Topics created by hsikkema

OK a bit more background here.

The scheduled tasks (cron style) are added to a table in the fog database. To automate the process a bit you will need to use the mysql cli commands to import the tasks into the table. If you are familiar with linux and mysql the activity is pretty easy.

The table layout is as such

MariaDB [fog]> describe scheduledTasks; +---------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +---------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | stID | int(11) | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment | | stName | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stDesc | longtext | NO | | NULL | | | stType | varchar(24) | NO | | NULL | | | stTaskTypeID | mediumint(9) | NO | | NULL | | | stMinute | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stHour | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stDOM | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stMonth | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stDOW | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stIsGroup | varchar(2) | NO | | 0 | | | stGroupHostID | int(11) | NO | | NULL | | | stImageID | int(11) | NO | | NULL | | | stShutDown | varchar(2) | NO | | NULL | | | stOther1 | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stOther2 | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stOther3 | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stOther4 | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stOther5 | varchar(240) | NO | | NULL | | | stDateTime | bigint(20) unsigned | NO | | 0 | | | stActive | varchar(2) | NO | | 1 | | +---------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ 21 rows in set (0.001 sec)

Here is a scheduled task in that table waiting for time to expire.

MariaDB [fog]> select * from scheduledTasks; +------+-------------+--------+--------+--------------+----------+--------+-------+---------+-------+-----------+---------------+-----------+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+------------+----------+ | stID | stName | stDesc | stType | stTaskTypeID | stMinute | stHour | stDOM | stMonth | stDOW | stIsGroup | stGroupHostID | stImageID | stShutDown | stOther1 | stOther2 | stOther3 | stOther4 | stOther5 | stDateTime | stActive | +------+-------------+--------+--------+--------------+----------+--------+-------+---------+-------+-----------+---------------+-----------+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+------------+----------+ | 1 | Deploy Task | | C | 1 | 45 | 12 | 12 | 5 | | | 1 | 0 | | | -1 | fog | 1 | | 0 | 1 | +------+-------------+--------+--------+--------------+----------+--------+-------+---------+-------+-----------+---------------+-----------+------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+------------+----------+ 1 row in set (0.000 sec)

I didn’t check to see if I could schedule a snapin deployment task. But this might get you headed in the direction for a home brew solution.

@hsikkema said in newbie: imaging:

Are you saying that I should NOT run sysprep at all once I have the system setup

No you should run sysprep if you want to deploy one mother image to many target systems. What I’m saying is that sysprep and windows 10 work a bit differently then sysprep and win7. Where in windows 7 you could setup the system exactly like you wanted it and clone it to many systems. With win10 M$ says, <snark> they know better than you </snark>. Where OOBE will reset somethings that you setup during the creation of the golden image. So if you set the system one way in the golden image and then once deployed the values are reset blame it on Microsoft. To get around this system reset you can fix it again using the setupcomplete.cmd file (google it) and setting in the unattend.xml file. You need sysprep to reset the system guid and some other settings used by management programs. Also to prepare the system for deploying to different hardware platforms.

I say this with some hesitation because I understand the meanings, but if you have a golden image on a Dell 9410 and you will clone that image to other 9410s you really don’t “need” to sysprep the image. This is because all of the hardware drivers needed for the target system are already on the computer. But lets say you wanted to deploy that Dell 9410 image to a Lenovo thinkpad? In this case you MUST sysprep the system.

Imaging is a ballancing act between what microsoft things you need, plus settings in the unattend.xml file and then finally corrections you might need to make in the setupcomplete.cmd file or the firstrun commands in the unattend.xml file. Imaging Windows computers is a bit of a black art and this is all before you get FOG imaging in the picture.