate device drivers
- Do unattended installation of unsigned drivers on versions of Windows where this is allowed—Allows this task sequence action to install unsigned Windows device drivers
8. Image Capture
Capturing
an image is the first of three steps required to deploy an operating
system. The second task is to create the task sequence, and the third
task is the advertising of the task sequence to a collection. There are
two possible methods for capturing an image:
Many
find the manual build method to be the easiest and least prone to
errors from a capturing perspective, but it allows human error to occur
on the build of the reference PC. Capturing a PC image using media
requires the following steps:
1. | Build the reference computer.
Place the computer in a workgroup. The local Administrator password must be blank. Do not require password complexity in the local system policy.
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2. | In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database <Site Code> -> <Site Name> -> Computer Management -> Operating System Deployment -> Task Sequences.
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3. | On the Action menu, select Create Task Sequence Media Wizard. Select the Capture Media option and click Next.
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4. | On the Media Type page, specify the type of media you want to use for the capture media.
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5. | On the Media file line, enter the save path and filename of the media that will be used to perform the installation.
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6. | Select the boot image that should be associated with the media.
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7. | Create a bootable CD that contains the .ISO file you created by using an appropriate software application.
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8. | Boot the computer into the full operating system and insert the capture CD.
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9. | Run the Image Capture Wizard and identify the location for the captured image to be stored.
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10. | Add the captured image to Configuration Manager 2007 as an image package:
Navigate to System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database <Site Code> -> <Site Name> -> Computer Management -> Operating System Deployment -> Operating System Images. On
the Action menu, or from the Actions pane, select Add Operating System
Image to launch the Add Operating System Image Wizard. Complete the
wizard to add the operating system image.
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The
other method of capturing an image is to create a task sequence to
build and capture an operating system image. You can use a task
sequence to build an operating system from scratch in an unattended
format. This ensures consistency as the build is updated over time and
removes the human error factor, because all tasks that occur to
configure the OS are placed in the task sequencer as tasks. To create a
new build-and-capture task sequence, perform the following steps:
1. | In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager -> Site Database <Site Code> -> <Site Name> -> Computer Management -> Operating System Deployment -> Task Sequences.
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2. | Right-click the Task Sequences node and then click New/Task Sequence.
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3. | On the Create a New Task Sequence page, select Build and capture a reference operating system image. Click Next.
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4. | On
the Task Sequence Information page, specify a name for the task
sequence and add an optional comment. Specify the boot image that will
be associated with the task sequence. Click Next.
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5. | On
the Install Windows Operating System page, specify the operating system
install package to use for installing. Install the operating system by
clicking the Browse button to launch the Select an Operating System
Install Package dialog box and then selecting the operating system
install package.
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6. | On
the Install the Windows Operating System page, specify the Windows
product key and server license. By default, the local administrator
account will be disabled. If you want to always use the same
administrator account for the computers that will run this task
sequence, select the Always use the same administrator password option
and provide the password that will be used. Click Next.
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7. | On the Configure the Network page, specify if the target computer will join a workgroup or a windows domain.
If you are adding the target computer to a workgroup, you must type the name of the workgroup in the space provided. If
you are adding the target computer to a Windows domain, click the Set
button to launch the Windows User Account dialog box and specify the
user account and password that are used to add the computer to the
domain. The account you specify must have domain join permissions in
the Windows domain or Organizational Unit (OU) to which you want to add
the computer. You must also specify the name of the domain and OU to
add the target computer. Click Next.
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8. | On
the Install ConfigMgr page, click the Browse button to launch the
Select a Package dialog box. Then select the Configuration Manager 2007
package to use to install the Configuration Manager 2007 client.
Specify the Configuration Manager 2007 client installation properties that will be used in the Installation properties window. Click Next.
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9. | On
the Include Updates in Image page, specify how the target computer will
install assigned software updates by selecting the appropriate option.
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10. | On
the Install Software Packages page, click the New button to launch the
Program Select dialog box. Click the Browse button to launch the Select
a Package dialog box. Select the ConfigMgr packages you want to include
and then click OK. Use the drop-down to select the associated programs
to use.
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11. | On
the System Preparation page, specify the Configuration Manager 2007
package that contains the Sysprep tool. The Sysprep tool specified must
support the operating system install package version selected in step 5.
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12. | On the Image Properties page, specify identifying information that will be associated with the task sequence you are creating.
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13. | On
the Capture Image page, specify where the captured operating system
image will be saved on the network. Click the Set button to launch the
Windows User Account dialog box, and specify the network account to use
to access the specified operating system image output location.
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14. | To complete the creation of the new task sequence, on the Summary page, click Next.
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15. | To
confirm that the new task sequence was created using the properties
specified, review the confirmation on the Confirmation page.
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16. | Click Close to close the New Task Sequence Wizard.
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Because
ConfigMgr uses WinPE as the boot media to deploy an operating system,
in theory you can use any type of image with the ConfigMgr deployment
process. In addition, task sequences are the actual ConfigMgr objects
advertised to a collection, which allows an infinite number of
possibilities to be deployed to clients.
