The following instructions pertain to OS image capture for ImageX, Windows Setup, or Legacy deployment.
To use the HPCA OS Image Preparation Wizard:
Note: If you are capturing an image locally, before continuing, set the reference machine to boot from the CD-ROM/DVD drive. You must do this because the ImageCapture media is bootable. When you run the ImageCapture media, it reboots the device to upload the image.
\image_preparation_wizard\win32
, and run oscapture.exe
.Note: If the HPCA agent is not installed on the reference machine, you will see the following message.
This computer does not have the Application Manager installed. You may not be able to manage the target computers with the OS Manager product.
If you want the device to be managed, you must install the HPCA agent before running the Image Preparation Wizard.
Note: The oscapture.exe
program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 (or later), which is available at the Microsoft download center:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads
To determine which version of the .NET Framework is present on the reference machine, list the folders in the following directory:
%SYSTEMROOT%/Microsoft.NET/Framework
C:\Sysprep
folder exists and that the HPCA agent is installed before continuing.C:\sysprep
.Caution: When you deploy using Windows XP Service Pack 2 using either ImageX or Windows Setup, the HPCA agent will be injected into the image during the deployment process.
If you want to install the agent to a location other than the default location on your target devices, you must edit the INSTALLDIR
property in install.ini
. See the HP Client Automation Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide for details on modifying install.ini
.
It is important to note that if you have already installed the agent to a location other than the default in your image, you must update the INSTALLDIR
property in install.ini as well.
If the agent is installed in the default location, do not make any changes to install.ini
.
You must edit install.ini
before using the Publisher to publish the image to the HPCA database.
Note: When using the Publisher, you will be given an option to select where to get the agent. This is advantageous, because you can package the agent independently and can update the agent as needed by publishing a new version to the CSDB. After you do this, all new .WIM
deployments will automatically use the latest agent.
The End User License Agreement window opens.
The deployment methods that may appear are:
Legacy
captures a raw disk image of the partition (.IMG
format). ImageX
captures an image in .WIM
format that will be deployed using Windows PE and the ImageX utility.Windows Setup
captures an image in .WIM
format that will be deployed using Windows PE and Windows Setup. If a deployment method is not supported for this OS, it will not appear.
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:port
The HPCA server port used for OS imaging and deployment in an HPCA Core and Satellite installation is 3466. In an HPCA Classic installation, port 3469 is reserved for this purpose.
\Data\OSManagerServer\upload
directory.The Span Disk Image window opens.
0
(zero) if you do not want to create a spanned image.Use spanned images to break the image file into smaller segments. Each segment of a spanned image is restricted to 4000 MB. This is helpful so that you can comply with the restriction of whole images needing to be less than 4000 MB so that they can be stored in the CSDB.
If this value is set to 0 (zero), and the size of the image resource files exceeds 4000 MB, the image will be spanned automatically.
If appropriate, the Additional Sysprep Options window opens. The text box is pre-filled with a command that clears all the SIDs to prepare the machine for capture.
If you want, you can type additional options to pass to Sysprep using a space as the delimiter.
Caution: This is an advanced option. Any additional options that you add or changes that you make are not validated and may result in image capture or deployment failure. Use with caution or when instructed to do so by HP Software Support personnel.
Review Microsoft's documentation for information about additional Sysprep options
Note: The payload contains Local Service Boot (LSB) data to be delivered to target devices.
The Select the Windows Edition window may open.
Select the Windows edition that you are capturing and click Next.
Note: If you do not have the HPCA agent installed, you will not see the Perform client connect after OS install check box. It is important to have this agent installed only if you are using the Legacy method to capture an image.
Note: The options appear depending on the operating system that you are capturing.
[SysprepMassStorage]
section of the Sysprep.inf
for Windows XP and above.Note: The list of Mass Storage Drivers is installed in the registry. This takes about 15-20 minutes, but provides fundamental mass storage device drivers to ensure success of image deployment across machine models and manufacturers.
If there are any errors in these entries, subsequent Sysprep execution can fail.
This increases the compressibility of the captured image, reducing its size. Smaller image files require less disk space to store and less bandwidth to move across the network.
This option will not appear if you are using a method where you do not have the agent installed (For example, if you are using the Legacy method and did not install the HPCA agent or if you are capturing a Windows Vista (or later) image because the agent is installed during the deployment and a connect is run by default).
The Summary window opens.
If you are working with an APIC device, the Make Image Compatible with PIC window opens. Note that Windows Vista (and later) operating systems can only be captured from and deployed to APIC compatible devices.
Caution: Microsoft does not recommend this. Be sure to see their web site for more information before making this selection.
If you selected the check box in the figure above, the Select Windows CD window opens.
The Image Preparation Wizard will start Sysprep; this can take 15-20 minutes to complete, depending on the size of the image.
Note: A message pops up if insufficient space is available on the System Reserve partition to hold the LSB injection files. You can either ignore this message or stop the Image Preparation Wizard. If you ignore the message (and have created enough space on this partition) the Image Preparation Wizard will continue. Otherwise, it will fail indicating that it cannot inject the LSB files.
During the capture, status information is displayed on the Service OS screen. See About the Windows PE Service OS Screen for more information. Sysprep will reboot the device when complete. You may need to click OK to restart the device.
Note: If you are using the audit mode (previously known as factory mode), the machine will reboot to the operating system with networking enabled. After your customizations are completed, you must put the Image Capture CD/DVD into the machine and then go to a command prompt and run
sysprep.exe –reseal –reboot
After Sysprep restarts, the image must be uploaded to the server.
If your device does not have a CD-ROM, you must have a PXE environment, and the device must be set to boot from the network first. Then, during the network boot you can press F8 on your keyboard to capture the image using PXE. A menu appears and you must select Remote Boot (Image Upload).
Caution: For Legacy capture mode, if the device does not boot to the CD (boots to operating system instead) you will need to restart the preparation process.
Then, the device will connect to the network, and store the image on the HPCA server
Note:
\upload
directory so that you can retrieve them if necessary.The Image Preparation Wizard connects to the network and stores the image on the HPCA Core in the following directory:
<InstallDir>\Data\OSManagerServer\upload
When the upload process is complete, you will see the following message:
**** OS image was successfully sent to the HPCA OS Manager Server.
Next, you will want to publish your image to the CSDB. See Publishing.