Could we also please have a way of dynamically pointing the boot client? Our environment does not support PXE so we must create boot media for each site with hardcoded IP. I would like to tell the Startnet.cmd where to connect to at boot and only sync 1 image.

@carlos use KBE_Manipulator for a GUI to upload custom boot images.

While this is currently possible by editing the pe_bootstrap.bat file in the K2000 Media Manager, it's a bit hacky. It would be nice to do this from within the GUI.

@Derek,

The new KNIT and K2 v3.4 will sort you out quite happily. See if you can also get a hold of the KBE Manipulator which allows you to upload your own ISO's and WIM boot media.
This allows quite near the flexability which I was requesting in this uservoice request. You will be able to use these tools to create a win pe environment which boots from the K2 with drivers and starts up a ghost console very easily.
Let us know how you go, if you need any help give me a buzz on app deploy or ITNinja username Roonerspism. We still run a multi pxe boot system here between wds and K2 but with the advent of these tools recently (my hats off to you Corey) we'll be looking to go pure K2.

I know where you're coming from though, we just did another 140 machine deployment ourselves with a 37gb image, and we'll be doing it again with 250 machines in a few weeks.

I would also like to see a custom boot configuration made real. The ability to easier manipulate the boot media and not be tied into the Media Manager as the only way to get bootable material into the K2000 is a real need. I also am trying to get a customized Ghost boot files into the K2000 environment. For the type of imaging I need to do, and currently do with Ghost, a need for multicast bit-by-bit copying is a real necessity. Scripted installations simply will not work for doing the type of custom classroom installations that I do where multiple instructors come and make special application configurations to the gold image box. I need the ability to clone 80-100 workstations at a time and do it in a specific amount of time. I also need to Ghost clone things one or two at a time in a reasonable amount of time (I currently am pushing out 20-40GB images with Ghost multicast and it takes 30min to 2hrs.) Until this ability arrives in the K2000 it would make life a lot easier to be able to make use of the PXE boot environment since we can't have multiple PXE boot setups in our environment. That said, I can't upload my current Ghost WinPE setup to our new K2000 PXE like I could other PXE setups with tftp or something like that.

3.4 will have an add-on toolkit called Kace Native Imaging, so you can capture/deploy .wim files for faster mass deployments.

I can't say the stuff you eluded to in the 2nd paragraph ;) or how ghost is a portable app.

I may be a little off topic and turning this into more of a thread lol but:

Corey,

Generally in our environment (while we dont use GHO images anymore and are WDS and WIM only now) we found that K-imaging was much slower than the bit-by-bit copy of ghost.
Granted the new versions of the manipulator are great and allow you to do some AMAZING stuff, people still gho imaging are doing so purely because its quick I believe (or maybe their policy requires it?). So I think the request by Ravi might be along the lines of 'let us bit-deploy a .gho with the K2'.

That being said, you can trivially add the ghost client into a winpe and upload that using the KBE Manipulator, so that might be a good middle man, as I mentioned, the thing is great.

Feel free to smack me down if I'm way off :)

Cheers,
Col

Ravi,
Why not deploy the ghost image, and then without rebooting capture with Kimage, or .wim with 3.4?

Joe,

This will be possible with KBE Manipulator, an add-on to 3.4. You can add DCCTK to your KBE along with ODBC drivers, you just need dcctk installed on the same machine you are using to build a kbe with waik, media manager, and kbe manipulator.

Also, would love to have the ability to upload images already created using Symantec Ghost i.e., .gho extension

I have a similar request, in that, I would like to upload a bootable Windows PE 3.0 image intergrating Dell's Client Configuration Toolkit inorder to automate changes to a systems BIOS.

This would be VERY helpful!

Thank you,
Joe D.