Creating Windows OS Image

Before you begin

Make sure the pre-requisites are in place before setting up the OS image configuration. See Prerequisites for OS Image Configuration for more details.

About this task

This task describes how to create a Windows OS image configuration in SOTI MobiControl.

Note: When creating an OS image, a compatibility check is run to verify the agent version. If the agent on the device is earlier than version 2025.1, this action will not be compatible with that device.
Note: You can only create a Windows OS image for one device at a time.

To do this:

Procedure

  1. Navigate to main menu > Devices.
  2. Select your Windows Modern device and choose Create OS Image from the list of available device actions. The Create Windows OS Image window appears.
  3. Enter the name and description for the OS image.
  4. Choose one of the following options from the Bootable Media Type dropdown menu:
  5. Configure the following required network details.
    Network Path Enter a valid network path accessible by all the client and server machines.
    Username Enter a valid username to authenticate with the shared network.
    Password Enter the password associated with the given username to access the shared network.
    Check Connection Select Connect to check the connection to the network path. Only after successful authentication can you proceed with the OS image creation process.
  6. Select your Windows Modern enrollment policy from the list.
    Note: The device that you are creating an OS image of unenrolls from SOTI MobiControl during the OS image creation process. This enrollment policy will bring the device back into SOTI MobiControl.
  7. Choose a compression type from the list:
    • None: No image compression
    • Fast: OS image compression is quicker
    • Max: Compress the OS image to maximum, but this could cause some file loss
  8. For Internal Disk, enter a valid bootable media path that has WinPE image and the .sdi file.
  9. Select Create to create the OS image configuration.

Results

Once the OS image creation process starts, an intermediate modal opens with details of the creation process. Selecting the "OK" button docks the modal to the right. The modal expands when in use, providing details of all the image creation and deployment processes running in an image summary modal, which updates every five seconds. To clear the completed or failed image creation process, select the "Clear" button.
Note: For optimum performance, do not leave processes in the modal for an extended period.

What to do next

Deploy the configured Windows OS image. See Deploying Windows OS Image for instructions.

Using PXE Server Configuration

Procedure

  1. Configure a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) server to load Windows PE. See Configuring PXE server for more details.
  2. Set up Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server on the PXE server.
  3. Set up a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. See Quickstart: Install and configure DHCP Server and Configuring DHCP Server for more details.
    Tip: Reserve IP of the PXE machine when setting up DHCP server to avoid change of IP dynamically.
  4. Create a WinPE image. See Creating WinPE Image for more details.
    Note: The WinPE image should have specific drivers for each OEM along with unattend.xml file.
  5. Set up a shared network drive and configure its credentials to enable access and connection for image creation and deployment.

Using Internal Disk Configuration

Procedure

  1. Create a WinPE image. See Creating WinPE Image for more details.
    Note: The WinPE image should have specific drivers for each OEM along with unattend.xml and boot.sdi files.
  2. Set up a shared network drive and configure its credentials to enable access and connection for image creation and deployment.
  3. For Bootable Media Path, provide the path for your WinPE image and the .sdi file.