@RobTitian16

Q1 Batch file: This is an independent batch file from MDT. We do a few clean up actions just before sysprep and power off. We do this via a batch file and at the end of the batch file it runs the sysprep command with a consistent syntax. That way we get the same exact action every time we build a master image and then sysprep it. It could be done manually by copy and paste, but its much easier to run the batch file. We do have the sysprepit.cmd file as well as some branding stuff installed as a MDT package. That is how it gets copied over to the reference image as a MDT package.

Q2 CAB file: Understand there are 2 different cab files in play here. We install the winpe cab file in the reference image since that contains the core drivers we need post deployment. The driver path /images/drivers/{hardware_type}/{os_type}/{arch}/{driver files} is the extract of the model specific cab file. If you give me a specific dell model I can point you to the proper cab file.

@dustindizzle11 Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned> I’m sure it will help others as they find this thread in the future. Well done!!

@Bob-Henderson You might enjoy Snappy Driver Installer, although this is generally more useful if you get all sorts of models accross the floor, rather than expected ones as it will have drivers for close to everything. (compressed)

You’re scheduling a capture task in the web interface, right? How many FOG servers do you have?

@Joe-Schmitt said in Adding Machine to Domain using Active Directory:

@dylan123 said in Adding Machine to Domain using Active Directory:

So I’ve attempted to deploy an image onto the domain

Images should never be pre-joined to the domain, Active Directory is fundamentally incompatible with handling that scenario. Either use setupcomplete.cmd in sysprep to join the domain, or the FOG Client.

Yeah wasn’t the first thing I tried, more was testing it just to see if it made a difference.

Wasn’t aware the FOG Client was required to make the active directory feature work. Have since installed and tested, can confirm it worked.

Thanks for your help Joe.

Bumping this thread.

@oraniko you need to keep in mind the client runs as Windows service, which gets run as SYSTEM (that is, a non-interactive user). This means you’ll need to take non-supported approach to get this working. Change
net use r: \ph.ph.biu.ac.il\Programs MYPASSWORD /user:DOMAIN\MYUSERNAME
to
net use r: \ph.ph.biu.ac.il\Programs MYPASSWORD /user:DOMAIN\MYUSERNAME /persistent:yes

Now, you need to keep in mind SYSTEM now owns this network mapping, and so only SYSTEM can remove it. In addition, Microsoft doesn’t really support this, so its likely the drive will show as disconnected for all users, but it should still be accessible if they try to open it.

Perhaps a better approach would be to make a GPO logon script to auto mount these network shares.

Did not mean to insinuate that it was the fault of the FOG client, as I’ve seen it before even when not using FOG.

Do you know of a way to have it use the original Administrator user folder and not create a new one?

For reference:
When creating the image I’m hitting Ctrl + Shift + F3 to boot to Audit mode during the Windows install.

During the Specialize phase of sysprep with the Microsoft Windows Deployment component I’m creating a synchronous command to activate the admin account.
net user administrator /active:yes

During the OOBE phase I set the password as well as auto logon details.

This is really a minor issue, but there have been times where it would have been helpful to be able to deploy files straight to the admin desktop; which would be difficult if the directory name isn’t always the same.

@jayrob86 See if this works. https://github.com/wayneworkman/fog-community-scripts/blob/master/exportFromDB/exportTableToCSV.sh

Thanks, Tom, that’s worked, I knew there was something extra to do with the encryption data that I needed to do, but couldn’t remember.

Dan

@george1421

Thanks! I managed to get a script made to run in powershell that will install the fog service correctly. I ended up having to download the original file from the server and using that. The MSI file that I created was bombing for some reason. Either way I’m glad I got it working!

Now my next question is does anyone have any good wiki’s on how to run a powershell script in GPO on a group basis not a login script? I’m new to this stuff so any ideas are helpful! Thanks!

Cheers!

Joe

Hi,

i hardly recommend PDQ Deploy for easy deployments if you hate GPO’s 😉
Also the way with ORCA is possible but for what you have a switches for cli.

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I have it licensed to pro mode but simple deployments can also be done in free mode.
PDQ Deploy is very powerful, take a look 🙂

PDQ has AD integration and can also suck hosts from Spiceworks.

Regards X23

Does the USB Dongle work on other models?

Also, 1.3.5 isn’t released yet, it’s still in RC. I’d advise you to update FOG again because RC 11 was just released yesterday.

@Junkhacker

I just checked on the server and it is…

Running Version 1.3.4
SVN Revision: 6066

I used SVN to update my server… What was posted was from one of the FOG clients FOG.log files.

Ryan’s link worked! This can be marked as solved 🙂 Thanks gents!

And my last final thoughts on this. You may want to review these two threads to see if they give you any additional guidance with your task.

https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/9394/trying-to-sysprep-windows-10-to-upload-to-fog-please-help

https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/697/windows-7-and-setupcomplete-cmd

Great! that worked! thanks for the quick response.

@Jaymes-Driver Well Yeah FOG is going to be my go to for OS X and Ubuntu builds. But I will have to stick with MDT and WDS deployment seeing we have a ton of different configuration I push out.

@thisisryanswift You can surely image home edition. You would create your reference image just as you would for pro. You can preload application, and set some custom configurations, then sysprep the image.

The issue you run into is more of a legal / licensing issue than a physical one. Home and OEM licenses (of all flavors) doesn’t support (hint: allow) reimaging rights. You can only install from OEM media unmodified. AFAIK Home version doesn’t have a VLK key to allow reimaging like Pro does. Just be aware of this restriction.

From a physical standpoint OEM images will not run the setupcomplete.cmd file at the end of OOBE. You might get around this by modifying the first run section of the unattend.xml file.

@Tom-Elliott
Resolved. Perfect. That did it. Much thanks.

Now on to sysprep testing.