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KACE Systems Deployment Appliance 9.1 Common Documents - Administrator Guide

About the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance Getting started Using the Dashboard Configuring the appliance Setting up user accounts and user authentication Configuring security settings Preparing for deployment Managing device inventory Using labels Creating a Windows or Linux Boot Environment Managing drivers Capturing images Capturing user states Creating scripted installations Creating a task sequence Automating deployments Performing manual deployments Managing custom deployments Managing offline deployments About the Remote Site Appliance Importing and exporting appliance components Managing disk space Troubleshooting appliance issues Updating appliance software Glossary About us Legal notices

View and edit answer file configurations

View and edit answer file configurations

The Sysprep Unattend Files page lists all answer file configurations defined on the appliance that can be used to generate Sysprepped files. From here, you can open a specific answer file configuration, and review and edit the relevant details on the Sysprep Unattend File Detail page.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Library to expand the section, then click Sysprep Unattend Files to display the Sysprep Unattend Files page.
2.
On the Sysprep Unattend Files page, in the Name column, click a configuration name.
The Sysprep Unattend File Detail page appears.
3.
Review the contents of the Sysprep Unattend File Detail page.
4.
Use the Notes field to provide any specific information about this configuration.
5.
Optional. If you want to make changes to the contents of the unattend.xml that is created using this configuration, you can do so in the XML field.
Download Unattend File: Click to download the unattend.xml file generated using this newly created configuration.
Download Unattend File with KACE Image Prep: Click to download the unattend.xml file generated using this newly created configuration, together with the KACE Image Prep.
Download KACE Image Prep: Click to download the KACE Image Prep.
NOTE: You can also download the KACE Image Prep using the Choose Action menu on the Sysprep Unattend Files page.
7.
Click Save.
The Sysprep Unattend File Detail page closes and theSysprep Unattend Files page appears, listing all answer file configurations.

Best practices for creating Windows system images

Best practices for creating Windows system images

This topic provides information about KACE-recommended best practices for creating a Windows Golden System Image.

Audit the appliance before beginning

Start fresh

Configure the workstation

The following KB articles are recommended best practice methods for creating the base OS installation for System Image capture. If using a Legacy enabled BIOS, use the Single Partition Golden Image KB. If the BIOS is in UEFI mode, use the UEFI KB. Kace highly recommends minimal partitions on your base OS.

If not following the above KB articles, use the following guidelines:

If the image is captured in WIM format, keep at least 60% of the drive space on each partition as free/available.

Sysprep, capture and deployment guidelines

Sysprep

If you configured a "default" account, ensure to set it to True in the unattend.xml file. The sysprep creator wizard has an option to copy the current profile to the default profile.
When running sysprep by command line and not the Sysprep Creator/Executor, use the /generalize, /oobe, /shutdown, and the /unattend switches.

Capture

Deploy

Post-installation tasks

Use cscript with VB scripts. For example: cscript myscript.vbs
For .msi deployments, use the install switch last. For example: msiexec /qn /norestart /i agent.msi
Use CLONEPREP=1 on the .msi Agent install if it is not intended to have the Agent to -check in, and create a KUID until the next reboot. For example: msiexec /i agent.msi HOST=blah CLONEPREP=1
Use the start /wait command when deploying software through appliance post-installation tasks.
Use call when using .bat scripts in application tasks. For example: call myscript.bat

Capturing user states

The appliance uses the Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) to migrate user profiles by running the USMT Scan State and Load State utilities. Before scanning devices for user states, you can configure the USMT Scan Templates that set the Scan State utility parameters and enable you to specify which data to migrate and which data to exclude from the capture. You can upload and install the USMT from the appliance or from the KACE Media Manager.

The USMT Scan State utility (Scanstate.exe) scans a device for data, and captures the information in a .mig file. The USMT Load State utility (Loadstate.exe) installs the data and settings from the .mig file on to a destination or target device. The Load State utility also enables you to migrate users states to devices manually.

Scan User States Offline: You can use the Scan User State Offline pre-installation task to scan user states from any device and upload the user state to the appliance.

Deploy User States: You can use the Deploy User States post-installation task to deploy the user states to target devices.

Upload USMT software from the appliance

Upload USMT software from the appliance

Scanning user states requires the Windows User State Migration Tool software (USMT) included in the Windows ADK (Automated Deployment Kit). You can upload the USMT software version 5.0 directly from the appliance. The appliance captures the user states by running the USMT Scan State utility on a device.

You can also upload USMT version 3.0.1 from the appliance.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Library to expand the section, then click User States to display the User States page.
2.
Select Choose Action > Upload.
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