Image Capture Best Practices

Description

This will cover the best practices for capturing a Windows image with Key Deploy and Asset Reimaging.  

This has been revised for Windows 11 24H2

Step-by-step instructions

1. Download the Windows Media Creation Tool for Windows 11

   1. https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2156295 

2. Create a bootable USB with the MCT 

3. Boot to the USB on a reference machine that is compatible with Windows 11 

4. Follow the on-screen instructions and choose Windows 11 Home as the OS to install

   1. If you are unable to select Windows 11 Home, you may need to change the reference device or use a VM to install Windows 11 Home

      1. Alternatively, you may reference How to force Windows Home on a device

5. Once the machine finishes installing Windows 11 and boots to the OOBE screen, press the following keys

   1. CTRL+SHIFT+F3

      1. This will boot the machine to Audit Mode 

6. If you need to capture a Home image first:

   1. Use the sysprep box on the desktop, check the generalized box and select seal to audit mode. From the last drop-down select shutdown, then hit okay.

   2. Once the machine shuts down, PXE boot the machine into your Key Deploy server and use the capture image option.

   3. If you also need to capture a Pro image, reboot into Windows once the capture process has finished

   4. Once the machine boots back into audit mode, run the following command in CMD to change the edition to Pro

      1. Dism /online /set-edition:Professional /accepteula

      2. After the command is finished, it will ask you to reboot the machine

      3. Once the machine reboots, open Run (WIN+R) and type “winver” to verify the edition has changed to Pro

   5. Repeat 6a and 6b to capture the Pro image 

7. If you only need to capture a Pro image, simply follow 6d-i-iii and then 6a and 6b