Operating System Deployment (OSD)

The Operating System Deployment (OSD) feature enables IT admins to partition and reinstall the OS on endpoints during a break-fix or similar situations. For more information, refer to App Distribution Catalog.

The Operating System Deployment feature is only applicable for Windows deployments.

Prerequisite

Ensure the following requirements are noted and fulfilled before using the OSD feature:

  • Accept the EULA for the Microsoft Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit before you can create OSD packages. This only has to be done once per tenant.

  • Only supported for devices with x64 architecture and UEFI firmware. x86, ARM, and ARM64 are not supported. BIOS is not supported.

  • Devices must currently have the Neurons agent installed with the App Distribution capability.

  • The existing Windows partition should have at least 2 GB of free space (for vBoot).

  • Downloads in WinPE, excluding the images in the Deploy OS image file action, are limited to 450 MB.

  • Images in the Deploy OS image file action are limited to a combined total of 20 GB. There must be an existing partition with 20 GB of free space, and that is resizable/shrinkable.

  • Images may be stored in Ivanti Cloud Storage if desired. The single file size limit has been increased to 10 GB to accommodate this, but the total storage amount is still limited to 10 GB.

  • Only basic networking is supported in WinPE. The OSD package will fail if there is no network connection or if the network does not automatically connect (for example, WiFi, VPN, etc.).

  • Test OSD packages thoroughly on test devices before deploying them to production devices. They will execute immediately on targeted devices. The device may be left in an unusable or unmanaged state if something fails during the OSD process.

Adding OSD Package

To add a new OS deployment package, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Distribution > Catalog.
    The App Catalog page appears.
  2. Click Add, and then select OS Deployment (MS Windows only) from the drop-down list.
    The OSD package is created, and the Overview tab appears by default.
  3. (Optional) Enter package details, select a category, and upload an icon in the Overview tab.
  4. Navigate to the Package tab.
    This tab displays all actions that the package performs when deployed to endpoints. By default, the necessary actions for basic OS Deployment are preconfigured.
  5. To create an OSD package from scratch, use the following actions available under the OS Deployment section on the left-side pane:

    • Out of box experience: Use this action to reboot the device after OS deployment and install Neurons Agent.
      You can also customize your privacy settings under the ProtectYourPC setting.

    • Deploy OS image: Use this action to upload an OS image and deploy it to the endpoints.
      You can select an image, and supports .wim and .swm image files.

    • Partition hard drive: Use this action to erase, partition, and format drives.

    • Virtual boot: Use this action to boot the endpoint into Windows PE.

  6. Drag and drop an action from the left side pane to add required actions based on your requirements. Then, click an action to configure its parameters.
  7. Click Save.

Distributing the OSD Package

Adding distributions allows you to send the OSD package to targeted endpoints or groups based on your requirements. See best practices for more information.

To create distributions, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Distribution tab.
    This page displays a distribution list of endpoints or device groups for package distribution.
  2. Click Add distribution.
    A new distribution pane appears.
  3. On the Targets tab, you can add targeted endpoints or device groups for package deployment. Use the following options to add endpoints:

    • Add device: Use this option to search and add available devices in your organization. Select the checkbox next to a device to choose it, and click Add.

    • Add Neurons group: Use this option to search and add devices based on the available Neurons group in your organization. Select the checkbox next to a group to choose them, and click Add.

    • Add LDAP group: Use this option to search and add devices based on the available LDAP group in your organization's network. Select the checkbox next to a group to choose them, and click Add.

  4. Click Save.
  5. (Optional) Go to App configurations tab to set up Install options.
  6. (Optional) Go to the Deploy actions tab.
    This tab displays the package deployment options:

    • Run all: Use this option to deploy the OSD packages immediately to the targeted devices in the distribution list.

    • Run not compliant: Use this option to deploy the OSD packages immediately to the non compliant devices only.

    The Run action deploys the OSD package to the endpoints or device groups based on the configuration in the Package tab.

You can view the status of the OSD package from Deployment Status. Status information is updated only during device reboots or when the package installation completes (success or failure).

Best practices for deploying additional software

Refer to the following best practices when deploying additional software:

  • Use Bundles with the Run app action to deploy the required applications.

  • Alternatively, allow App Distribution to reinstall previously assigned packages during subsequent scheduled distribution runs.