Prestaged media support is an operating system deployment feature in Configuration Manager 2007 R3 for an administrator to prestage bootable media and an operating system image to a hard disk prior to the provisioning process. This can reduce network traffic and reduce the time for the provisioning process. Prestaged media can be deployed as part of the manufacturing process or at an enterprise staging center that is not connected to the Configuration Manager environment.
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| The information in this topic applies only to Configuration Manager 2007 R3. |
Prestaged Media Provisioning
Create prestaged media to use as part of your operating system deployment strategy. The computer provisioned with prestaged media can be started by using the boot image. The computer can then run an existing operating system deployment task sequence to install a complete operating system deployment.
The Task Sequence Media - Prestaged Media wizard creates a package containing bootable media and a Windows installation image (.wim) file that can be prestaged on the hard drive of a computer. This media is suitable for use in environments where you want to deploy content to a computer, but do not want to or cannot have the computer fully provisioned. For example, a computer can be provisioned as part of the manufacturing process or at an enterprise staging center. Later, when the computer first starts, it starts into the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE). The computer then connects to the site management point to check for available task sequences.
When creating prestaged media, ensure the boot image you are using has network and mass storage drivers required for the system to complete the deployment process.