How to perform standalone deployment?

With the work from home becoming the new norm, you might have to deploy OS to computers that are not connected to your corporate network estate. In such cases, ManageEngine OS Deployer comes handy with standalone deployment.

Pre-requisites for standalone media creation

1. Create a golden image
2. Create a deployment template
3. Create a USB media

How to create a standalone task

The standalone task is designed to enable deploying operating system to computers that are not connected to corporate network. This totally comes handy for the "work from home" users. The following are the steps to create a standalone task.

Steps to create standalone task

1. From your OS Deployer server, navigate to Deploy -> Standalone task -> Add standalone task.
2. Now, select the template that you would want to deploy to the target computer.
3. Define the USB media using which you would like to boot the target the computer.
4. Now, include the MAC addresses of the target computers one-by-one or you can also import the MAC addresses in the form of .csv
   
   Note: Standalone deployment can be performed only if the MAC addresses of the computers are added to the standalone task.
5. The bootable media will be downloaded using the standalone tool created. Specify the bandwidth that you would like to employ in downloading the media. The image file has to be copied to the usb drive from the image repository.
6. Now click on "Create standalone task" button.

Create standalone USB drive

Create USB drive using standalone deployment tool

After creating the standalone task, you can download the Standalone deployment tool. This tool is used to download the image file and media to the external USB drive.

Steps to port the bootable media to the external drive

1. Click on the Download SD tool from the actions option / download button against the standalone task created.
2. Once the tool is downloaded, extract the file and execute OSDStandaloneLauncher.exe
3. Enter the mentioned URL, log in to your zoho account and enter the code to proceed to the next step.
4. Once authenticated, you can find the name of the image and media file that is listed.
5. From the list of available external USB drives, choose the formatting options.
6. Clicking the "Next" button, the configured media file associated to the standalone task will be downloaded to the external USB drive. This drive is now the bootable media which can be used to boot the target computers.
7. Copy the image file to the USB and then manually copy the required drivers to the USB drive (as a folder).
8. Now, refer to the steps to Use the USB to kick-start deployment.

Use USB to kick-start deployment

1. Use the USB stick to boot the target computer.
2. Once booted, click on the "Deploy Image" to proceed with the deployment.
   
   Note: Standalone deployment can be performed only if the MAC addresses of the computers are added while configuring standalone task. If not added, connection with central server will be required to proceed with the deployment.
3. You can Browse the OS Image from local hard disk or network share that was configured in the task.
4. You can browse the driver repository for the drivers to be added for the target machine during deployment.