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- Overview
- Creating a Golden Image within Windows
- Configuring Sysprep to Not Reboot
- Launching the Portable Macrium Reflect Application
- Creating a Golden Image within the Rescue Media
- Configuring Sysprep to Reboot
Overview
The Macrium Deployment Kit enables up to five technicians to create and deploy golden images using the 'Technician's Rescue Media'. This enables rapid USB-based image deployment to rapidly configure systems or reset systems to a clean state. This article details how to create an operating system golden image using the Macrium Deployment Kit. First, we recommend ensuring that the Technician's Rescue Media has been created by following the steps in this article, and that the operating system that will be imaged has been configured according to the steps in this article.
Creating a Golden Image Within Windows
Configuring Sysprep to Not Reboot
The Technician's Rescue Media contains the Portable Macrium Reflect application that can be used to create a disk image without the need to install any software and can be created within Windows, without needing to boot into the rescue media.
To create the image of the reference machine while it is booted in Windows, when running Sysprep, ensure that the 'Shutdown' option in Sysprep is set to 'Quit'. Once Sysprep has completed, the window will close, but Windows will not shut down or reboot:
Launching the Portable Macrium Reflect Application
Once Sysprep has completed, connect the Technician's Rescue Media and launch 'portable.exe', which can be found in the root of the rescue media drive:
Creating a Golden Image with the Portable Application
On the 'Create Backups' page of the Portable Macrium Reflect Application, the disks that are connected locally to the system will be displayed.
If the golden image will contain multiple disks, select 'Image selected disks on this computer' under the 'Create Backup Tasks' menu to image multiple disks simultaneously:
In this example, we will be creating an operating system golden image; as a result, we only need to include the disk that holds the operating system. To do this, select the relevant disk, then select 'Image this disk...':
The partitions that will be included in the disk image can be further edited on the first page of the image wizard. Any partition that has a check in the selection checkbox will be included in the disk image:
The destination for the image is specified at the bottom of this page. The destination can be a local drive or network share specified in UNC format (\\Server\Share). A name can also be specified for the resultant image file to help organize multiple golden image files. Read more about backup file naming here. Select 'Next >' to proceed with the wizard.
The final page of the wizard shows a summary of the image that will be created:
'Advanced Options' can be selected on either page of the wizard to specify additional options for how the image is created. More information about these options can be found here.
Select 'Finish' to complete the wizard. Reflect Monitor will then open and display the progress of the golden image creation:
Once the golden image has been created, it can be viewed on the 'Existing Backups' tab of the Portable Macrium Reflect application:
Creating the Golden Image within the Rescue Media
Configuring Sysprep to Reboot
The Technician's Rescue Media contains a bootable Windows PE/RE environment. This can be used to create an image of the Sysprepped operating system while it is in an "offline" (not booted) state.
To create the image of the reference machine using the bootable rescue media, when running Sysprep, ensure that the 'Shutdown' option in Sysprep is set to 'Reboot' or 'Shutdown'. Once Sysprep has completed, the system will automatically reboot or shut down:
The system can then be booted using the Technician's Rescue Media. The device that the system will boot from is controlled through the system's UEFI or BIOS. For more information about changing the boot device, we recommend contacting the device or motherboard manufacturer directly.
It is important that the system is not allowed to boot back into the Sysprepped operating system before the golden image is created. If the system does accidentally boot into the Sysprepped operating system, Sysprep should be run again.
Creating a Golden Image with the Bootable Rescue Media
Once the rescue media has booted, select the 'Create Backups' page of Macrium Reflect to start creating the operating system golden image.
If the golden image will contain multiple disks, select 'Image selected disks on this computer' under the 'Create Backup Tasks' menu to image multiple disks simultaneously:
In this example, we will be creating an operating system golden image; as a result, we only need to include the disk that holds the operating system. To do this, select the relevant disk, then select 'Image this disk...':
The partitions that will be included in the disk image can be further edited on the first page of the image wizard. Any partition that has a check in the selection checkbox will be included in the disk image:
The destination for the image is specified at the bottom of this page. The destination can be a local drive or network share specified in UNC format (\\Server\Share). A name can also be specified for the resultant image file to help organize multiple golden image files. Read more about backup file naming here. Select 'Next >' to proceed with the wizard.
The final page of the wizard shows a summary of the image that will be created:
'Advanced Options' can be selected on either page of the wizard to specify additional options for how the image is created. More information about these options can be found here.
Select 'Finish' to complete the wizard. Reflect Monitor will then open and display the progress of the golden image creation:
Once the golden image has been created, it can be viewed on the 'Existing Backups' tab of the rescue media:
