Going to have a play once the VL has been added.

So once sysprep'd how do I deploy/send to target machine?

Right so where do I start??
I've got a blank VM ready to fire up.
The Windows 10 Pro Volume license is on order.

Do I just install Win10 onto a VM, setup applications etc sysprep it then image that out? Any good how to guides for beginners in this game?

@NetworkNerd - Looks good but as I'm only going to use this going forward and not deploy/upgrade existing machines licensing SmartDeploy may be confusing

They done a few updates and now use Gravatar (https://en.gravatar.com/) to serve your avatar to the forum.

Still feel like I have a hangover from drinking Saturday night......Think this is going to be a long DAY Monday!!!!!!!

Waiting for Sunday dinner......with a hangover

@itsmeagain said:

@hobbit666 said:

Crying inside

OH but why?

Lets just say cheating wife and leave it there

Crying inside

Again reading the forum instead of working

@Carnival-Boy said:

For example, I do a clean Windows 7 install. It doesn't have a network adapter driver. I go to hp.com and type in the model of the PC. It gives me two different options. I don't know which one is the card in my particular PC. How do I find out? The other issue is that downloading files from HP.com is just about the slowest website in the world. It can take hours.

Tip here, if you go to device manager and click on any device. Go into properties --> Details --> Select Hardware ID's. This will give you VEN and DEV numbers. Go to pcidatabase.com and put either number in and it will tell you the manufacturer and device, helps me a lot when I'm not sure what driver to get.

@MattSpeller said:

Couple of the most key points I've learned about deployment(s)

• Have one replacement laptop & desktop at minimum ready to roll 24/7, 365. You will need it most when you least expect it.

• Have a base image, update it a week after patch Tuesday every month

• Buy all the same model of laptop / desktop. There is no good reason to have more than 1 model of desktop and AT MOST two models of laptop purchased in a year.

• Make a checklist for deployment and stick it on each computer. Tick all the boxes as you complete them and sign it, date it, and leave it on the computer until it gets deployed.

• Have a standardized method of data xfer/backup and stick to it.

• Label/serialize laptops/desktops and keep a list of it all. More details the better.

.... more as I think of them.

Thanks for all the tips there, all along my way of thinking.

So how do I start making a deployment image now

reading the forum until I can go home (in 15 mins)

But I will still need to buy a VL version of Win10Pro and Win7Pro so I can use the generic key to create and deploy the image onto machines?

@Dashrender said:

To get your Windows 10 upgrade (home or Pro) you have to do the upgrade manually first. That process will attach the Windows 10 license to your machine via MS servers.

Then once you have upgraded it, you can blow it away and push your image onto the machine.

But is the FREE upgrade allowed on machines that will be joined to the domain??

What is the "official" say from Microsoft on the Windows 10 free upgrade in a domain environment. I understood it that all machine would qualify for the upgrade? Or is it just for "Home" users?
I don't mind buying a Volume License for both Win10 and Win7 to get the imaging rights. But I don't want to but 100's of Windows 10 licenses :), but I also don't want issues when it comes audit time or reimage a machine after the FREE offer expires.

@scottalanmiller said:

You can build a lot of drivers and such into a base image. Although standardizing on a model is a good first step. You want to reduce "Model Sprawl" whenever possible.

Yeah we have started trying to buy the same model over the last 6 months, but doesn't help when these suppliers/manufactures keep changing things all the time lol.

Just been reading the post about "Rapid Desktop Replacement" and this is something I've been thinking we should be doing here. we have currently 250-300 desktops and laptops. When one need replacing we buy the machine put it next to us and update and install all software required.

I'm thinking imaging and deployment tools would be a quick and easier way to do things, especially if we want to deploy Windows 10 on new machine as they come in (If we can using the FREE upgrade off from Microsoft). Otherwise just deploy an "Company" image with all the required software ready to go, mainly Citrix XenApp, Office, PDF Creator etc.

But I'm not sure where to start, as we don't buy the same model of Desktop/Laptop all the time....Is this going to be a problem with drivers etc. Any tips on where to start, how to guides etc. I've got 5 desktops and 5 laptops in the back ready for mass deployment to test this on.

So it is, created a gravater account few minutes ago, guess it was just taking it's time to sync.

Do I forgive and forget?? or tell her to do one??

@scottalanmiller said:

@hobbit666 said:

Thinking about the meaning of life!

Your avatar failed. Do you know if you were on a local image upload or Gravatar previously?

think it was local before