Future options for Windows imaging via Casper?

Not applicable

I'm surprised to see that WinClone was discontinued. I thought Jamf had
some agreement with the developer that would keep this product around for
a while. Since Casper Imaging supports winclone image files, it really
eased the process. I've used WDS built into Windows Server to do this as
well, but since Macs don't support PXE it requires booting from CD.

Any ideas what the future will be as far as Casper Imaging supporting a
method of imaging Windows onto Macs?

Chad

6 REPLIES 6

Not applicable

+1

Nick Caro Senior Desktop Support Administrator

jarednichols
Honored Contributor

It seems to me like you'd be shoe-horning to get Windows imaging with Casper when there are already a bevy of tools for imaging Windows - physically or in VMs. If your Windows environment is large enough, you're likely going to be using Windows-specific tools to do it, while keeping VMs in mind.

You wouldn't want your Windows solution imaging your Macs would you? I wouldn't ask the same of a Mac-centric product like Casper. Distributing a baked image is one thing, creating a deployment is a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Right now, our standard XP build is distributed via a fully "baked" VM to our Mac users. Since we've gone with a different imaging method for Windows 7 (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) that allows for a lot of customization of the deployment, we're ensuring that we can do self service VM deployment straight into a VM. I have yet to set it up, but the self service deployment will basically be an empty vmware vm set to boot from the MDT server and run through the installation. Because self service rules, we can distribute a how-to PDF or instruct the user to call in to our help desk for guidance.

j

Not applicable

VM's don't work well for everything. We have labs that require Windows
running natively for performance.

I think you missed the point - I'm talking about the best way to get
Windows onto Mac hardware. Imaging Windows on generic PC hardware is a
no-brainer with WDS, Ghost and a variety of other tools. WDS works fine
if you are content with booting from CD to start a session. Using Casper
Imaging was nice because you can tie it into netbooting.

jarednichols
Honored Contributor

Ok, so you're talking straight on the iron then. I guess that was my hangup.

lance_ogletree
Contributor
Contributor

While we don't have anything to share right now, it is something that is being discussed internally.
I would just recommend to continue operating as normal using the Winclone application until we have something to announce.

-Lance

tlarkin
Honored Contributor

What does deploy studio use to PXE boot windows clients and image them? DS, can apparently image them from an xserve running OS X, and can image a Mac from a non Mac server in the same manner. I have not really played with it though because I have Casper.

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