Deployment Methods

There are two methods that you can use to deploy an OS image using HPCA:

Windows Setup provides greater control over the installation. ImageX is more comparable to a simple file extraction. You can perform unattended installations or upgrades with images captured using either method.

Caution: To successfully capture an image using the Windows Setup deployment method, you must have sufficient free disk space in the OS partition on the reference machine. For example, to capture a 7 gigabyte (GB) image, you will need 50-60 GByte of free disk space.

The following table provides a summary of each deployment method. The OS image preparation and capture steps that you perform will vary slightly based on the operating system and deployment method that you choose.

Deployment Methods
Method Service OS Type* Resulting Files** Supported Platforms
Microsoft ImageX WinPE ImageName.WIMImageName.EDM

Windows XP SP2 (or later) Professional x86 or x64

Windows Vista Enterprise, Business and Ultimate Edition x86 or x64

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows Server 2008 Standard and Business edition x86 or x64

Windows 2003 Server SP1 and Advanced Server x86 or x64

Windows Server 2008 Release 2 (R2) x64

Microsoft Windows Setup WinPE ImageName.WIMImageName.EDM

Windows Vista Enterprise, Business and Ultimate Edition x86

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows Server 2008 Standard and Business edition x86

Windows Server 2008 Release 2 (R2) x64

*You must have the compatible drivers for the target device in the SOS. If you are using Windows PE, and the drivers are not available, see Building a Custom Windows PE Service OS. If you are using a Linux SOS, HP will provide periodic updates of the Linux SOS.

**Resulting files are stored in the following directory on the HPCA server after the image is captured:

<InstallDir>\Data\OSManagerServer\upload

Note: For more information about the ImageX and Windows Setup deployment methods, see Microsoft’s documentation.


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