RM CC4 Removal - Options for Imaging PCs

[geohanson]

Hi all,

 

We are currently running RM CC4 and want to migrate away from it next summer.

We need to find a suitable method of deploying images and software to replace the RM CC4 tools we use at the moment. I've previously used FOG and found it to work well, but I don't have a lot of experience with anything else.

Is it better to use a thin image, and then use something like PDQ to deploy all the software, or, use a thick image that has all the software already installed?

Would we be better looking at SCCM (I've never used it before) or are there any other alternatives we should be considering?

 

Thanks,

[synaesthesia]

Definitely thin image. SCCM or MDT if you're secondary, or MDT if primary. Plenty of guides - SCCM best guides are windowsnoob.com and MDT is really well documented - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/deploy-windows-mdt/deploy-a-windows-10-image-using-mdt and needs no further investment in tech or cost. SCCM has benefits such as full AV and patch management, inventory control, simplified unifications with Azure, Office 365 etc which is definitely beneficial in larger estates.

[stevewill6]

We use MDT/WDS,

 

MDT allows you to customize the install and WDS allows you to network boot the devices.

 

I have set it up to install a fresh image of win10 on every deployment, you can customize MDT to install apps like office at deployment or use GPO once its deployed and connected to the domain.

 

Use OSDbuilder to Customize the windows installer files to include certain features and all the required windows updates.

 

SCCM i have heard is quite complex to set up and use but it is very powerful and allows you to do a lot more then MDT/WDS.

Edited June 15, 2021 by stevewill6
Update

[mavhc]

I just use WDS, GPO, and chocolatey. https://github.com/mavhc/choco-school

 

That way new software gets added to all machines, not just imaged machines, and I just copy the latest install.wim file for Win10 to the server.

 

Drivers aren't really a problem now, WU seems to find them all.

 

Depends what scale you're working at, 100 vs 1000 vs 10000 machines.

[ITGURU]

Acronis True Image - make your base image, run the re-arm commands. Will restore a full windows image with software on in less than 10 minutes!

[Boredguy]

Going down the WDS/MDT with lite touch is better than using something like Acronis as it's already part of your Server installation and will let you just use a standard Windows 10 WIM image with a driver repository, and saves on re-arm commands and such forth. You can make it as simple or as complex as you like (we use a DB with out setup so once we've added the MAC address into the system and a few other details like Task sequence, it's F12 and forget)

 

If you have MECM/SCCM available, then that is also a valid option as it will also allow you to deploy the windows updates and applications.

[ITGURU]

Going down the WDS/MDT with lite touch is better than using something like Acronis as it's already part of your Server installation and will let you just use a standard Windows 10 WIM image with a driver repository, and saves on re-arm commands and such forth. You can make it as simple or as complex as you like (we use a DB with out setup so once we've added the MAC address into the system and a few other details like Task sequence, it's F12 and forget)

 

If you have MECM/SCCM available, then that is also a valid option as it will also allow you to deploy the windows updates and applications.

 

You still have to set it up and you cannot specify exact driver settings so where we have a driver we have to change the settings of in device manager you cannot do this. Acronis will capture as the machine is with drivers, and not install drivers as part of the setup process.

[3s-gtech]

We used FOG until 2019 - I switched to MDT with thin images as my FOG server died. No regrets, it's much quicker and easier and no sysprep faff!

[geohanson]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

 

We are Secondary + Sixth Form, and have around 450 PCs

I'll have a look into SCCM, as being able to manage everything from the same place would be really useful.

[Boredguy]

You still have to set it up and you cannot specify exact driver settings so where we have a driver we have to change the settings of in device manager you cannot do this. Acronis will capture as the machine is with drivers, and not install drivers as part of the setup process.

 

Can't say we've had any driver issues like that over the years, but most can also be adjusted via Powershell if required.

Having a single WIM is easier to maintain when it comes to new releases of the OS coming out compared to multiple golden images per different collection of hardware, and with lots of machines a standard deployment method can be simpler.

[mavhc]

Avoid capturing an image if at all possible, because then you're either doing that every 6 months, or falling behind.

 

Script everything either way.

 

DISM++ is fun

[clareq]

With SCCM you can use WMI queries to assign drivers to the appropriate models of machines. Between WMI queries and TSGui I can rebuild every machine in school from one TS, putting on the appropriate drivers and installing the required software based on room number.

[Davit2005]

You still have to set it up and you cannot specify exact driver settings so where we have a driver we have to change the settings of in device manager you cannot do this. Acronis will capture as the machine is with drivers, and not install drivers as part of the setup process.

 

If you go into MDT you can set up WMI queries and selection profiles linked to your out of box drivers. These then get injected into the build at deployment.

 

Dell made this easy with their driver packs, something other manufacturers could learn from.

 

Mind you with Windows 10 now it seems very few drivers are needed (if any) post deployment.

 

Haven't used ghost or imaging for deployment for around 7-8 years now, used to use it with Windows 7 and it was such a chore especially with different software requirements on top. MDT or SCCM is the way to go INMO. We were deploying rooms of 25 PCs in under an hour with the software installed at build time, was sometimes a lot of trial and error to get the builds done but we could then literally rebuild a PC during lunch if needed.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Davit2005

[3s-gtech]

You can, with a little more work, obtain all of the drivers from a built machine (that has grabbed them from Windows Update or via packs etc), dump them all out with Powershell, then import them straight into MDT from the dump location. I've done this for machines that struggle to navigate the proxy at build time (about 30% of them here). There are some quirks with very old drivers, such as for AMD 4*** (R700) cards, and I've just had to scrap our Nvidia 7*** cards (NV47) as the drivers won't work in 20H2.

 

Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination C:\DRIVERS\

[tg12]

You can, with a little more work, obtain all of the drivers from a built machine (that has grabbed them from Windows Update or via packs etc), dump them all out with Powershell, then import them straight into MDT from the dump location. I've done this for machines that struggle to navigate the proxy at build time (about 30% of them here). There are some quirks with very old drivers, such as for AMD 4*** (R700) cards, and I've just had to scrap our Nvidia 7*** cards (NV47) as the drivers won't work in 20H2.

 

Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination C:\DRIVERS\

 

Exporting the drivers with PowerShell is handy. I've written a little script based on this that lives on my pen drive, that will export the drivers and store them on the pen drive in folders following the WMI make and model naming so they're easy to find for MDT. I've even wrapped the script up in a little executable so it just elevates to run as admin automatically.

[Davit2005]

Exporting the drivers with PowerShell is handy. I've written a little script based on this that lives on my pen drive, that will export the drivers and store them on the pen drive in folders following the WMI make and model naming so they're easy to find for MDT. I've even wrapped the script up in a little executable so it just elevates to run as admin automatically.

 

Good to know, I have not been responsible for OS deployment for the last 5+ years, I got out of it jus in time before the Win 10 fun . I still run a MDT server at home (for lab/fun, lol,) although it needs updating now (, and another reminder to do that sometime).

[mavhc]

Try it without adding any drivers first, it'll probably find them all from WU anyway.

 

Apart from removing default metro apps Win10 is the same as Win7 really, I barely had to do anything on WDS to switch.