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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.

2.
Click Capture image of this machine.
3.
In Image Name, create a name to identify the image.
4.
In Image Source, select the drive letter from where you are capturing the image.
5.
Select Windows Imaging Format (Fast compression) for Image type.
6.
Click Start capture to upload the image to the System Images page.

Edit a system image

Edit a system image

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

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:
Click Add Drive to add a partition. The drive name must contain an uppercase letter with a colon at the end.
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 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.
3.
Optional: WIM images only. Obtain additional system image information from the Windows registry.
a.
Next to Registry Info, click Show.
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.
a.
Next to Config XML, click Show, and review the file contents that appear. The contents of the file are read only.
a.
Next to Task XML, click Show, and review the file contents that appear. The contents of the file are read only.
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.
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.

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.

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.
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.
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.
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

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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