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Mass deploy Options


R Bond

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Hi...I've been using Smartdeploy since maybe October. Got to the point of having a half dozen USB drives I can image laptops from.  We (school district) got in 150 dell laptops today that I have to image.  The quicker the better.  Looking for input on quickest ways to get these imaged, as a half dozen USB drives probably isn't it.  Also wondering if there's a way to speed up the push of Application Packs.  I'm used to Altiris and when I drag and drop a job it goes.  The little experience I have pushing Application Packs...I've chosen to push them to a particular laptop and it seems to take, at least, a few minutes before it actually starts.  Wondering how normal this is and if there's a way to make it more immediate. 

Thanks in advance

Rick Bond

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USB is probably the best way to go, if you're unboxing new laptops. Unless you have a WDS host that you can upload your SmartDeploy boot image to, and PXE boot your new systems. 

The 3rd method for deploying with SmartDeploy involves pushing the deployment from the console to clients, which would require you to unbox the new systems, step through OOBE, then install the client, and get them connected to your host. 

I would first configure my Answer File to use the BIOS Asset Tag field for the computer name, if I hadn't done that already. Then I'd unbox a few laptops at a time, boot into BIOS and set the name Windows needs to use, and then boot into SmartDeploy and let the unattended deployment do it's thing. While those work, I'd get to unboxing the next round. 

You can also configure your Answer File to shut down after the initial deployment. This will allow you to grind through the first stage a bit faster. Then, as you need to deliver laptops to any person, or lab, the next time you turn them on, they'll complete the sysprep portion of the deployment. 

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