How to deploy windows on a large number of computers?

Question

Microsoft

Hello. In an organization there is a bonal task - installing software on many computers. For a long time I: installed windows on a virtual machine, installed all the necessary software, activated all this, then made an image of the system with Acronis and put this image through a USB flash drive where necessary. Now on the Internet I began to find ways to create an image of the system and start the installation on computers over the network. Tell us how you solve this problem. Share experience, instructions. Thank you.
PS As a rule, my system image reached over 30 gigabytes - so much software.

Answer 1

I can only point out directions:
1) Take WAIK, use it to make a response file for installing Windows, and use tftp to deploy this whole thing to clients.
2) Here are 2 articles on Habré: first / and second
3) Use Acronis Backup & Restore or a similar commercial product in the server version.
4) Well, maybe google it.

Answer 2

I would advise to raise the WDS role on the server. It's much easier than SCCM.
Or just zayuzat Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with the placement of images on the network.

Answer 3

And I would recommend SCCM. IMHO it is more convenient, computers can be "poured" by forming a list of the necessary software on the fly + if you configure updates, you can automatically implement all updates into the image + again, install only the necessary drivers on the fly.

Answer 4

The most advanced open source solution for such tasks today is OPSI: www.opsi.org.

• Distributions are used original, no need to customize
• Installation is done over the network (using PXE or a bootable CD)
• The necessary drivers are automatically detected (archives with ready-made driver sets can be downloaded from driverpacks.net or from the disks that come with the motherboard)
• Software management (installation, removal, inventory)

Answer 5

Switch to VDI :-)
And if in essence - I support the opinion of Mikhail Ivanov .
In the 3rd party , there is little free normal software, the one that is - often under linux - the aforementioned opsi is an example of this. If you work on the Microsoft stack, it will be more expensive to arrange a server zoo.
SCCM is a monster. Requires: money, knowledge (and in fact, everything with him is not as smooth as on paper) and, importantly, a lot of resources for normal work. It is worth bothering only if you have a really large fleet of PCs (more than 300 pieces of commercials), you are seriously planning to switch to a full-fledged ITIL (configuration management and other kosher things).
If you have 100-150 computers - WDS + WSUS bundlesenough with your head. For most scenarios, basic knowledge of Windows administration will suffice. A standard component of Windows Server, "next, next, next" style wizards, a lot of documentation and other goodies.