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KACE Systems Deployment Appliance 7.0 Common Documents - Administrator Guide

About the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance Getting started Using the Dashboard Configuring the KACE SDA 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 Imaging Mac devices About the Remote Site Appliance Importing and exporting appliance components Managing disk space Troubleshooting appliance issues Updating appliance software Glossary About us Legal notices

Set new KBE as default for the appliance

Set new KBE as default for the appliance

You can set a KACE Boot Environment (KBE) as the default KBE for the appliance.

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NOTE: You can also set the default KBE for each linked RSA. For more information, see Set default KBE for the RSA.

If you change the share password, create a new KBE using the new password.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Settings to display the Control Panel, then click General Settings to display the General Settings page.
2.
Under Default KACE Boot Environments, select the new KBE.
3.
Click Save.
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TIP: When you review the details of a KBE using the Boot Environment Detail page, the Default field indicates if the selected KBE is a default boot environment.

Best practices: Create a KACE Boot Environment (KBE) for Windows

Best practices: Create a KACE Boot Environment (KBE) for Windows

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

You may need to set up an isolated system for the purpose of creating KBEs. Here is the recommended flow of actions:

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Set up a system or a virtual machine (VM) that can reach the KACE SDA with the following software:
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Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10
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Windows AIK, Windows ADK 8, Windows ADK 8.1 or Windows 10 ADK
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The latest version of the KACE SDA Media Manager
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Do not add that system to your domain.
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Do not install any security or anti-virus software.

The recommended process for creating a new KBE is provided below.

1.
Prepare the KBE drivers.
a.
Move out (or delete) any items in the kbe_windows_xXX directories located in the KACE SDA drivers share (\\KACE_SDA\drivers).
b.
Download the KBE Driver Pack for the desired WinPE version. For more information, visit https://support.quest.com/kb/SOL111717.
c.
Extract the downloaded driver pack and copy the contents from the desired architecture's folder into the kbe_windows_xXX directory located in the KACE SDA drivers share.
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NOTE: You should only have the drivers for one WinPE version at a time in the kbe_windows_xXX directories.
2.
Build the KBE.
a.
Open the KACE SDA Media Manager.
b.
On the General Settings page, enter the KACE SDA IP address.
c.
Enter the Samba share password.
d.
Ensure the WAIK or WADK Path field points to the correct version of Windows AIK or Windows ADK:
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WinPE 3 needs to point to the Windows AIK installation directory.
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WinPE 4 needs to point to the Windows ADK 8.0 installation directory.
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WinPE 5 needs to point to the Windows ADK 8.1 installation directory.
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WinPE 10 needs to point to the Windows ADK 10 installation directory.
e.
On the Create KBE page, on the General tab, review the automatically generated name for the boot environment. You can edit this value, but keep in mind that the KBE name must be unique. Quest recommends that you include the architecture, WinPE version, and the date in the name. For example: WinPE 5 x64 4-5-2019.
f.
Select the desired architecture.
g.
Select the desired language.
h.
Click Upload KBE.
If you need to add additional drivers for your model to work, contact Quest Support to ensure the driver pack is updated with those drivers.

Managing drivers

Add drivers to system images
Adding drivers to scripted installation deployments
Managing network drivers
Managing operating system drivers

You can manage the network and mass storage drivers required to build the KACE Boot Environment from the drivers share directory. You can manage the drivers that the operating system requires by enabling the Driver Feed, which downloads and installs Dell drivers to the driver_postinstall directory.

The KACE SDA driver library is a network share that stores the drivers that the KACE SDA and Remote Site Appliance deployments use. The appliance automatically installs the drivers as part of the deployment, and enables uploading drivers for peripherals and hardware that are not included in the Source Media or the KACE Boot Environment (KBE). The KACE SDA hosts Samba shares, and provides three directories to help you manage drivers.

Ensure that you set the KACE SDA Samba Share Password on the General Settings page.

About adding drivers to the drivers_postinstall directory

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You can add non-Dell device drivers and Dell-specific device drivers that do not get updated from the Driver Feed to the drivers_postinstall directory.
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You can create the folders to organize the drivers under the drivers_postinstall directory using the Manufacturer name\OS Name\Model name folder structure.

About adding drivers to the drivers directory

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You can add any driver type to the drivers directory. Quest recommends only adding the network and storage drivers required to build the KACE Boot Environment (KBE).
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The drivers directory is organized into subdirectories: two boot environments and a directory for each of the supported operating systems. Each KBE and operating system type requires its own driver versions. You can create folders under the drivers share directory to organize the drivers.
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The added drivers must match the version of the WinPE that you are using.
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Drivers that are included in a single .exe or .msi file require extracting the files before adding the drivers to the folder.

About adding drivers to the restore directory

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You can add driver packages that are larger than 1.5 GB to the restore directory.
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NOTE: The Package Management Export feature creates packages for larger driver files that you can import from the restore directory to the appropriate drivers share directory to make the drivers available to the appliance.

Add drivers to system images

Add drivers to system images

Enabling the Driver Feed for sysprepped system images captured from the KACE SDA and the Remote Site Appliance (RSA) adds the drivers automatically when you deploy the image. You can also install missing drivers on the device where you captured the image, re-capture the image, then upload the image to the appliance.

Use the Microsoft Sysprep tool to generalize the image to resolve duplicate device names and duplicate security identifiers (SIDs). For more information on the best practices for capturing images, go to https://support.quest.com/kb/121734.

For sysprepped system images captured from an RSA, the corresponding drivers should be available on the KACE SDA and synchronized from the KACE SDA to the RSA.

For Windows K-Images and WIM images, the Sysprepped field on the System Image Detail page indicates if an image is sysprepped.

1.
On the left navigation bar, click Deployments, then click System Images to display the Systems Images page.
2.
Select the image to display the System Image Detail page.
3.
Under Deploy options, select the Use driver feed (only with Sysprepped images) check box.
4.
Optional: Click Duplicate to copy the image and edit it, as needed.
5.
Click Save.
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