Best Practices for image capture
Description
This will cover the best practices for capturing a Windows image with Asset Reimaging.
This has been revised for Windows 11 25H2
Requirements
A USB stick (8+GB).
A regular machine running Windows. This machine will be used to download the Windows Media Creation Tool (MCT) and format the USB stick with it.
A reference machine, this machine needs to be compatible with Windows 11, it will be reinstalled with a new Windows 11 operating system so, make sure that it does not contain important data.
A Blancco Asset Image Capture tool (BAIC), this image may sit on a PXE server or on a second USB stick (please refer to the instructions to create a BAIC image).
Step-by-step instructions
Download the Windows Media Creation Tool for Windows 11
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2156295Create a bootable USB with the MCT
Check the “Use the recommended options for this PC”
Click Next and tick the box for “USB flash drive” (Be sure the USB drive you wish to use is plugged into the device)
Click Next, then select the removable device you want to use. In this example, that will be the E:\ drive
Click Next. The tool will begin creating the USB for you.
Once completed Plug the USB into the device you want to image.
Boot the reference machine with the USB stick prepared with the Media Creation Tool by hitting F12 for most devices, then select the USB from the Boot Menu
Follow the on-screen instructions and at the “Select setup option” screen, check “Install Windows 11” and check the box “I agree everything will be deleted included files, apps, and settings”
Click Next. If the Product Key page appears, click “I don’t have a product key” at the bottom, then click Next.
If the Product Key screen doesn’t appear, Windows will automatically install the Windows edition based on the Product Key detected in the reference machine's firmware
Select the edition of Windows you would like to install.
Alternatively, if you are unable to select which Edition of Windows you would like to install, you may reference How to force Windows Home on a device. This short guide can also be used to change to any Edition you want by changing the EditionID field to match that of the edition you want to install.
Click Next and accept the Windows License terms
On the next page, select the drive you would like to install Windows on. If the drive already has partitions or a previous Windows installation, it is recommended to delete the partitions, then select the disk with unallocated space
Click Next. At the “Ready to install” verify the edition of Windows you are installing then click Install
Once the machine finishes installing Windows 11 and boots to the OOBE screen (Out-Of-Box Experience, setup process guiding you through region/language/keyboard, network, etc.), do not engage in the OOBE and instead press the following keys: Ctrl+Shift+F3. This will boot the machine into Audit Mode.
Once the machine boots into Audit Mode, use the sysprep box on the desktop, check the “Generalize” box and select “Enter System Audit Mode”. From the last drop-down select “Shutdown”, then hit OK
NOTE: If you selected the Pro edition, Windows may enable BitLocker and prevent the image from syspreping. Disable BitLocker by opening the command prompt (CMD) by clicking WIN+R and typing in CMD, then run the following command: manage-bde -off C:
Once the reference machine shuts down, you will need to reboot it with BAIC:
If the BAIC image sits on a PXE server, connect the reference machine to the PXE server and PXE boot BAIC on it
If the BAIC image sits on a USB stick, connect the USB stick to the reference machine and boot BAIC on it
Once BAIC is booted, capture the Windows 11 image by typing in what you would like to call the new image, then click Capture
The image will be stored in the predefined location you set while creating the BAIC image. Beit a remote share for Windows images or a local storage device.
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