SSD cloning issue

Underscore · July 31, 2018

Hello LTT forum!

I've recently been tasked with the yearly re-install of our machines in our computer lab (yey great... ). A method we found to save A LOT of time in previous years has been to fully setup one machine then copy the disk to all the other machines and just do the smaller tweaks such as IP, machine name and other domain stuff on each machine, and this has worked just fine before. This year, however, has presented a bit of a challenge!

So our method is kinda simple, we use Clonezilla to clone over LAN and as more machines get cloned the more cloning can be done to other machines. Kinda sweet since it means the whole lab is done in 5 cloning "waves" starting with 1 machine only.

Here is where it gets tricky though;

The cloning in Clonezilla reports no problem cloning the entire disk from one machine to the other, however, the machines won't boot. Basically, they are no longer recognized as bootable. I guess this is a nice time to mention that the C: drives in these machines are m.2 drives so it's not as easy to use a good old toaster with some other software inside windows. However, I'm not so sure it is a direct problem/error with the cloning, the funny thing is that if you are to take a cloned disk and put it into the machine where the original disk came from, they boot just fine!

Its almost as if there are some sort of hardware ID locks or something preventing them from being bootable on machines with different hardware.

So it does not seem like the cloning has directly failed or that some setting like "sector by sector" clone has not been properly enabled, because if it hadn't then the disk should not have been able to boot anywhere, should it?

Anyways, some other info:

OS: Windows 10 64-bit running the latest update (I guess the April update?)

Specs:

- Ryzen 1700(x?)

- 32GB DDR4

- 256GB Samsung m.2 ssd

- 500GB - 1000GB HDD

- GTX 1070

- MSI B350 Tomahawk motherboard

- 650w - 700w PSU (Not sure :s)

All cloning happening over a Cat 6 line, through a 10GB switch, with Intel 10GB nics in either end making a full disk clone take about 20-25 mins even when multiple clones are happening at once.

So, if anyone has any experience with anything similar or have any ideas on what might be causing the m.2 disks to not boot properly after cloning, please, I'd love to hear about it below!

If anything is unclear or if more info is needed please tell me and I'll do my best to provide it here!

Thanks!

Snipergod87 · July 31, 2018

I would strongly advise against cloning like that, you will end up generating duplicate SID's which can cause issues in active directory if these are going on a domain. It is best to set up one clean master image with the necessary drivers and software, sysprep it, create a .wim file, and image from there.

Note some software does not sysprep well (AV for example) so would recommend not having AV installed before you sysprep.

Underscore · July 31, 2018

5 minutes ago, Snipergod87 said:

I would strongly advise against cloning like that, you will end up generating duplicate SID's which can cause issues in active directory if these are going on a domain. It is best to set up one clean master image with the necessary drivers and software, sysprep it, create a .wim file, and image from there.

Note some software does not sysprep well (AV for example) so would recommend not having AV installed before you sysprep.

Huh, well there you go, did not think to know about that. Any advice on deploying said think or is it basically get a usb stick with the .wim file and run around to each of the machines, plug and play?

I know you can set up a deployment server, we tried that once last year I think, never again Not qualified to make that stuff work