Deploying a .wim created from a non CloneDeploy source

  • Hi All.

    I have some clients that have sent me their own WIM files that they wish to be deployed.

    So if I have someone provide me a WIM file that was created from, lets say, windows deployment toolkit.

    What are the best steps to get the WIM file pushed by using CloneDeploy?


  • Hi,

    I don't know if this is your best option, but I would deploy the WIM on similar hardware (Legacy/EFI) as to be expected, sysprep the install and pull an image with CloneDeploy.
    This way you "transform" your install image (WIM) to a disk image.

    If you get a WIM from your client, I would expect the network to have SCCM or maybe just WDS currently in use.
    Why the move from automated install to disk imaging?


  • I work as an MSP and we image everything using the WIM images already.

    Everything is deployed using the WINPE abilities of CloneDeploy. This works flawlessly for my requirements and maintains ease of use as I deploy a single image to essentially any hardware. PE and post boot scripts handle everything.

    My question comes down to the differences in deploying of WIM files. Currently CloneDeploy in WinPE grabs a schema for hard drive partitions and captures a WIM per partition.

    If a client captures a WIM image using another method then all that is captured is a single file. Without schema etc. This is just differences in the capture methodology.

    The question then becomes, is how to get CloneDeploy PE to just deploy the single WIM without the expected drives / schema. I presume I can fake the schema and partition files, but I would rather not need to unless absolutely required. I can also check the code or modify the deployment scripts to try and account for this, I just don't currently have the time so I was hoping someone had the answer available.


  • I've never used WinPE boot images with clonedeploy because of filesystem limitations, so I'm most likely the wrong person to answer.


  • CloneDeploy really wasn't designed to handle this scenario. In my opinion, the easiest option would be to apply their wim image to the machine using dism, then capture it back with CloneDeploy. You could boot to the clonedeploy winpe press ctrl+c to break out the the cmd. Then mount an smb share with the wim and apply it with dism. Otherwise like you said, you could probably hack something together with a fake schema etc.