This article is about a feature of the SmartDeploy desktop console.
The look and feel of this feature has changed a bit with the introduction of the SmartDeploy web console, but it should work just the same as described below, no matter which console you launch it from.
We appreciate your patience as we catch up with our documentation.
Note: This article covers the Build Wizard, which creates and imports a bare-metal virtual machine (VM). (ESX and Hyper-V VMs must be manually created without SmartDeploy.)
The recommended approach is to always create your reference machine as a virtual machine using your chosen hypervisor, rather than using a physical machine or physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion. This ensures the captured image is hardware-independent and avoids issues related to hardware-specific drivers and configurations.
If you already have a VM or if you are familiar with the virtualization application that you're using and you want to create a VM by using the virtualization application console, you can skip this article. In either case, we recommend that you read the Best Practices to Create Your Reference Virtual Machines article before you continue.
Create a Reference Virtual Machine by Using the SmartDeploy Console
- In the Reference Machines of the SmartDeploy Web Console, click Actions, and then click Create.
- On the Welcome screen, click Next.
- Select your preferred virtualization software and the guest operating system that you plan to install, and then click Next.
- Assign a name to the new VM, chose a location to save it, and then click Next.
Note: The default location is C:\SmartDeploy\Reference Machines\.
While SmartDeploy automatically stores reference machines in this location for organizational purposes, you can store virtual machines anywhere on your local SmartDeploy host. It's not required to save your VM in that location. If disk space is a potential issue, you may save the VM to a different drive.
- Click Browse to select the Windows installation ISO file, or select the drive that contains the Windows installation disc, and then click Next.
- After the Build Wizard finishes, switch to your virtualization software.
- Connect to and start the VM, booting to the installation media to install Windows.
- Complete your OS and application configuration as required for your desired image.
In the below video we demo the process to create a reference VM with Oracle VirtualBox but VMware Workstation can be build as well from the Build Virtual Machine Wizard (Hyper-V VMs will have to be created manually):
Next: Capture an Image
