Offline 'Target Mode' imaging with Casper Imaging 8.51

[jrtilson]

Hello,

We've just upgraded to the Casper Suite 8.51 and I have a question about the new 'Target Mode' imaging.

Is it possible to use Casper Imaging 'offline' to do target mode imaging? Ie, you have the images/packages locally, but no network connection? I fired up Casper Imaging to test this out and was prompted to enter the JSS address and my username/password. We've frequently found ourselves in situations where we need to image computers locally, but without internet access.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Matt]

I think this just makes it easier for people using Target mode. The best way around this would be to compile the image and use Carbon Copy Cloner to do the imaging. Might want to keep the image on an external somewhere.

[jrtilson]

Thanks for the reply,

We typically build an 'offline imaging' usb drive, and that solution has suited our purposes so far, so we'll probably just stick with that.

[lance_ogletree · Accepted solution]

Jeff,
take a look at page 40 of the Admin Guide. You can replicate your packages to an external drive. Place Casper Imaging at the root of that external drive and when launched, it will pull from the local package store. Provided that the external drive has a bootable OS, you should be able to create a contained imaging environment.

[jrtilson]

That's exactly what we've done in the past :) I guess I was hoping that target mode imaging could replace that process, but it seems that's still the way to go.

[nkalister]

you CAN combine the new target mode with the old-school offline method. Start up imaging, choose Target Mode Imaging for the target drive drop down. Then, click on the Use Distribution Point drop down menu and select the "Choose Local Drive" option. You can point that at your existing offline share, or you can just copy your casper share to a folder on your machine and point at that, too.
I've found one bug with this so far- the jamfhelper command that's supposed to put up the curtain screen isn't written to the firstboot script correctly, so while the firstboot script is executing you'll just be sitting at the desktop. Not a big deal, the script actually executes correctly and reboots the machine when it's done. If losing the curtain screen really is a problem for you, make a package to run at first boot that runs the jamfhelper command correctly.