Topic last updated—November 2007

You can pre-install the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 client software on a master image computer that will be used to build computers in your enterprise. To install the client on a master computer, you must not specify a site code to assign the client to. When computers are imaged from this master image, they will contain the Configuration Manager 2007 client, but this will not be assigned to any site code.

Important
The imaged computers will not be functional Configuration Manager 2007 clients until the Configuration Manager 2007 clients are assigned to a Configuration Manager 2007 site.

You must remove any computer-specific certificates that are installed on the master image computer. For example, if you are in native mode, you must remove the client authentication certificate before imaging the computer.

If clients cannot query Active Directory Domain Services to locate a management point, they use the trusted root key to determine trusted management points. If all imaged clients will be deployed in the same hierarchy as the master computer, leave the trusted root key in place. If the clients will be deployed in different hierarchies, you should remove the trusted root key; however, you should consider a process to pre-provision the newly imaged computers with the trusted root key for their site hierarchies. For more information, see About the Trusted Root Key.

Use the following procedure to install the Configuration Manager 2007 client on your master computer and to prepare it for imaging.

To prepare the client computer for imaging

  1. Manually install the Configuration Manager 2007 client software on the master image computer. For more information, see How to Install Configuration Manager Clients Manually.

    Important
    Do not specify a Configuration Manager 2007 site code for the client in the CCMSetup.exe command-line properties.

  2. Type net stop ccmexec from a command prompt to ensure that the SMS Agent Host service (Ccmexec.exe) is not running on the master image computer.

  3. Remove any certificates stored in the local computer store on the master image computer. Additionally, remove any native-mode client certificates if applicable. For more information, refer to your public key infrastructure (PKI) documentation.

  4. If the clients will be installed in different Configuration Manager 2007 hierarchies than the master image computer, remove the Trusted Root Key from the master image computer. For more information, see How to Remove the Trusted Root Key.

  5. Use your imaging software to capture the image of the master computer.

  6. Deploy the image to destination computers.

See Also