(I don't see a forum specific for SiteDeploy so I am posting here since SD is now included with Site Manager)

I am currently using WDS to deploy images to physical servers and checking out SiteDeploy as a possible alternative.  When I build an image, I simply install the OS, customize it as needed, sysprep it and capture the image to the WDS server.  Then I deploy that image as needed.  I never create "two images" - and I am not sure if what I am creating is considered a reference image or a golden image (or neither).  I also never use audit mode (I don't really understand the purpose of audit mode either).  I just install everything as local administrator, Sysprep, and capture (however, I do use a custom answer file during the deploy).  I have been doing this for years, and it just seems to work.  We have never had any issues.  I do the same thing in VMware - without the WDS server doing the deploy however.

So I am trying to understand how to map my process to what the documentation for SiteDeploy is describing.  I don't understand the difference between the reference and golden images.  What does one have that the other does not?  Is a golden image for different types of hardware?  Does it have the hardware specific drivers in it?

Thanks for any insight.  I have never been very comfortable with how I manage images, but it seems to work without any issues so I have just always "gone with it".
NK

After a little bit of thought, I think I might have come up with an answer.

The "Reference Image", in my case, is the OS I installed with all the customizations I made to it prior to sysprep-ing it and capturing the image.
The "Golden Image" is the imported copy of the above image that I saved into WDS, that will be used for future deployments.

So in my case, I never save the reference image after I am done importing it into WDS.  Once I import it into WDS, where it becomes the golden image, I usually just wipe the drives of the reference computer and whack the image. 
I then create a brand new reference image (on the same spare hardware) a few months later to update any software, drivers, or patches and then use that as the source of a new golden image.  And the process repeats...

I am guessing there is probably a more efficient way to do this, that "keeps the reference image" so that I don't have to create a new one each time, and just update the existing one instead.

NK

+x

 

NJK-Work - 3 July 2023 9:06 PM

After a little bit of thought, I think I might have come up with an answer.

The "Reference Image", in my case, is the OS I installed with all the customizations I made to it prior to sysprep-ing it and capturing the image.
The "Golden Image" is the imported copy of the above image that I saved into WDS, that will be used for future deployments.

So in my case, I never save the reference image after I am done importing it into WDS.  Once I import it into WDS, where it becomes the golden image, I usually just wipe the drives of the reference computer and whack the image. 
I then create a brand new reference image (on the same spare hardware) a few months later to update any software, drivers, or patches and then use that as the source of a new golden image.  And the process repeats...

I am guessing there is probably a more efficient way to do this, that "keeps the reference image" so that I don't have to create a new one each time, and just update the existing one instead.

NK

Hi NK,
I think there might be some confusion in the docs we have - we usually say that a Golden Image is captured from a reference machine - using a similar process to the one you do. There aren't two images, only the one golden image.
There are a couple of points that might be useful to know -

When deploying, the process automatically applies some of the fix ups that happen from performing a ReDeploy - the main one being that it injects and needed drivers from the set that are in the deployment media. This means that if there are new drivers, you can add them to the deployment media and use the same Golden Image to have those drivers injected into the deployed computer.

We have recommended using audit mode because of some issues that can happen with normal installs - Microsoft Store apps can cause the sysprep generalize to fail, if this happens they have to be stripped out or various modifications made to get sysprep working. One way to avoid this is to use "audit mode" from a fresh install - once the install gets to the OOBE part of install (language/country selection menu usually), you can press ctrl-shift-f3 to enter audit mode. This bypasses all of the OOBE functions, doesn't run any new user setup or install any MS Store apps that might interfere with generalization. From there you can install any custom software etc. then generalize and take the Golden Image from deployment media
I've also used this method to create updated golden images - deploy golden image to a machine without sysprep answer file injection, enter audit mode, make changes then retake golden image. You can even do this from viBoot. Older OSes do have a "rearm" count internally for this, but that seems to be lifted to 1001 in Windows 10.

Kind Regards,

Alex

Macrium Development

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