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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

Hide boot environments from the PXE boot menu

Hide boot environments from the PXE boot menu

Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is a standard client–server environment that allows administrators to boot a PXE-enabled system using a collection of files stored on a network server. In a default installation, a PXE boot menu lists all Windows and Linux boot environments that exist on the appliance. Boot environments provide the drivers and other resources that a target device requires to network boot from the appliance.

In some cases, your appliance may have one or more older KACE Boot Environments (KBEs) that you do not want to appear in the PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) boot menu. You can choose to display or hide boot selected boot environments available on the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance, or on all associated Remote Site Appliances.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Deployments, then click Boot Environments to display the Boot Environments page.
2.
Select the boot environment that you want to install to the USB flash device to display the Boot Environment Detail page.
3.
To hide this boot environment from the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance PXE boot menu, select Hide Boot Environment from SDA PXE Boot Menu.
4.
To hide this boot environment from the PXE boot menu of all associated Remote Site Appliances, select Hide Boot Environment from all RSA PXE Boot Menus.
After selected this option, if you want this boot environment to appear on a specific Remote Site Appliance, and to remain hidden on all other Remote Site Appliances, on the Remote Site Detail page, under Boot Environments, in the row containing the newly hidden Boot Environment, you must clear the Hidden check box. Making this change does not affect any other Remote Site Appliances.
5.
Click Save.
6.
Initiate the PXE boot menu on the associated appliance, and verify that the newly hidden boot environment no longer appears in the list.

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 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:

•
Set up a system or a virtual machine (VM) that can reach the appliance with the following software:
◦
Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10
◦
Windows AIK, Windows ADK 8, Windows ADK 8.1 or Windows 10 ADK
◦
The latest version of the KACE Media Manager
* 
•
Do not add that system to your domain.
•
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 appliance drivers share (\\appliance\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 appliance drivers share.
* 
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 Media Manager.
b.
On the General Settings page, enter the appliance 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:
▪
WinPE 3 needs to point to the Windows AIK installation directory.
▪
WinPE 4 needs to point to the Windows ADK 8.0 installation directory.
▪
WinPE 5 needs to point to the Windows ADK 8.1 installation directory.
▪
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 drivers to the driver_postinstall directory.

The appliance's driver library is a network share that stores the drivers that the appliance 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 appliance hosts Samba shares, and provides three directories to help you manage drivers.

Downloaded drivers are stored in the drivers_postinstall share directory using the following folder structure:

•
Virtual devices: <OS_name>/<OS_version>/<OS_platform>/any/vmware|hyperv/. For example: /windows/7/x64/any/vmware/.
•
Physical devices: <OS_name>/<OS_version>/<OS_platform>/<build_version>|any/<manufacturer>/<system_ID>/. For example: /windows/7/x64/any/dell/049a/.

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

About adding drivers to the drivers_postinstall directory

•
You can add device drivers that do not get updated from the Driver Feed to the drivers_postinstall directory.
•
You can organize the drivers under the drivers_postinstall directory using the above folder structure.

About adding drivers to the drivers directory

•
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).
•
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.
•
The added drivers must match the version of the WinPE that you are using.
•
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

•
You can add driver packages that are larger than 1.5 GB to the restore directory.
* 
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 Systems Deployment Appliance 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 Systems Deployment Appliance and synchronized from the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance 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, ensure the Use driver feed (only with Sysprepped images) check box is selected.
Optional. You can enable this option by default on the General Settings page:
1.
Open the Administrator Console in a new browser instance or tab.
2.
On the left navigation pane, click Settings > Control Panel to display the Control Panel, then click General Settings to display the General Settings page.
3.
Under Imaging Options, select the Enable driverfeed for newly captured sysprepped images check box. Selecting this option automatically adds drivers to the target system deployed with newly captured sysprepped system images.
4.
Click Save, and return to the Deploy Options on the System Image Detail page.
4.
Optional: Click Duplicate to copy the image and edit it, as needed.
5.
Click Save.
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