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KACE Systems Deployment Appliance 9.2 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

Capture System-provided WIM images

Capture System-provided WIM images

You can capture WIM images for faster deployments using automated multicast deployments to send the same WIM image to multiple devices simultaneously. You can also deploy WIM images across all devices in the enterprise, and across hard disks of any size in the KACE Boot Environment (KBE).

The device with the image that you want to capture does not have to match the target devices for deployments; however, drivers are required for each device model to which you are deploying the image.

1.
Boot the device with the image that you want to capture in to the KBE. From the KBE Main Menu on the device, click Imaging.
If the device boots in to the hard drive instead of the KBE, boot the device in to the KBE.
2.
Click Capture image of this machine.
3.
In Image Name, create a name to identify the image.
The appliance automatically adds the .wim extension.
4.
In Image Source, select the drive letter from where you are capturing the image.
The appliance automatically adds the colon to the drive letter, for example C:
5.
Select Windows Imaging Format (Fast compression) for Image type.
6.
Click Start capture to upload the image to the System Images page.
A progress bar appears at the bottom of the page, indicating how much progress has been made through the task for each selected partition. You have an option to cancel the capture, if required.

Edit a system image

Edit a system image

You can rename, replace, remove, or edit K-Images and WIM images.

Before modifying a system image, make a backup copy.

The System Image Detail page allows you to view the image settings, add a boot action, download the log files for the image, and set the options for how the appliance responds to errors. For Windows K-Images and WIM images, it also indicates if an image is sysprepped.

You can only edit system images on the appliance that captured them. For example, if you view the details of a system image captured by the appliance, you can edit that image on the System Image Detail page in the appliance Administrator Console, but not in the KACE Remote Appliance Console. If that system image is captured on the appliance and synced to the RSA, the System Image Detail page in the KACE Remote Appliance Console only allows you to review the system image details, but not to edit them. A link appears on this page that allows you to quickly navigate to the System Image Detail in the appliance Administrator Console, and edit the system image, as required.

The Installation Plan enables you to create a task sequence by adding the available pre-installation, mid-level, and post-installation tasks to run in the order that you place the tasks for the deployment.

The Browse Files option is only available for system images.

1.
Select the name of the image to display the System Image Detail page to edit the image.
2.
Click Browse Files to open the Browsing Files dialog box to edit the images with the following options:
◦
K-Images only.
▪
Click Add Drive to add a partition. The drive name must contain an uppercase letter with a colon at the end.
▪
To rename or remove a drive, click the appropriate icon next to the desired drive letter.
◦
Windows K-Images an WIM images only.
▪
To add the contents of a ZIP file, navigate to the directory where you want to add the files, click Add Zipped Files, navigate to the desired ZIP file, and click Submit, then click Commit. The contents of the zipped file are extracted to the selected location. To verify the contents of the system image after committing the change, when the dialog box closes, on the System Image Detail page, click Browse Files and review the list of files.
▪
To rename or remove a drive, click the appropriate icon next to the desired drive letter.
◦
All images.
▪
To add a directory, click Create Directory, then type the name of the new directory that you want to add.
▪
To add a file, click Add File, navigate to the desired file, and click Submit.
▪
To add the contents of a ZIP file, navigate to the directory where you want to add the files, click Add Zipped Files, navigate to the desired ZIP file, and click Submit, then click Commit. The contents of the zipped file are extracted to the selected location. To verify the contents of the system image after committing the change, when the dialog box closes, on the System Image Detail page, click Browse Files and review the list of files.
▪
To rename, delete, or replace files, hover over the file name, and click the appropriate icon.
▪
To rename, delete or download a directory, click the appropriate icon next to the desired directory.
▪
To download a file, click the file name.
▪
To drill down to the directory contents, click the directory name.
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NOTE: When you replace a file with a different file, the appliance replaces the contents of the files, but retains the original filename.
3.
Optional: WIM images only. Obtain additional system image information from the Windows registry.
a.
Next to Registry Info, click Show.
b.
Review the contents of the Windows registry items for the selected system image.
4.
Optional. Review the latest log file recorded during the system image capture, if applicable.
◦
Click Server Log to see what the server recorded during the image capture.
◦
Click Client Log to see what the server recorded during the image capture.
If size of the log file is greater than 500 kb, you can also download the log file.
5.
Optional: Configuration files only.
a.
Next to Config XML, click Show, and review the file contents that appear. The contents of the file are read only.
b.
To download the file, under the file contents, click Download XML File.
6.
Optional: Task files only.
* 
NOTE: Read-only users do not have access to this field.
a.
Next to Task XML, click Show, and review the file contents that appear. The contents of the file are read only.
b.
To download the file, under the file contents, click Download XML File.
7.
Optional: Under Deploy Options, select Remove local files not in image when restoring the original image to a device, and when files have been added or modified on the device that is not in the original image.
8.
Assign tasks to the system image, as required. For more information, see Assign tasks to system deployment.
9.
When you finish your edits, click Cancel to roll back the changes, or Save to apply the changes to the image.

Import WIM images

Import WIM images

You can import an existing WIM image to your collection of system images on the appliance. This allows you to manage system images created by a third-party vendor.

To import a WIM image, place a copy of the image file to the appliance's Samba clientdrop share.

* 
NOTE: You can only import an image contained in a single WIM file, consisting of a single partition.

During a WIM image import, you must specify its OS architecture. The appliance detects if the imported image is sysprepped or not.

* 
NOTE: When the appliance starts importing a system image, if it detects an unattend file, it flags the image as sysprepped. If the image does not include that file, the appliance flags it as not being sysprepped.

This feature is available on the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance and the Remote Site Appliance (RSA).

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Deployments, then click System Images to display the Systems Images page.
2.
Select Choose Action > Import to display the System Image Import page.
3.
Specify the following options:

Option

Description

Image Name

Type the name that you want to assign to this system image.

Operating System

Select the OS architecture used by the WIM image.

Wim File

Select the name of the WIM image file on the Samba clientdrop share.

4.
Click Import.
The System Image Import page closes and the System Images list page refreshes, showing the newly imported WIM image in the list. In the row containing the imported image, the Status column indicates the state of the import operation.
5.
Optional. When the import is complete, observe the imported image details, and make any changes, as required.
a.
On theSystem Images page, in the row containing the imported image, click the Name column to display the System Image Details page.
b.
Review the contents of the page.
c.
To download the WIM image, in the Wim Management section, in the row containing the partition that you want to download, Actions column, click the Download icon. In the dialog box that appears, specify the name to give to the WIM file. Then click Save.
d.
Replace the imported WIM image with another one. This is useful, for example if you import a wrong WIM image, or if you make any changes to the WIM image, and want to import the updated image.
* 
NOTE: Like the original WIM image, the replacement image must also be stored in the Samba clientdrop share of the associated KACE Systems Deployment Appliance or RSA, in order to be accessible.
To do that, also in the row containing the partition that you want to replace, in the Actions column, click the Replace icon. In the dialog box that appears, select the desired image file, and click Replace.
The System Image Details page closes and the System Images list page refreshes, indicating that the WIM image is being replaced in the row containing the imported image, in the Status column.
e.
To review the contents of the log file created during image import, click Show the log for this System Image.
The contents of the log appear on the page. Use this information to find out whether the image was captured on the appliance or imported from the clientdrop share, who and when imported the image, or whether the image was replaced and by which user. If the image consists of multiple partitions, the log shows any operations performed on the specific partitions.

Managing answer files for Sysprepped images

Managing answer files for Sysprepped images

Create answer files for Sysprepped images
View and edit answer file configurations

The appliance allows you to create and manage answer files for Sysprepped Windows images.

Sysprep (System Preparation) is a Microsoft tool for capturing OS images. It removes device-specific information from a Windows installation, allowing it to be deployed to other target devices.

* 
NOTE: You can access this tool by clicking the Sysprep Creator Wizard link on the Library Overview page.

System administrators typically use answer files (unattend.xml) to fully automate the configuration and deployment of Windows systems. Each answer file contains a set of pre-defined values required by Windows system installation, eliminating the need for user interaction during the installation.

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