SmartDeploySupport

Hi argnt, 

I've opened a support ticket for you - we'll be happy to discuss in further detail!

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Hi there,

It's likely that whatever restrictions you're applying are not surviving the Sysprep process. Since Sysprep is a mandatory part of deployment, there's unfortunately not a lot we can do about this. 

The recommended method for this sort of thing would be to apply the restrictions to the endpoints instead - this way, you can be sure that they are being applied to the current computer, current account, current SID, etc. Depending on what restrictions you're looking to impose, you may want to look at using Group Policy on your domain. 

Please feel free to reach out to support@smartdeploy.com if you have any questions. 

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Hi wajtech,

The most reliable way to do this would be with Group Policy once the computer is domain-joined - this is the method Google recommends as well.

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7009292?hl=en

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or issues to support@smartdeploy.com.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Hello,

We would have to take a look at a set of deployment logs. Boot to SmartDeploy media on the affected device (ideally with USB boot media with no answer file, to avoid starting another deployment and wiping the previous logs), click the Collect logs option, save the resulting zip file to an external location.

Submit a ticket here and refer to this thread.

Just need to create your boot media with the platform pack for this machine selected in the Media Wizard.  This will add the network driver to the boot environment.

Hello Aaron,

We appreciate the feedback. We are always happy to receive input on ways to improve our application. This request has been submitted to feedback@smartdeploy.com

The documentation regarding group policy needs to be updated. 

You will need to generate a new MSI via the SmartDeploy console, under Tools - > Generate Client Setup

It won't require a transform file with that MSI.

Placing application packs on USB is something I'll let the team know about. I could see it being useful in some scenarios.

Currently, it's just one application pack at a time, but it's another item we can look into. It's still beta right now but we are excited to expand more with application pack capabilities!

Currently the application packs can only be pushed via the console and not copied to a USB.

On paper, it should work out, but it's something we haven't tested fully but understand it's going to be a popular pack.

Application Packages are still in beta. You could test and then post your results.

Hello martbasi,

We've received your request and are currently looking into the issue.

Please submit a support ticket on SmartDeploy.com and include C:\SmartDeploy\Logs\Media.log from the SmartDeploy host.

Thanks,

SmartDeploy Support

Hi Charles,

Unless you're changing some setting in Deploy Wizard, it is not necessary to update your answer file. Depending whether the particular Platform Pack you've downloaded contains any Windows PE 10.0 drivers, you may or may not need to recreate your deployment package. If it contains these drivers, you should go ahead and re-run Media Wizard, making sure to select packs for all devices you plan to deploy to. The wizard will check each pack and automatically inject any PE drivers that it finds into your PE boot image. 

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or issues, to support@smartdeploy.com.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Hi Chris,

Glad to hear you found a solution! We've definitely heard this sort of feedback from users before; particularly if they are attempting to administer the VM remotely. This is unfortunately a tricky issue - by design, SmartDeploy images are intended to be hardware-independent, and the VMWare Tools (or similar utilities on other virtualization platforms) contain virtual device drivers that can interfere with capture, sysprep, and deployment to physical systems. As a result, it's generally best to build and administer your VM without making use of these utilities - but in a pinch, you can always use them, but remove them prior to capture. This can also be tricky (due to the checks we build in to Capture Wizard to ensure they're completely removed), but please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or issues.

You can reach us at support@smartdeploy.com, or at 1-888-7DEPLOY (option 2). 

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Tom, 

Does that work 100% of the time? I ask, because if it's the same exact image, it's most likely randomly working at times when importing into Install Images and creating the res.rwm.

Jason,

I wish we could help. We are looking into workarounds but ultimately it's something Microsoft needs to fix.

Hello,

This is a known issue. It occurs if the Windows 10 image is 1803 or greater. There is a chance that it won't import correctly into WDS on Server that isn't 2016.  But, not all images have the issue, so you may have luck recreating the image. The older version of Wingapi.dll isn't handling some of the new file properties in 1803.  Unfortunately this is something we cannot fix and it even happens when importing a .WIM that isn't create by SmartDeploy but even dism.exe.

Hi Nathan,

Please refer to our cloud broker KB:

https://support.smartdeploy.com/kb/article/34-performing-a-cloud-push-deployment/

We have seen other customers experience this as well. 

Thanks for attaching our logs. We will reach out soon as we are trying to reproduce this issue on our end.

Hello,

We are based in Seattle Washington. We open at 8am PST, which was about 15 minutes ago. A tech will reach out shortly.

Sorry for any inconvenience. 

Support will reach out to you shortly in response to #SDE00003674.

Please boot to SmartDeploy media on the affected device (ideally with USB boot media with no answer file, to avoid starting another deployment and wiping the previous logs), click the Collect logs option, save the resulting zip file to an external location.

Submit it via the Support form, which includes a file upload option. 

Hello,

When do you receive this error message? After applying the image or when you boot to the SmartDeploy boot environment.

If you could provide a bit more detail we can investigate further.

Thanks,

SmartDeploy Support

Hi WixonStaff,

Thank you for sharing your experience! What you've described is definitely a good method for troubleshooting - by default, SmartDeploy will use the administrative share path (e.g. \\computername\c$\SmartDeploy) of whatever location you browse to in the Answer File Wizard, rather than the name of any network share that you may have manually created. And it's true that this may or may not be reachable from a target device depending on what set of credentials you use, your network environment, etc. If you're ever uncertain which path to use from a target device, you can always open a command prompt in WindowsPE (by clicking the link at the bottom of the SmartDeploy splash screen) and try mapping a network drive to the share manually:

net use * \\computername\SmartDeploy

net use * \\computername\c$\SmartDeploy

Once you've confirmed which path and credentials work most reliably from the target device, you can update your answer file to make sure that this is reflected, then recreate your media using the updated answer file, and you should be all set. 

Thanks again, and please feel free to reach out to support if we can assist you with anything. 

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Hi Lee, 

Unfortunately, Justin is correct - we no longer recommend upgrading your reference VM from one major Windows 10 version (e.g. 1803) to a later Windows 10 version (e.g. 1809). The in-place upgrade process from Microsoft (which includes a Sysprep run, and retaining an entire previous set of Windows.old files on the VM, adding several GB to the image size) leaves the VM in a less reliable state for capture, Sysprep, and deployment. Our best recommendation if you wish to deploy a new major Windows 10 version is to build a new, blank VM and install that Windows version using OS media from Microsoft that includes that version. Then run all available Windows Updates (for that version only - no major version upgrades), gracefully shutdown the VM (shutdown /s /t 0), capture, and deploy. Once you've confirmed the VM has produced a good image, back up a copy of the VM in its known-good state, and then you can begin installing software and configuring as needed. This way, you'll always have a good copy of the VM to fall back on if any software installation or configuration change results in an unusable image.

In order to deploy a Windows 10 Version 1809 image, you will need to have SmartDeploy version 2.0.3025 or later installed, and be sure to recreate your SmartDeploy media after installing the new version. 

Please feel free to reach out to support if you have any questions or issues - you can reach us at support@smartdeploy.com.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support