Score:0

Best way to do simple new employee laptop setup for Windows 10/11 without Windows Server or cloning

cn flag

(Recommended I move here from SuperUser) I ran a few Windows based labs over a decade ago, past few years I've mostly been managing Macs and systems in AWS and GCP. Right now the company is hiring a lot of finance folks who want to work on Windows laptops. The basic setup is I setup a local admin account so we always can get back into the machine, add a user account for the new employee, and install basic apps like Google Chrome, Office, Zoom, etc. nothing too fancy. We don't have Active Domain control running, don't have SCCM at this time. With this context, I was wondering if there's a way to do a simple automated install to new laptops similar to MacOS Migration Assistant, where a new laptop already has a fresh Windows OS from the factory, and I just want to transfer the user account and additional apps installed. I did some research and mostly saw more elaborate enterprise options using SCCM and Windows Server etc.

in flag
Unattended installations, can be done with not to much configuration and scripting (if you don't want to use already available solutions) using iPXE and wimboot you can often deploy a PC in 10-20 minutes, maybe a bit more with additional software (mostly automated with chocolatey)
cn flag
@NiKiZe yes I was thinking since our installation is relatively simple with no domain or group policy, some powershell scripting on a bootable flashdrive may be sufficient, just wanted to check what the latest best practices are since it's been over a decade since I had to manage and deploy anything not linux based.
Score:1
us flag

You can use Windows Configuration Designer to create provisioning packages for Windows client OS.

Next, you copy the package to a flash drive and boot PC from it to provision Windows with required settings.

Check documentation here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/provisioning-packages/provisioning-create-package

cn flag
Thanks! And this will apply the changes against the existing Windows install the computer came with? Main concern is not having to deal with re-activating valid OS licenses in the process
Jevgenij Martynenko avatar
us flag
This process uses existing installation image which came from OEM, including pre-installed drivers and software. Also, if it's an OEM device, then Windows setup key is embedded into BIOS. So you shouldn't be worried about license reactivation - it will happen silently if needed.
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