Total newb using a demo. How to create bootable thumb drive when console is installed to VM and can't see thumb drive?

[Brady]

I'm absolutely new to imaging and I'm having to find a workaround for this issue.

I have the console running on a VM in Hyper-V so I'm unable to 'pass-through' the thumb drive to the console machine. I need to create bootable media because I don't intend to spin up a new machine, install the deployment agent, and THEN push the deployment. I need to image a machine from boot. 
What's the best option (and steps) to creating a deployment package WIM and then creating a bootable thumb drive that's going to be able to utilize that WIM?
I'm hoping I can get a faster response on here than I am by emailing support because I'm stuck here and burning time on my demo license.  
thanks very much

[Aaron@Shared]

Brady, I wish I had an answer for you but you cannot. However, you can install SmartDeploy to another workstation, create your image and then write it to USB. That is what I do if I need to boot from USB.

[Brady]

That's true. I had the original instance installed on my work laptop, but in an effort to centralize the solution so multiple technicians in multiple locations could deploy images, our Rep suggested we spin the main console up on the server.

W/out having any experience with imaging solutions, it's difficult to come up with 'outside the box' thoughts because I don't have any foundation to even theorize from, but I thank you for the prompt response, Aaron

 

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hi all,

Aaron is correct - USB passthrough to a VM is tricky and often difficult to make work as a practical matter. Easiest to just install another SmartDeploy console instance onto a physical computer. SmartDeploy is licensed per deployed VM, so if you do decide to purchase the software, you are free to install the console on as many computers as needed. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to support@smartdeploy.com.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

[KB9GXK]

I use VirtualHere to manage this.  In my case, the system running SmartDeploy is across the building, but I use the USB ports of my local desktop.  Should work between VM and Real computers also.  It is free for 1 USB Port connection.

[Brady]

Thanks very much for the tip!! I'll definitely look into this as a possible solution.
Is it possible for multiple end points to be able to do this to a single server?
I'll lay out our scenario and maybe there's another way I'm just not seeing..

 

3 technicians in different states will be deploying machines, but we want to keep a centralized repository of images and answer files so when changes are made, we only have to do it in one location.   I don't know if there's other facets to this that I need to plan for, but we really are totally new to imaging.

[KB9GXK]

@Brady I believe you can if you run the server component on each technician PC.  I would recommend purchasing the server for each technician if you don't want a pop-up on the server to keep showing.  It's $49/server PC

[Brad H]

On 2/9/2021 at 10:33 AM, SmartDeploySupport said:

Hi all,

Aaron is correct - USB passthrough to a VM is tricky and often difficult to make work as a practical matter. Easiest to just install another SmartDeploy console instance onto a physical computer. SmartDeploy is licensed per deployed VM, so if you do decide to purchase the software, you are free to install the console on as many computers as needed. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to support@smartdeploy.com.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

Has there been any discussion over there to allow creation of an ISO (or whatever) that a technician can then just create a bootable SmartDeploy USB at their own desk? For centralized solutions with SmartDeploy, having to make a bootable thumb drive at the server itself (4 blocks away for me) isn't really practical.  

[SmartDeploySupport]

Hi Brad,

Good question! I can tell you, our current recommendation is to install the SmartDeploy console onto another computer if that makes it easier to create USB media. So you don't need to walk to a server in another office, as long as you have another computer at your office where you can install the console.

From a licensing standpoint, this is fine, as SmartDeploy is licensed per deployed endpoint, and there is no restriction on installing the console on multiple hosts as needed. Creating some sort of light, Media-Wizard-only version of the console has been suggested before, but as a practical matter, this wouldn't take up much less space than installing the full console, because they still need to include the ADK tools and uncustomized WindowsPE boot images, which take up a few GB of space.

All of that said, we do welcome all feature requests, and our engineers do read all of them - if this is a feature you would find useful, please send an email to feedback@smartdeploy.com explaining what you'd like to see in this feature, if it should be included in a future version.

Glenn
SmartDeploy Support

[WM-Martin]

I would agree with the sentiments above. Thanks for the suggestion about VirtualHere, it worked well.

I think that it would be nice to have the ability to create a single bootable ISO.

[Robert Shank]

 

On 3/16/2021 at 9:33 PM, WM-Martin said:

I would agree with the sentiments above. Thanks for the suggestion about VirtualHere, it worked well.

I think that it would be nice to have the ability to create a single bootable ISO.

I have the same issue but have resolved it easily.

In Create Media, I select "Boot Media" and then under Media Type I select "DVD/ISO".  This creates an ISO file that I copy to my local machine and create a bootable USB stick using rufus (a free usb stick utility).  The resulting usb stick works fine.  I have also had success using rufus to create usb installers with multiple Answer Files.

The potential downside is creating Offline Deployment Media.  These can be quite large depending, in part, on the number of Platform Packs included and will therefore take some time to download.  Online media for Window 10 Pro is under a gig but I have seen Offline Media put as much as 13 gig on the stick.