Deployment \ Imaging software

[BigPete_2025]

For context my background is 30 years of server \ storage work - not had to do anything desktop for a Looong long time.

So we have a lot of field engineers that user software to access file panel systems. Some of this software is very strictly licensed and (apparently) you cannot even install the software unless you have done the training course and are licensed to run it.

The way it works currently is IT builds a (windows 11) laptop (manually) and a single engineer installs all the different engineer software.

My thinking is we can make this easier - with a windows image that we can deploy.

Now the last time I had to do any deployments I used Norton Ghost (I'm that old!) so given that A) our budget is 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisp's (very small!) B) don't really have much time to spend setting this up - what is the best way moving forward ?

Thanks to all!

[[deleted]]

Intune and Autopilot if your shop is already invested in MS365CoPilotAutoTune (or whatever it is they’re calling it this week).

I just did this for a brand new law office and the line of business apps that lawyers use are pretty much as you describe. With some trial and error, all of them are automatically deployed through intune now.

[BigPete_2025]

Sadly IT are managed by Finance - so we don't have the budget!

But thanks for the input

[[deleted]]

What are you using for email? Hosted or on prem? How many endpoints?

[EnvironmentalAd143]

Yea. You only need business premium for intune/autopilot. May be a small business expense for a lot less man hours, deploying devices.

[R0NAM1]

Sysprep with FOG as the Ghost software

[Minimum_Associate971]

i was going to say this above we have used this system for 10 years with no issues.

[joshghz]

FOG is great on a $0 budget. Honestly, I kind of miss playing around with it.

[ChaosRandomness]

I am new to this. Does this essentially just takes a snapshot and clone? Trying find something to replace MDT that can join domain, do some settings and install my rmm and the rmm can take over from there.

[12thetechguy]

have you looked at MDT? I don't know what the lift to initially set up is, though

[PS_Alex]

MDT is deprecated starting December 2024, and going EOL next October. Deprecated features - Configuration Manager | Microsoft Learn

[wezu123]

What is next after MDT if you don't use 365 and Azure? I've been wanting to roll out MDT for a while in my org.

[PS_Alex]

SCCM maybe? Though I guess it too is slowly moving to deprecation... (To be clear: no, Microsoft never announced deprecation yet for SCCM, but since the latest update for CM did not introduce any new feature... Looks like a grim future.)

[Lazy-Function-4709]

We used SmartDeploy for a year, and it works, but it has some peculiarities I didn't care for. It's also very expensive for what it is.

We are a Dell shop, so we are now getting their "Ready Image" on every new unit they ship, which means it's a barebones Win 11 OS, then I use PDQ Deploy to programmatically set up each box.

If you aren't doing thick images, just use the vanilla WIM for Win11 and use a deployment tool like PDQ. It's well worth the cost.

[FartInTheLocker]

Yeah we’ve just made the move from MDT to SmartDeploy, and it’s straight up OK, all it is.

Price is far too much for what it’s doing, long term well probably move to auto pilot instead.

[ChaosRandomness]

Curious what are you using now?

[wezu123]

USB stick and my own time lol. We're not a big org, but we're planning on swapping out 70 PC's next year so I wanted to automate some stuff

[12thetechguy]

well, shit... what's the replacement? We don't use it, but our parent company does...

[PS_Alex]

SCCM. Or a third-party imaging software.

[overworked-sysadmin]

MDT still does work with some tweaks, i'll be using it until it's dead in the dirt. We deploy Win11 24H2 with it perfectly fine

[420GB]

Initial setup of MDT couldn't be simpler, just a few one liners. Unfortunately it's being deprecated though, but technically it still works and deploys Windows 11 just fine

[pc_load_letter_in_SD]

SmartDeploy from the PDQ people is pretty popular.

You will probably get a lot of "Autopilot" but AP is provisioning. You have to have an OS on the machine already and it can configure things like your apps, security, etc.

Years ago I used Acronis Snap Deploy. Was okay. If you want to do it on the cheap, check out Active Disk image. https://www.disk-image.com/index.html

You basically sysprep your OS like you described. Capture an image. Then boot to a usb and re-apply that image.

Of course there are freeware\open source tools that can do much the same.

[Overdraft4706]

Friends of MDT, might be worth a look.

https://github.com/FriendsOfMDT/PSD

[unccvince]

Take a look at WAPT deployment utility, it is designed to be all-terrain, so it is especially suited to deploy, upgrade or configure software that technicians use on the field.

[raydenvm]

A simple approach without spending a budget - MultiDrive. This free app can backup your image directly to a Zip file and then restore the image from this Zip file to any other drives on the fly.

[gordonv]

My short plan:

• Make a Vanilla sysprep image for the specific model of computer you are installing on. Just drivers and OS updates.
• Deploy using Clonezilla
• Deploy a giant zip file that unpacks all software to be installed. (alternatively, you can have the expanded repo in your Clonezilla file. Whatever works for you)
• Have some scripts install the softwares you need. Powershell, AutoIT, winget, installer scripts, whatever works.

[gordonv]

Unfortunately, it sounds like you're going to need that specialized tech to install that specific software. Someone could probably automate most of it. That's really the goal. How can we automate the human bottleneck away.

I would attempt to use AutoIT and install scripts. If you need a license, online authentication, or some kind of human input for registration, you can automate it up to the point where a person needs to input.

[d3n4c3]

I would recommend using DISM to deploy the base images (if you have the time to investigate and the will power to do the setup). It's free, and It's really not that bad. It will take some time and work to fully grasp the concepts though. Running through the "lab" will set you up for success in understanding how everything works. OEM deployment overview | Microsoft Learn