Workstation/Laptop Imaging

This page will be a guide to imaging Workstations and Laptops using the current CloneZilla method.

Basics

Imaging is the process of creating a copy of a computers hard drive, all information, partitions etc, and turning that into a file. That file can be applied to any machine with the same hardware.

I mainly deal with CloneZilla images.

Current Images

The current CloneZilla images:

• w7u1204-t430s-f14-v2- (Lenovo T430s laptop)
  • See: https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/twiki/view/CF/ImagesByMotherboard#Lenovo_T430s
• w7u1204-t440s-f14-v3- (Lenovo T440s laptop)
  • See: https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/twiki/view/CF/ImagesByMotherboard#Lenovo_T440s
• w7u1204-sabertooth-f14-v4 (AMD FX-8320, Sabertooth 990FX, Nvidia GTX 750Ti, 2tb Drive)

Procedure

The procedure for imaging one of the above machines with CloneZilla is as follows:

Equipment

You will need the following devices:

• USB stick equipped with YUMI and CloneZilla

• White 1TB External Hard Drive, USB 3.0, Labelled Workstation and Laptop Images

Instructions

Loading an Image

• Plug the USB stick into any USB port on the back of the device, and plug the 1TB imaging drive into a USB 3.0 port, if possible.

• Boot up the machine to either the Boot Menu or the BIOS

• • From here select to boot to the USB drive not the 1TB drive

• The machine will boot to the USB, which has YUMI installed, a bootloader.
  • Proceed to the menu of System Tools, then run CloneZilla
• Press Enter at the menu which pops up
  • This will start CloneZilla with default settings
• Select your language
• Press Enter, we don't need to touch the keymap
• Press Enter, Start_CloneZilla
• Press Enter, device-image
• Press Enter, local_dev, we are using the external drive for imaging
• Read the Yellow text, press Enter when done

The next screen allows us to select a device that we will read the image from

• Select sd.. 931.5G_vfat_0x41:_Dirty_(In_Silicon-Power)....
  • This is where the image will be read from
• Select your image directory (i.e clonezilla_t430s-f14)
• Press Enter, we want Beginner mode
• Select restoredisk
• Select the ...-v..- image, as this is the production version
• Select the hard drive that will be imaged
• Read all Yellow text before selecting y - Enter

The machine will now begin imaging.

When the imaging process is done, the console will ask you what to do next. Select reboot. Unplug the USB and 1TB drive and reboot to the Windows OS.

Creating an Image(new)

This is a new responsibility and my supervisor and I are currently working out the details involved with it.

Post Imaging Procedures

Equipment required:

• You will need an ethernet connection on VLAN 420

Windows 7

• When the imaging process is done and you have rebooted to Windows, it will begin the first time setup.
• Create an account with name delete
• PC name - this will be the hostname of the machine (ie scspc588)
• Accept the license agreement and defaults for updates

Upon restart, login to Windows with the delete account you made.

• Press the start button, and in the search bar type Activate Windows
• Run that, Internet activation
• After that, press the start button, and open Word 2015/2014 or whatever is installed
  • A prompt will come up to automatically update
  • After that there will be a prompt to activate Office, do that, internet activation
• Now run Windows update
• Complete the updates, restart as necessary
• Also update the basic programs
  • Java, Firefox, Thunderbird, Reader
• The Windows side is now ready to go

Ubuntu

• Boot into Ubuntu, and log into the cscf-op account
• Open a terminal window
• Apply the following commands:
  • sudo bash
  • cd /home/cscf-adm/Desktop/ubuntu-scripts
  • chmod +x fixhost
  • ./fixhost scspcxxx (replace xxx with the correct hostname, i.e 586)
    • use the Tab-Space combination of keys to accept ALL defaults of the script
  • apt-get update
  • apt-get dist-upgrade -y
• When the last command is done:
  • reboot
• This will reboot the machine, select Ubuntu
• When Ubuntu has loaded, double check that in the Top Left corner the hostname is what it should be
• The Ubuntu side is now ready to go

Deployment

A few things need to be done before deploying a machine, or in order to get it ready to be deployed later

• Apply an image sticker to the right side of the Workstation, under the hardware label, stating the image used
• Place a small, orange square sticker on the top right of the front bezel, indicating the machine is good to go
• Update inventory for that machines barcode with the hostname and ip address used
• Label the wrong of the workstation, under the power button, centered, with the hostname, double space, ip address
  • scspcxxx.cs 129.97.xxx.xx
  • use 9mm Brother label tape
• All of the above items can be acquired from Phil Beldowski, DC 2560D, pbeldows@uwaterloo.ca

-- JohnGilbert - 2015-02-27