OS Deployment Preference

[ReadTheNetwork]

Hey all,

 

Infrastructure:

SCCM 2012 SP1 (images get windows updates offline scheduled).

 

What's your preferred method of deploying OS/images? I'm not after the method i.e. wds, sccm, ghost, fog etc. Just your deployment preference. I've been using the 'build an image, capture it then deploy' method, then moved briefly to build and capture. But I think now, I'm looking at a bare minimal image (obviously the windows updates done offline) using the default install.wim for the windows install. Everything else is done as post vapps/applications. Using the same base image for all builds, minimal task sequences and a variable to confirm what type of build etc. All the environment settings can be done as part of the group policy or task sequence.

 

Cheers,

[googlemad]

With SCCM I only ever had one Windows 7 image and deployed it to about 50 hardware types! Had a 'base application' sequence that ran during the image to apply Office, Chrome, Flash, Java etc which I updated every summer and pretty much had it down to 20-30 minutes to image a PC and have it in Active Directory in a generic OU with some basic GPs applied until I had chance to move them to their proper OUs.

 

It takes a lot of setting up and I could have done a million other things with it too but not enough time in the day!

 

USB3 driver injection was a bit of a problem for some reason though, never really got to the bottom of that and probably not too much point in worrying about it now Windows 10 is taking over anyway

[techy32]

USB 3.0 is a real pain.. I have to make driver package recently and it worked really well as expected.

[markwilfan]

I prefer the thin image. Makes moving OSs much more efficient and no more building images. Takes longer post deploy but I just have a collection that applies crazy short evaluations on deployment scans for new clients newer than 24 hours. That way it does everything much quicker post them gets moved to a more sane Eval after

[ReadTheNetwork]

Hate drivers, spent hours trying to work out why my task sequence wasn't deploying the drivers then realised it was crashing on Bluetooth drivers and some USB drivers as well. Pretty annoying.

[techy32]

@ReadTheNetwork true