Best practices for creating a KACE Boot Environment (KBE) (4371166)

Some business environments can have strict policies and software that may keep the SDA Media Manager from creating a KACE Boot Environment (KBE) successfully. 

Set up an isolated system for the purpose of creating KBEs with the following recommendations: 

• Set up a system or VM that is able to reach the SDA with the following software:
• Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, or 11 according to what is needed.
• Windows ADK for Windows 7,  Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11 according to what is needed.
• The latest version of the SDA Media Manager is available in the current KACE SDA.

NOTE: Use the ADK version equal or greater than the target OS when creating the KBE. Using an ADK version less than the OS version may cause issues with image capture/deploy. Starting with 1809 both the ADK and the PE Tools are required to be installed to create boot environments.

Do not join it to your domain
Do not install any security or antivirus software

To create a new KBE, follow the recommended process below.

1. Prepare the KBE drivers:

• Move out (or delete) any items in the kbe_windows_xXX folder(s) located in the SDA drivers share (\\ksda\drivers)
• Download the KBE Driver Pack for the desired WinPE version, further details can be found here.
• Extract the downloaded driver pack and copy the contents from the desired architecture's folder into the  kbe_windows_xXX folder located in the SDA drivers share.
• In the SDA Interface, navigate to Settings | Appliance Maintenance and click the "Recache All Drivers" button.

Please note that you should only have the drivers for one WinPE version at a time in the kbe_windows_xXX folders

2. Build the KBE

Open the SDA Media Manager, and do the following:

• Enter the SDA Hostname (or IP address)
• Enter the Samba Share Password
• Click on the 'Create SDA Boot Environment' tab
• Enter the name for the boot environment. We recommend including the architecture, WinPE version, and date in the name (e.g. WinPE 5 x64 5-5-2014)
• Select the desired architecture
• Select the desired language
• Ensure the Path field points to the correct version of Windows AIK or Windows ADK:
  • WinPE 3 will need to point to the Windows AIK installation directory
  • WinPE 4 will need to point to the Windows ADK 8.0 installation directory
  • WinPE 5 will need to point to the Windows ADK 8.1 installation directory
  • WinPE 10 will need to point to the Windows ADK 10 installation directory.
• Click Start Upload

For systems with the 7.0 and higher version Media Manager select the General Settings and enter information, test connection. Then select the KBE section and select the architecture, modify the KBE name if desired, and select Upload KBE.

If you need to add additional drivers for your model to work, please contact support so that we can update the driver pack with the additional driver(s).