USB deployment package creation questions

[netadmin18]

Hi Everyone I hope I can get some help with this   . OK here is my situation. We have a handful of users that we want to migrate from Windows 7 to Windows 10. We want to use the USMT and Smart deploy to image the machines . I have a 1TB usb hard drive that i want to make bootable and contain everything I need to do the upgrade. I assume I have to do the wipe and load option to migrate the users files before it images the machine.. Can anyone tell me if im in the right track with this. I know I may sound stupid and SD is fairly easy but i have never used it before... Should I have my image , my answer file and the platform packs all on the usb hard drive too? if someone has some simple steps to run through with me, that would be great

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hello,

Yep, definitely on the right track. If you plan to store the USMT data on the local hard drive of the target device, then you are correct that you'll need to use the Wipe and load disk option - and it will be selected for you automatically. This will wipe all data from the target device except for a protected backup folder (C:\Backup by default), but leave the disk structure (existing partitions and volumes) intact.

To create the media type you're referring to, you'll want to run Media Wizard, and select Offline deployment media. This will copy over the image (and split it, if needed), as well as all Platform Packs that you select. Only the correct PPK will ever be used at deployment time, so there's no harm in including packs for all of the models you intend to deploy to.

If this is your first time testing USMT, we would definitely recommend backing up any data manually first, until you've confirmed that the deployment process works as intended with your image and media. If you have any questions or issues, feel free to reach out at support (at) smartdeploy.com.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support