It is very important to use a brand name USB drive, like Sandisk, Samsung, PNY, etc... Using a free or generic USB stick has been proven to cause many different issues. The speed of both the Media Wizard and the deployment is highly reliant on the read/write speed of the USB drive, so it's best to use one with a stated read/write speed, like the SanDisk Extreme PRO USB or PNY PRO Elite.
- In the Activities workspace of the SmartDeploy Console, click Reimage Devices, and then click Create Media.
- On the Welcome to the Media Wizard page, click Next.
- Select Boot media or Offline deployment media, and then click Next.
Note: If you intend to access your image, Platform Packs, and Application Packs through the network as specified in your answer file, select Boot media. If you want to deploy to a device without network access, select Offline deployment media.
See: What is Boot or Deployment Media?
- If you are creating offline deployment media, click Browse to browse to and select your image (.wim) file, click Open, and then click Next.
Note: This image will be copied to the USB drive, and may be split into multiple .swm pieces automatically if it is larger than 4GB.
- Select the Platform Packs for any model and OS to which you plan to deploy, and then click Next.
Note: By default, all Platform Packs will be selected on this page. It's important to keep selected the Platform Pack for any model that you may deploy to. - On the Answer Files page, select all answer files that you wish to include.
Note: Support for multiple answer files is available in SmartDeploy v3.0.1030 or newer, for USB and ISO media types only
Note: If you include multiple answer files, they will be stored in a \SmartDeploy folder within the media. If you are overwriting existing SmartDeploy USB media and using a single answer file, any SmartDeploy directory that exists on the USB media will be deleted along with all files in that directory.
Note: If you are creating offline deployment media, you will be asked whether you wish to update the answer file so that it uses the selected image (on the USB stick itself). Click Yes and the answer file will be updated automatically to point to the image that you selected in Step 4.
If you are creating offline deployment media and you select multiple answer files, then you will be asked if you would like to utilize the images that are associated with all specified answer files. If you click Yes, then each of the answer files will be edited and each selected image will be split as needed and added to your offline deployment media.
If you click No, and the answer file(s) will remain unchanged, and may still point to an image located on a UNC path on your network. - On the Optional Components page, you may set the following options:
Click Browse to select a folder of that contains the files that you want copied to your USB drive. The files that you select will appear in the z folder on the USB drive.
In the Optional SmartPE Password text box, specify a password to which must be entered upon booting into SmartPE in order for deployment to proceed.
- Click Next.
- If you are creating offline deployment media, select any Application Packs that you've downloaded or created, click the right arrow to include them in the deployment, place them in your desired order, click Next, and then click Yes to confirm. Note: See Application Packs for more detail.
- Select USB, and then use the drop-down menu to select the USB device that you want to use.
Note: SmartDeploy will only format the USB stick if you're changing the existing file system - i.e. switching from NTFS to FAT32, or vice versa. If you are not changing file systems, then the new files will simply be copied over to the USB device as as long as there is sufficient free space. If you are creating Offline deployment media, you can run the wizard multiple times on the same USB stick to add additional images.
- Under Configuration, use the drop-down menu to select the architecture and format that you want to configure the media with, and then click Next.
Note: The recommended configuration is SmartPE (64-bit) [UEFI/Legacy boot, FAT32 media]. - Click Finish to complete the Media Wizard and create the boot media.
- After the Media Wizard finishes, you will be asked if you wish to create additional USB media - you may insert a new USB drive and click Yes to create additional media, or click No and then OK to close the Media Wizard.
Next: Start a USB Deployment
