Deployment questions (language, skip configuration)

[pcnr]

Good evening everyone!

I configured my fog server and captured a Win10 and a Win11 image, I’m really happy about Fog

I’m able to deploy them to machines, the only question I have is that when I boot it asks me the standard Windows configuration (username, password, timezone etc) and this creates an extra user on the machine (and also make me lose time, on Windows 11 I have to do the oobe\bypassnro and reboot again without internet). Isn’t there a way to boot and go straight to the desktop of the user I created in the golden image? I don’t know if I messed up something or if it’s intended like this

I also have a problem where I can only capture English images (otherwise sysprep fails).

Is there something I can do? Otherwise i’ll look for a script to uninstall english and install my language after deploy, I have to do this anyway to remove fog client

Thanks in advance for your help!

Paolo

[george1421]

@pcnr You need to use a windows unattend.xml file for what you want to do. This is a windows specific function and not related to FOG.

Here is a post by @Florent that describes the format of the unattend.xml file. In it you can set the natural language and other local settings.

When I was working for a multi national company we had one golden image that we deployed across the world. I had some FOG post install scripts that would dynamically update the unattend.xml script based on what country we were deploying the standardized image in. So it is possible to do.

This may be hard to understand but what I would do is deploy the US English version of Windows. That way all of the file paths are consistent across your deployments. This will help you with scripting because the file paths will be the same no matter where the image is deployed. Then to localize the windows install use windows language packs to set the language as well as the localized keyboard via the unattend.xml.

If you use the unattend.xml 100% I would say you don’t need to install the FOG client on the target computers. The unattend.xml file can rename the computer, connect it to the domain as well as install programs. In our deployments we didn’t use the fog client at all. If you are uninstalling the fog client post deployment then you are not using any of the management functions of FOG. So why install it?

[pcnr]

@george1421 thanks for your answers!
I’m not using the unattend.xml, I probably missed that part following the Fog documentation, I’ll give it a try!

I install the Fog Client on the to-be-imaged VM because it seemed mandatory during the capture procedure, based on the documentation, but I probably read it too quickly

For now I was just doing a standard image deployment, but in the future I’ll need to do some scripting (for example the language or other stuff)
So I can do it either via fog or via the xml?

Thank you very much
Paolo

[george1421]

@pcnr said in Deployment questions (language, skip configuration):

I’m not using the unattend.xml, I probably missed that part following the Fog documentation, I’ll give it a try!

Just be aware this is a MS Windows feature, not a fog specific feature. The unattend.xml file is the standard way to pre answer all of those questions that the OOBE/WinSetup program asks.

As for the second question you also do that by the unattend.xml file.

The fog client can do only the basics of give the computer a name and connect it to the domain. You really need the unattend.xml file to set keyboards, languages, and location specific information.

With that said you can dynamically adjust the unattend.xml file using a FOG post install script with run time settings. I have a code snippet here of a FOG post install script that will update the unattend.xml file with run time settings: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7740/the-magical-mystical-fog-post-download-script/15?_=1718638396511 And then in part 3 of that article I set location specific values based on the deployment IP address. This is a complex subject if you are not currently using an unattend.xml script. I just wanted to show you what is possible when you get to that point.

[pcnr]

@george1421 Perfect, thank you very much for all of your explanations!

Paolo