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I would triple-check that when you boot the winpe disk you are entering that command in correctly. Normally if it goes super fast for me it's because I had a typo. Next time if it goes fast it should just go to the next line and you can try entering it again.

So I think I figured this out, the computer is set to RAID - when I set it to AHCI, and ran WinPE it was able to find the disk. But wouldn't this cause onflict when deploying?

@@Texasdope11 I would think so since its a disk image and not a disk clone.

You would use the boot key when the PC is booting up and you would choose to boot from the USB.

@@paulmoesher can you not install the image like a regular exe? If not do I need to install from USB on all new computers?

@@MiguelHernandez-jb9ml For a clean install you should be booting from the usb

I feel like best practice would be to not capture the image with the software keys but in theory, if it is a machine-wide install the keys would still be there when you go to deploy if they were there when you captured.

@@paulmoesher Thanks! What is that the best practice? I’m curious.

@@luddman77 It is basically just a term to describe the agreed upon best way to do something in the IT community.

@@paulmoesher I’m sorry that was a typo. Why would it be considered the best practice to do it before you install the apps?

@@luddman77 It would be best practice to enter any license keys after installing the image and to not make it part of the image. I believe this to be the case due to some licensing keys not all working the same, some are per user some are per machine. You also do not want software licensed for users who don't need it and should only use the keys on a need-to basis. I like keeping the base image to the essentials and using other solutions to deploy the case-to-case stuff after the PC is joined.

Refer to the video description

I don't see why it would not. What is the exact error you are getting?

@@paulmoesher capture-image is unknown command. I ended using the windows 7 with imagex pe. I couldn't get the copy pe to work for windows 10 pe. I then used hirens boot CD and the command in your video worked on my main PC. But the computer I was trying to capture couldn't boot into hirens CD. That is why I went back to the windows 7 pe and the imagex command worked.

There is a log file inside of the sysprep folder that will tell you why it may be failing. Could be a pending update, an app that needs removed/updated, hard to say but the logs will point you in the right direction.

@@paulmoesher Yes I got to have a look to see why, ive been busy it just comes up with it can't system prep upgraded version of windows, even though it's not upgraded but the wim image without sysprep went fine without errors

What options do you see if you open Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment and run copype? It looks like there is a way to apply updates to the Windows PE add on. Could be worth a try? learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/winpe-create-usb-bootable-drive?view=windows-11

@@paulmoesher Hello Paul didn't see this back then Work got nuts. not sure what I did different/ wrong, but I started again from scratch and it worked perfectly! you're the man! thank you so much for your channel so helpful.

It should be a clean install.

No the versions of windows need to match.

If you have not already I would deploy the pxe wim to a PC and run all of the Windows updates, capture the wim at that point, then make a new bootable Windows flash drive and put it on there. Maybe there is an issue with your older pxe wim not matching up with the Windows version of the USB?

@@paulmoesherI ended up making a fresh bootable USB with Rufus...maybe I had chosen FAT32 instead of NTFS. It runs perfectly now - I'm on my 3rd copy. This is great, you have no idea the time this will save! Thank you.

In that case just then yes I would just import directly.

In that case no, but even then I don't really see any downside to generalizing.

@@paulmoesher the only problem is I am getting an error in the log file in the panther file pertaining to the generalize.xml file. Sysprep is a headache 😭

Rufus gives the option to skip/predetermine responses to the Windows user experience questions which saves a lot of time when imaging several units.

This should not really have any effect on bitlocker. That being said if you have Bitlocker enabled I would recommend having the key stored on a flash drive before reimaging the pc.

I am sorry but I am not sure. That is not something I have ever looked into.

@@paulmoesher Just tried Anyburn in it's freeware version, and it does just that. Thanks!

Yes

@@paulmoesher Thanks

Note: At mark 18:40 when dism capture image is used, the Windows partition is not always C:\. On my install, C:\ was the 500MB System reserved partition and Windows partition ended up being F:\. It's a good idea to check with diskpart what is the allocated drive letter. Cheers! By the way, many thanks for the excellent instructions.

At the 20:03 point of the video, it describes how to convert the install.win to install.esd

@@paulmoesherthanks for getting back to me. On my windows install disk there is not an .esd to overwrite. There is an install.wim however. So so I just not need to convert? Did windows change its install media?

Maybe I should try to clarify more. I am talking about the install media that is created from Microsoft. When I got into the sources folder there isn't an .esd file, there is a .wim. On your's there is a .esd file and you convert your ,wim to an .esd and overwrite it. My install disk only has a .wim so do I not convert it to a .esd and just use the .wim? Or is there something else going on here? This is a great video, just need clarification on this! Thanks!

@@user-qm3xz8oc9g If that is the case then you just need to deploy that original basic .wim on a PC. Customize it however you like for your image then capture the .wim and replace the original install.wim with your updated one. You can skip the conversion step.

The license is tied to the device hardware not the image

@@paulmoesher Thanks for the response. I must be doing something wrong... When I replace the .esd and boot from that USB and choose windows10 pro it downloads a fresh copy without any installed software/updates. No idea why or how. I know for a fact my esd replaced the original install.esd

Ignore my previous comment.. I must have been using another usb. It worked perfectly thank you. I am attemping to integrate a unattent.xml into the setup to skip OOBE using this method until I can set up WDS/MDT

@@navr1111111111111111 do you click on setup or install.esd to deploy the image?