PC Imaging

[Madchatthew]

The solution is to delete windows and throw away the software and install Linux haha - I keed I keed. I worked for a company years ago. It was a call center for Orbitz I think, where you can setup your own flights on their website. They also did a call center for American Airlines or Delta I can’t remember which one. I was in the IT department. It was me and another person that did everything. Whenever a pc would have issues and troubleshooting steps wouldn’t work to fix it, I would have to sit there and manually reinstall windows and all of the software and waste at least a couple of hours because the company wouldn’t let me use an imaging software. Which would have saved a lot of time per machine. It seemed like a regular occurrence that I would have to reinstall windows. Such a pain.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew said in 24H2 Official ISO Don't support custom wim file:

I would have to sit there and manually reinstall windows and all of the software and waste at least a couple of hours because the company wouldn’t let me use an imaging software. Which would have saved a lot of time per machine. It seemed like a regular occurrence that I would have to reinstall windows. Such a pain.

I recall those days (with dread). I also come from the old days of GHOST in relation to the imaging of PC’s

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab said in 24H2 Official ISO Don't support custom wim file:

I recall those days (with dread). I also come from the old days of GHOST in relation to the imaging of PC’s

Yyeeessss! That is what we used was ghost and then I think there was another one that I used later on, but I remember ghost being the main one. Aaahhh those were the days!

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew Yeah, I recall having to do this with a floppy disk - the real issue is that the Compaq DeskPro machines we were using at the time were floppyless, so I had to use a COM port based floppy drive - talk about S L O W…

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab Oh wow, that is torture just even thinking about that. I hated Compaq DeskPro machines. And HP. And Dell. And Especially Packard Bell. Bleh

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew In the 90’s, that was the best available. Packard Bell? Hated those 486SX units…

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab Yes, I hated those too. When I was doing computer repair back in the day, it was always HP, Packard Bell and Dell that I would always be working on nonstop. The computers the two places I worked that also sold PCs, tended to be better but they still used cheaper parts. I have grown to use only Asus parts for motherboard, graphics card (whether nvidia or radeon), corsair for memory and power supplies, and I am open to brand on SSDs, but usually lean towards Samsung, Corsair or Western Digital. These parts cost more but I have had my computer now for 10 years, and the three or four computers I built for the church school my mom works at are 8+ years old now and they just keep ticking. But because of windows 11 requirements, they will either need to switch to Linux or buy new computers.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew I forked this discussion so @DownPW post didn’t go off-topic.

Yes, there’s definitely an element of “you get what you pay for” when it comes to PC parts. I must admit, I’ve not built a PC in years (never really had the need to be honest), but the last one I did build for myself had a Chaintech motherboard - frankly awful in fact.

You can’t go wrong with ASUS parts. I’m particularly keen on Crucial for memory - see below

https://www.crucial.com/

Windows 11 does have some pretty hefty requirements - mostly around the TPM and the type of Processor, and whilst it’s possible to still install using a number of hacks, is it actually worth it going forward? How long before Micro$oft block those bypass routes?

You’re better off with Linux in the church in my view.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab Yeah they are a good company and their parts are so worth it. I did build one PC where I used an MSI motherboard and I regretted it soon after. I believe I ended up switching it out for an Asus motherboard.

@phenomlab said in PC Imaging:

You’re better off with Linux in the church in my view.

100% agree!

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew Reminds me of the issues experienced with BX440 motherboards. Now there’s a blast from the past.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab Oh wow, I remember dealing with those boards. I believe I wanted to take them out of the case and break them over my knee and/or whip them across the room and such. LOL. Well that was a little violent hahaha

[Madchatthew]

I remember one time, one of the guys I was working with was working on a PC. He has done some things with it and when he plugged it in and turned it on, there was an actual flame jet shooting out of one of the chips. I never saw anyone unplug a PC faster than that LOL. Of course the customer ended up just buying a new PC at that point. They had the option of getting a new motherboard but chose not to.