[mdt] Deploying To Laptops With No Ethernet

[TheMrB]

Hi all,

 

Was loking for a quick bit of advice please.We currently use MDTK to deploy our win7 and win8 images across the network.

We've recently bought a bunch of laptops with no Ethernet port so I can't image them from the network. (Wireless is out of the question)

 

Has anyone had any success using those USB-Cat5 adapters? I want to try one out (Mainly to save me the embarrassment of saying I screwed up) but I'm not sure they'll work through WinPE

 

Advice and recommendations gratefully received.

 

Thanks

[3s-gtech]

One other consideration (not tried USB->ethernet) is to try imaging the devices using a third-party machine. Time consuming, but can be a life saver. I had to do it on 30 laptops when FOG wouldn't boot with any chosen kernel - I stuck the SSDs into an old Sony laptop which worked perfectly and imaged them one by one.

[fairm010]

I have used a USB_Cat5e converter whilst using WDS and it worked although I think it was very slow.

[MordyT]

MDT generates an ISO that you can use to boot the machines. I think you can specify where the image is in this case - could be on a flash drive - but have never tested this.

[TheMrB]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Apologies, I wasn't being rude and ignoring you, all hell broke loose today. (I *******hate cubase!)

 

The speed isn't really an issue,mum happy to fire and forget once we get it working. I'm more against having a seperate device (be it a flash drive/HDD) just for a specific set of laptops.

 

My own fault, should have checked the spec!

 

Thanks again everyone!

[Jasbo]

"The speed isn't really an issue,mum happy to fire and forget once we get it working. I'm more against having a seperate device (be it a flash drive/HDD) just for a specific set of laptops. "

 

Yep, getting your mum involved in the builds will help speed things up for sure...

[TheMrB]

Yeah for typing too fast on a slow iPad!

[robjduk]

Think USB adapters are per machine hardware so what works for one laptop may not work for another (had amazing fun with a Fujitsu we got a while back). Anyway as mentioned above, you can push your MDT deployment out to an ISO and boot it from a USB key which is where I think I will go with it.