sysprepping and imaging windows 10 x64 education

[WHS Ict Technician]

I'm having a bit of a hard time getting the imaging side of my windows 10 deployment to work.

I've got a properly syprepped machine, but i can't seem to get it to let me capture an image using WDS (2012r2 server, x64 win10 capture image). I get no volume listed, even though the volume shows up in diskpart and is readable.

Has anyone else worked through this?

[Matthew Strickland]

I haven't had any issues, I am using MDT/SCCM - deploy and configure into a VM then litetouch using the standard sysprep and capture script.
Not sure if that makes any difference as capturing is the same? (just the sysprep might be different)

Latest ADK tools used? 10.1.10586.0
If your using MDT my version is 6.3.8298

Matt

[WHS Ict Technician]

micrsoft deployment workbench version 6.3.8298.1000
WDS version 6.3.9600.16384


What vm are you using?

[Matthew Strickland]

Using VMware Workstation 10.0.7 - I havent updated to 11.

I don't install VM tools etc

My WDS identical, 2012r2

Matt

[Fergus Stanton]

Just a point about Windows 10 Education, we noticed the watermark above the system tray "Windows 10 Education" is permanently displayed. Enterprise doesn't have this and we are eligible for both. Only benefit of Education seems to be the ability to in-place upgrade from Home editions of Windows.

[Kevin Whelan]

"Just a point about Windows 10 Education, we noticed the watermark above the system tray "Windows 10 Education" is permanently displayed. Enterprise doesn't have this and we are eligible for both. Only benefit of Education seems to be the ability to in-place upgrade from Home editions of Windows"

Just an FYI
 but you can upgrade any version with enterprise or any other version for that matter if you just edit the version line in registry to match the system you are trying to install
this has worked since Xp days and doesn't even require a reboot

HKLM\SOFTWARE\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\editionID

[Matthew Strickland]

FYI I also see a new build of Windows 10 (1511 aka threshold2) for Enterprise / Education is available in the VLSC.

This update appears to have issues updating from previous versions of Windows, although deployment appears OK.

Going by online forums possibly the RTM version + WU is the better option still.

Matt

[WHS Ict Technician]

just ran into the same problem on a virtual machine, keep getting 'fatal error'. frustrated now.

Are you doing a thin or thick provisioning? I was trying thick, so i could get adobe and mind storms and office into the image to save time later,

[Matthew Strickland]

I'm using multiple files, not provisioned, but for me it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I do have issues deploying Windows 7 x86 - I think either importing Windows 10 x86 or the LTIApply script that has been upgraded has messed up the system partition size issue (100/499MB)

Like you I build office and sometimes adobe into my builds so I can multicast a large image with smaller apps installed in a sequence to save time.

[WHS Ict Technician]

Its just getting worse.

I built my third VM, sysprep made it into audit mode, and now i'm stuck in an eternal "windows can't boot" loop. None of the 15 or so fixes online have any effect.

Would you mind describing your workflow? This has been a wasted week, i'm tempted to give up on the sysprep and just flash a single image to the lab.

[Matthew Strickland]

Its frustrating when things don't work - I don't image the recommended way either but I build mine for speed and ability for mixed hardware.

Two ways to start with, either a dedicated server for everything (WDS, MDT, AIK, Vanilla OS etc) or currently I have a server running WDS, and my desktop PC for everything else.

My setup is:

• MDT 2013 U1 and latest ADK installed on my local PC.
  
• MDT Operating Systems: I have imported Windows 10 x86 and x64 (RTM, vanilla software)
• MDT Out-Of-Box Drivers: I've created driver sets for each of my different hardware types (one for tela laptops, one for our lenovo PC's, another for HP desktops, and I generally only import network and sata drivers)
• MDT Applications: I've imported/configured all my software to install silent, (so Office 2016, Adobe Master Collection, Symantec, VLC, Sibelius, Java, Chrome/Firefox etc etc)
• MDT Task Sequence: I have two types, one that just sysprep's and captures. The others deploy my captured WIM's to the client machines.
  
• Once the above two steps are done (OS + Drivers) I can update the deployment share and create a lite-touch boot image to import into WDS which starts the deployment process at the client end.

So at the moment I deploy 'not the official way':

• Already installed is vanilla Windows on a VM in workstation (I make the system partition 500MB, OS on the rest of the virtual drive to match what MDT wants)
• Also installed is any base software I want across all my clients (Office 2016)
  
• I update using windows update (or I could use WSUS)
• I only have two VM's - Windows 7 x86 (old hardware/32bit CPU's) and Windows 10 x64 which I keep up to date.

So now for the capture bit:

• In one of the VM's above I create a snapshot, run ospprearm (for office) then run a task sequence that does a sysprep & capture only.
• This automatically does the sysprep and capture and create's a WIM which I import into MDT on my desktop.
• From here I can use this WIM to deploy to any client.
• Revert the snapshot to update my WIM later on.
  

On the client:

• Press F12 and log into MDT as an admin
• Select the Task sequence (which I've already set the captured OS to)
• Select any additional software I want installed (or driver sets, custom scripts etc)
• Hit go. The OS installs, drivers install, apps install, scripts run, reboots etc until its complete.
  

So my workflow now is:

Start my VM (W7 or W10), update/patch, snapshot, sysprep & capture & import into MDT, shutdown.
Change my task sequences to use the new captured WIM. I do this ~every 2-3 months.
If there is new software or drivers I add this to MDT as needed.

Sorry its a bit long winded and confusing. I suggest possibly watching a few youtube videos on MDT and how the deployment process works.