Capturing and Deploying Multiple Partitions for Windows 7 and Later (4306577)

This article covers how to capture and deploy a Windows 7 (or later) image with the system partition intact. Note - Kace Best Practices recommends using a Single Partition Golden Image with Legacy Based BIOS and minimal partitions for UEFI systems.

Creating a Single Partition Golden Image for Legacy Enabled BIOS (KB187971)

UEFI Image Process (KB186950)

There are a few things you should know about Windows first.

When you install Windows 7 or later from DVD on a clean drive with no format or partition information, Windows automatically installs a system partition and marks the volume as "System Reserved". This partition is not visible to the user in Explorer but is visible in Disk Manager and from within KBE.

Below is a visual example of what you drive letters you might see in Windows and KBE for the same system:

If, on the other hand, the hard drive already has a single partition before installation then this system partition is not created.

The below instructions assume that the Windows image is configured, includes the system partition, is prepared using sysprep if desired, and is ready for capture.

Image capture and deployment for BIOS/MBR systems (most systems)

Step 1 - Capture the Image:

• Boot the computer to the KACE boot environment. Once booted to the Main Menu, select Imaging, then Capture image of this machine. Name the image, select both drives from the windows, and start the capture.

NOTE: There is no need to swap partition letters before capture, just capture the partitions as they appear.

Step 2 - Preparing Pre- and Post Installation tasks:

• On your K2000 appliance webpage, enter the Library and then the Preinstallation Tasks tab.
• From the Choose Action drop down select "New Diskpart Item". Name the item "Create Two Partitions".
• Enter the following lines to the window and save:

select volume 0
remove all noerr
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=200
assign letter="C"
active
create partition primary
assign letter="D"
exit

NOTE: You may need to increase the size of C: depending on the contents of the system partition. 

• Enter the Preinstallation Tasks tab again and from the Choose action drop down select "New BAT Script Item". Name this task "Format/MBR C: and D:". In the command window, enter the following and save:
  
  format /q /y /fs:ntfs /v:Boot C:
  bootsect.exe /NT60 C:
  format /q /y /fs:ntfs /v:Windows D:
  bootsect.exe /NT60 D:

Deploy Image:

• Enter the image you captured and go to the bottom of the page under the heading Preinstallation Tasks.
• Add "Create Two Partitions" and "Format/MBR C: and D:" in that order by dragging the task from the right to the left.
• Save and Deploy the image.

Image capture and deployment for UEFI/GPT systems

In versions 3.5.76460 and 3.5.80613, the UEFI system partition will not have a drive letter assigned to it in KBE, so only the OS partition will be listed in the image capture menu. In order for it to show up, it will  need to be assigned a drive letter in DISKPART.

By default, the UEFI system partition does not have a drive letter in KBE

Capture the Image:

• Boot the computer to the KACE boot environment. Once booted to the Main Menu, enter the Recovery page, and then Command Prompt.
• At the command prompt enter "diskpart". A diskpart prompt should appear. Enter the following commands to assign a letter to the UEFI system partition.
   

list volume
select volume 1
assign letter="S"
exit

NOTE: The UEFI system partition may have a different volume number depending on your hardware configuration. In the example screenshot, it is the 200MB FAT32 partition without a drive letter (Volume 1).

• Once complete, go Back to the main menu, and select Imaging, then  Capture image of this machine. Name the image, select both drives from the windows, and start the capture.

s
Now that the UEFI system partition has a drive letter, it can be captured from KBE

Deploy Image:

• Enter the image you captured and go to the bottom of the page under the heading Preinstallation Tasks.
• Add "Create UEFI Partitions" by dragging the task from the right to the left.
• On the first Postinstall task section, enable "Apply UEFI Partitions" by dragging it from the right to the left.
• Save and Deploy the image.

select volume 0
remove all noerr
select disk 1
clean
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=200
assign letter="C"
active
create partition primary
assign letter="D"
select disk 1
create partition primary
assign letter="E"
exit