You use the evaluation asset inventory to manage computers and images that you want to assess. You can add computers to the inventory by using a bootable Windows® Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) USB flash drive or by using scripts on computers that have an installed operating system. After you add all computers and images to the asset inventory, you can manage the inventory by removing computers, or by adding and removing images.

In this topic:

Adding Test Computers to Your Inventory

You can add bare metal computers (computers that don't have a running operating system) and computers that have a running operating system to Windows Assessment Services inventory. You can then use the assessment tools to assess these computers. When the test computer doesn't have a running operating system, use the USB flash drive to boot and inventory the computer. When the test computer has a running operating system, use the Windows Assessment Services script to add it to the inventory.

Warning
You shouldn't include a test computer in multiple Windows Assessment Services server inventories at the same time. When a test computer appears in multiple Windows Assessment Services server inventories, it causes a race condition between the Windows Deployment Services instances on each server. If you must move a test computer from one inventory to another, in the Windows® Assessment Services - Client (Windows ASC), delete the computer asset from the first Windows Assessment Services inventory, and then add it to the inventory on the new Windows Assessment Services server.

To add bare metal computers to the inventory

  1. Insert the USB flash drive into the test computer.

  2. Turn on the computer, and then press the key that opens the boot-device selection menu for the computer, like Esc.

  3. Select the USB flash drive as the boot device.

    When the computer reboots, provide the following information:

    • Computer name. The computer name must contain only alphanumeric characters and dashes. If the computer name contains an underscore or other extended characters, the computer may not be discoverable via Domain Name System (DNS). The computer name must be 15 characters or less.

    • Computer location. The computer location must be 78 characters or less.

    • Whether you want to perform Driver Scavenge. This copies drivers that are found on the computer to the Windows Assessment Services driver store.

  4. Remove the USB flash drive from the test computer. The computer will reboot.

    Note
    If you deploy images by using Windows Assessment Services, we recommend setting the boot order in BIOS so that Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is first in the boot order. This way, you don't have to manually press the boot-order keyboard shortcut and select network boot before a job starts.

  5. Open the Windows ASC from the Start menu. On the Getting Started page, verify that the correct number of computers have been added to your server inventory.

To add running computers to the inventory

  1. On a running test computer, log on to the Windows Assessment Services server. For example, at a command prompt, type:

      Copy Code 
    Net use \\<servername>\relax /u:localadmin Pass.word
    Note
    This account and password are set up during the Windows Assessment Services installation and initialization. This isn't an administrator account.

  2. On the test computer, delete the C:\relax folder, if it exists.

  3. At an elevated command prompt, run CompleteDeployment.cmd. The full path of the command is \\<servername>\relax\scripts\TestMachine\ CompleteDeployment.cmd.

    A description of what the script does appears in the Command Prompt window.

  4. Press Enter to continue. The computer will reboot when it is added to the inventory.

    Warning
    If the computer name contains an underscore, it might not be reachable through DNS, in compliance with RFC requirements. In that case, the computer won't be added to the inventory. Out-of-box experience (OOBE) allows computer names with an underscore, but Windows Assessment Services inventory doesn't.

  5. Open the Windows ASC from the Start menu. On the Getting Started page, verify that the correct number of computers have been added to your server inventory.

Adding Drivers to the Driver Store

When you add running computers to your inventory, the out-of-box drivers from the computer are collected and stored on the Windows Assessment Services server at %systemdrive%\relax\drivers\%computername%. This happens only when you're inventorying a computer that has a running operating system. It doesn't happen on bare metal computers that you add to the inventory by using the USB Windows PE drive. In the following procedure, you add those drivers to the Windows Deployment Services driver store so that they're available for driver injection during image deployment.

Warning
The following steps apply only to Windows Server® 2012. If you're using Windows Server 2008 R2, you must inject the drivers into the image before deployment, because Dynamic Driver Provisioning in Windows Deployment Services isn't supported on Windows Server 2008 R2.

To import drivers into the driver store

  1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Deployment Services.

  2. Expand the Servers node, and then expand your server name.

  3. Right-click Drivers, and then click Add Driver Package.

  4. In the Add Driver Package wizard, click Select all driver packages from a folder, and then click Browse.

  5. Browse to the C:\relax\drivers folder, and then click OK.

  6. In the Add Driver Package wizard, click Next.

  7. On the Available Driver Packages page, click Next.

  8. On the Summary page, click Next.

  9. When the drivers are copied to the driver store, click Next.

  10. On the Driver Groups page, click Select an existing driver group, verify that DriverGroup1 is selected, and then click Next.

  11. Click Finish.

Adding Images and Unattended Answer Files

You must copy the Windows imaging (.wim) files to the image share before you import them to the inventory database and use them for deployment.

To add images to the image share and inventory

  1. On the Windows Assessment Services server, copy your .wim files to C:\relax\images.

    Note
    The image path cannot contain spaces.

  2. These images are in the Windows Assessment Services server image share, but they haven't been imported into the inventory database. To import the images into the inventory database, use one of these methods:

    • On the Getting Started page, click Import images, select the images, click Import, and then click OK.

    • In the Windows ASC, on the Server menu, click Manager inventory, click the Images tab, and then click Add.

To add answer files to a share

  • A default Unattend.xml answer file for each supported architecture is provided at %systemdrive%\relax\scripts\templates. You can use the default answer file, or you can copy the template Unattend.xml and modify it in Windows System Image Manager. For more information about how to modify an answer file, see the Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) Technical Reference.

  • Copy Unattend.xml answer files to %systemdrive%\relax\unattendfiles. If you provide separate unattended answer files for specific images, give each new answer file a unique name before you copy it to %systemdrive%\relax\unattendfiles.

  • When you add images to a project in the Windows ASC, specify the path of the answer file that you want to use with that image. The next section, Managing Inventory, provides more information about how to specify an answer file to use during deployment.

    Important
    When deploying an image to an OEM Activation 3.0 (OA 3.0) system, use a custom unattend.xml answer file with a product key that is associated with the image.

Managing Inventory

You can remove computers, add and remove images, associate unattended answer files with images, or just review information about the assets that your inventory includes.

To review your asset inventory

  1. On the Server menu, click Manage inventory.

  2. On the Computer tab, right-click the column headings to add or remove optional columns. The following information is available.

    Computer data Description

    Date added

    The date when the computer was added to the inventory.

    Computer name

    The name of the computer.

    Location

    The location of the computer, if you entered it when you added the computer to the inventory.

    Form factor

    The type of the computer, such as laptop or desktop.

    Model

    The model of the computer.

    Vendor

    The computer vendor.

    Architecture

    The architecture of the CPU, like x86, x64, and ARM.

    Keywords

    The keywords that are associated with the computer.

    Powerstrip info

    Power-strip command information.

    Computer status

    The current status of the computer. Possible values include:

    • Ready.

    • A message that indicates the status.

    Devices

    A link to view the devices on the computer.

  3. On the Image tab, right-click the column headings to add or remove optional columns. The following information is available.

    Image data Description

    Image name

    The name of the image.

    Date added

    The date when the image was added to the inventory.

    Type

    The image format, like .wim.

    Double-click this field to change the image type.

    Architecture

    The architecture of the image, like x86, x64, and ARM.

    Double-click this field to change the architecture.

    Language

    The language of the image, like en-US.

    Double-click this field to change the language tag.

    Windows version

    The version of the Windows operating system that applies to the image.

    Double-click this field to change the Windows version.

    Publisher

    The publisher of the image.

    Double-click this field to add publisher information.

    Keywords

    Keywords for the image.

    Double-click this field to add keywords.

    Image info

    The .wim index number that the image is using.

    This field can be edited. By changing the index number, you use a different image in the .wim file.

    Image path

    The path of the .wim file.

    Unattend path

    The path of the unattended answer file that the image should use during deployment. By default, this field is blank. To override the default, double-click the field to add a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path of an unattended answer file.

    Computer name

    The name of the computer that the image is associated with. This can be one of the images in the inventory or all of the computers in the inventory.

To remove computers from the inventory

  1. On the Server menu, click Manage inventory.

  2. In the Asset Inventory window, on the Computer tab, use the filter text box add filter criteria so that you can find the computer that you're looking for.

  3. Select the check box for the computer that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

To remove images from the inventory

  1. On the Server menu, click Manage inventory.

  2. In the Asset Inventory window, click the Images tab, and then use the filter text box to add filter criteria so that you can find the image that you're looking for.

  3. Select the check box for the image that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

To add images to the inventory

  1. On the Server menu, click Manage inventory.

  2. In the Asset Inventory window, click the Images tab.

  3. Click Add to import images.

  4. In the Import Images window, select the check box for the image that you want to add to the inventory, and then click Import.

To associate answer files with images

  1. On the Server menu, click Manage inventory.

  2. In the Asset Inventory window, click the Images tab, and then use the filter text box to add filter criteria so that you can find the image that you're looking for.

  3. Right-click the column heading, and then click Unattend path to show this field as a column.

  4. Use the vertical scroll bar to find the Unattend path column. By default, the field is blank. Double-click the field and enter the UNC path for the answer file that you want to use with the selected image, like %systemdrive%\relax\unattendfiles\<my_answer_file>.xml.

Adding Assets to a Project

A project is a collection of assets that you want to assess. It identifies multiple computers and multiple images that are a subset of all the computers and images that you added to your inventory. If the computers that you add to the project are bare metal computers, or you want to refresh the image on the test computer, you also select the images that you want to apply to each computer.

When multiple people are working with different test computers and images in the same server inventory, you can use projects to partition an individual's workspace.

To add assets to a new project

  1. On the Getting Started page, click Create a new project.

  2. In the Project name box, type a name for your project.

  3. In the Description box, type a description, like This is a test run to learn how to use assessment services in my lab environment.

  4. In the Keywords box, enter keywords, and then click Next.

  5. In the Computer inventory window, click Add and select the computer that you want to include in this project, click OK, and then click Next.

  6. In the Image Inventory window, click Add and select images to add to your project, click OK, and then click Finish.

    Note
    If your test computers already have a running operating system, you don't have to add images to the project.

To add assets to an existing project

  1. On the computer where the Windows ASC is installed, click Start, and then type Windows Assessment Services – Client to find and start the application.

  2. Open an existing project. For more information, see Projects.

  3. On the Project menu, click Settings.

  4. Click the Computers tab, and then click Add.

  5. In the Computer inventory assets window, select the computers that you want to add to the project, and then click OK.

  6. Click the Images tab, and then click Add.

  7. In the Image inventory assets window, click Add, select the images that you want to add to your project, and then click OK.

  8. Click OK to close the Project Settings window.

Adding Assets to a Job

A job associates assets (a computer and a Windows image) with assessments. A job can contain multiple computers, the corresponding images and unattended answer files, and multiple assessments. You can use all the assets that were added to the project, use only a subset of those assets, or run different jobs on different assets that are available in the project.

There are three ways to set up jobs and associated assets. You can set up a job to:

  • Assess computers that already have a supported, running operating system.

  • Deploy a supported operating system to a computer by using Windows Assessment Services, and then assess the computer.

  • Use other deployment tools or methods to deploy a supported operating system to a computer, and then assess the computer.

To add assets to a job without deploying an image

  1. In the Windows ASC, create or open a job. For more information about how to create or open a job and add assessments, see Jobs.

  2. Under Job settings, click Overview, and then clear the Apply image check box.

  3. Under Job settings, click Assets, and then click Add to select the computers that you want run the job on.

  4. In the Select Evaluation Assets window, select the computers that you want to assess, and then click Finish.

To add assets to a job and deploy an image

  1. In the Windows ASC, create or open a job. For more information about how to create or open a job and add assessments, see Jobs.

  2. Under Job settings, click Overview, and verify that the Apply image check box is selected.

  3. If you want to inject matching Plug and Play drivers from a Dynamic Driver Provisioning driver store during image deployment, select Dynamic Driver Provisioning.

  4. Under Job settings, click Assets, and then click Add to select the computers that you want run the job on.

  5. In the Select Evaluation Assets window, select the computers that you want to assess, click Next, and then click Finish.

  6. The computers appear on the right side of the Windows ASC under Evaluation assets. Select a computer, click Change Image, select the image that you want to apply to that computer, and then click OK.

    Note
    The computer and the image architecture must match, except that you can select an x86-based image to deploy to an x64-based computer.

To add assets to a job and use custom deployment

  1. In the Windows ASC, create or open a job. For more information about how to create or open a job and add assessments, see Jobs.

  2. Under Job settings, click Overview, and verify that the Apply image check box is selected.

  3. Clear the Dynamic Driver Provisioning check box.

  4. Under Job settings, click Assets, and then click Add to select the computers that you want run the job on.

  5. In the Select Evaluation Assets window, select the computers that you want to assess, and then click Next.

  6. Click <Use Predeployed Image>, and then click Finish.

    Note
    When you schedule a job by using <Use Predeployed Image>, the job does not start until you deploy Windows and run \\%WASServer%\relax\scripts\testmachine\completedeployment.cmd AUTO at an elevated command prompt.

See Also