Introduction

A simple overview of the steps involved in preparing a Windows Operation System Image for use in CapaInstaller Operating System Deployment

Prepare

Prepare the deployment server for Image configuration and capturing

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Download and Install the Windows Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit → Windows Assessment & Deployment Toolkit
Create a WinPE boot image → How to Create a boot image
Install a clean version of Windows on a bare metal reference computer or a virtual machine.

Generalize

Generalize the reference computer to prepare the image for duplication.

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Run the SysPrep command located in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep
Sysprep.exe /quiet /generalize /oobe /shutdown

How to Generalize a Windows installation

Capture & Add

Capturing and adding an image into CapaInstaller OSD

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Boot the reference computer and immediately press F12 to enter boot selection menu. Choose to boot from the network (PXE)
Wait for the CapaInstaller boot image to load
At the Install screen press CTRL-C to enter Capture Mode
Name the capture file
Begin the Capture and wait for the capture to complete and upload to the CapaInstaller server
When the Capture is complete add the image in OSD → How to Add Add a new image

^{The capture process illustrated. (Image capture speeds may wary depending on network and disk performance)}

Configure

Use functions from OSD Scripting Library to configure settings in the Windows Deployment answer files

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Create a Windows/Panther folder in the Image folder on the relevant OSD Point → <osdpoint>\Images\<Imagename>\Windows\Panther\
Create a vanilla unattend.xml from the template below and place it in the new folder
Create a new script with the needed configuration functions

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">

  <settings pass="specialize">

     <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" ...> </component>

   </settings>

</unattend>

When working with unattend.xml, the unattend.xml file must exist, and the root component tags must exist as shown in the template above. All elements in the components tag will be inserted or deleted by the functions.

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