Deploy Anywhere Basics

I have seen some posts about the new Deploy Anywhere, some about how to use, some about maintenance. This article will describe how to use it, how to troubleshoot and maintain it.

How to use Deploy AnyWhere in a Deployment Job

Install WINPE as a Automation Pre-Boot OS and create a Deployment using WINPE as the Automation Pre-Boot OS.

Modify the Deployment Job to reflect these settings:

• Place a check mark in the "use sysprep" section and select advanced; choose your sysprep file.
• Choose the correct operating system and license key, if your choose is not in the list, select new and add the information needed.
• Place a check mark in the "use Deploy AnyWhere" section.

How to add a new driver to the Deploy Anywhere driver library.

This section describes the steps to be taken when you want to add a new driver to the Deploy AnyWhere driver library.

Open the Deploy AnyWhere driver Database Management. Select the Tab for the type of driver you want to add (NIC or MSD) and select Add new driver.

Browse to the location where the driver is stored, give it a name and select the supported OS.

Sometimes Deploy Anywhere will NOT add the selected OS support in the driver database, you can however manually add the information for the supported OS in the "driver.manifest.txt" file which is located in the "driverdb" folder on the Express share.

Find the folder in the "driverdb" folder which reflects your driver (the name you gave it when you added it. Open the "driver.manifest.txt" and the OS support which is missing. See below for an example.

"driver.manifest.txt"
{
  "Dell Wireless 1397" = {
    class = network,
    drivers = ({
      path = "Dell Wireless 1397\\oem10.inf",
      devices = {
        0x14e4 = {
          0x4311 = (0x81028 0x71028 0x81028 0x71028),
          0x4312 = (0x81028 0x71028 0x81028 0x71028),
          0x4315 = (0xc1028 0xb1028 0xc1028 0xb1028),
          0x4318 = (0x61028 0x51028 0x61028 0x51028),
          0x4319 = (0x61028 0x51028 0x61028 0x51028),
          0x4320 = (0x41028 0x31028 0x21028 0x11028 0x41028 0x31028 0x21028 0x11028),
          0x4324 = (0x41028 0x31028 0x21028 0x11028 0x41028 0x31028 0x21028 0x11028),
          0x4328 = (0xa1028 0x91028 0xa1028 0x91028),
          0x432b = (0xd1028 0xd1028)
        }
      },
       os = ("X64_XP" "X64_2003" "X64_VISTA" "X64_2008" "XP")
    }),
    internal = 0,
    selected = 0
  }
}

The bold marked line is where you manually add the supported OS.

NOTE: Keep in mind that for Deploy Anywhere to work, also the NIC drivers for the new hardware have to be in the driver's database.

How to test if a hardware model is supported.

You can test if a specific hardware model is supported by the Deploy AnyWhere process by executing the script below in a WINPE boot environment.

 
Copy .\Ghost\SmeUtil.sys %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers
.\Ghost\ghdplyAw32.exe /target=c:\Windows /ddb=\DriversDB /eval

Create a job which executes this script and assign to the system you want to test.

After the script is executed and the system is missing drivers, the results are saved in the "ghDplyAw32.txt" file which can be found in the "Ghost" folder at the Express share.

See below for an example.

 
"ghDplyAw32.txt"
A cancel has been requested.
Missing drivers detected:
Device type : Network Device
PCI ID    : PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4315&SUBSYS_000C1028&REV_01
Description : Device Description Unavailable

Rob Hilberding
Sr. Consultant
Expressability
wwww.expressability.com