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SquareOne OS Recovery Tool

Applies To: v2.3
  • Updated

This article describes the installation and operation of the SquareOne OS Recovery application. This application is run from a USB stick or Recovery Partition in a WinPE/RE environment as described in Local OS Image Management.

It provides an interface to:

  • Capture a Windows OS images from an existing device
  • Deploy a Windows OS image, both with and without the Recovery Partition (creating it if needed)
  • Restore an OS from a locally stored image

Setup

The following articles describe how to install the SquareOne OS Recovery application:

SquareOne OS Recovery USB Stick

SquareOne OS Recovery Partition

 

Operation

The following sections describe the functionality available through the SquareOne OS Recovery application, whether run from USB stick or Recovery Partition. The main menu shows the operations available:

bosit-1010.png

 

Capture

The Capture option from the menu provides the ability to capture the OS from the device to an attached USB hard drive.

On the following screen:

OSI-Capture.jpg

  • Click Scan Drives to find the device with the Windows OS installed and select it. The UI will indicate the version detected.
    • If the SquareOne Agent is not detected, the UI will display a warning. This is to ensure that remotely updated devices remain connected, and the warning can be safely ignored if SquareOne Premier is not being used.
    • If no OS is detected, this UI will indicate this, and the Start Capture button will be disabled
  • Optionally specify a version number for the OS image (in the format <major>.<minor>.<revision>).
  • Browse to the connected USB hard drive and choose a suitable name for the file.
  • Choose Start Capture to begin the capture process. Depending on the image size, this process can take some time.

The resulting .WIM file will now be on the hard drive in the chosen location. This can now be deployed to compatible target device(s).

Notes:

  • It is strongly recommended to use an NTFS formatted USB hard drive due to the limited write speeds of USB memory sticks.
  • The Image Capture operation cannot be carried out on a drive that is encrypted with BitLocker. Disable encryption before capturing the image.
  • Sysprep: To deploy a new OS to multiple devices it must be generalized so that computer specific information is removed from the image. This includes the internal computer security identifier (SID) and the Computer Name. For more detailed information, refer to the Microsoft online documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/sysprep--generalize--a-windows-installation?view=windows-10
  • Before capturing the image for deployment, additional customization can be performed. For example: Installation of drivers, Installation/updates of application software, User configuration, Security configuration

 

Deploy

The Deploy options provide the ability to deploy a previously captured OS image to the device.

Warning: selecting either of the deploy options will wipe ALL files from the main system drive using the image that is being deployed.

The options available are:

Deploy (with Recovery)

This option deploys the selected image and creates a Recovery Partition with SquareOne OS Recovery pre-installed. The selected image will also be stored in the Recovery Partition, so it can be restored at a later date if required.

After selecting this option:

SQ1-OSRecovery3.png

  • Click the Browse button and pick the OS image to deploy.
  • Click Test Hardware to verify disk space requirements.
  • Click Start to create the partition and install the OS image locally

Once the process has completed, click Close then Exit to boot into the newly deployed OS.

Note: The default recovery partition size is based on the provided WIM file but can be configured by altering the config.xml file (in the Config directory) on the USB recovery Key. Increase the value of the <RESTPARTSIZE> config item to the number of additional Gb required.

The Wipe Recovery Data option on this dialog provides an option to remove data from any existing Recovery Partition. If selected, all data on that partition (i.e. stored images) will be removed.

 

Deploy (without recovery)

This option deploys the selected image and removes any existing Recovery Partition. All data on that partition will be lost.

After selecting this option:

SQ1-OSRecovery4.png

  • Click the Browse button and pick the OS image to deploy.
  • Click Test Hardware to verify disk space requirements.
  • Click Start to create the partition and install the OS image locally.

Once the process has completed, click Close then Exit to boot into the newly deployed OS.

 

Restore

The Restore option from the menu provides the ability to restore from an OS image held in the Recovery Partition.

After selecting this option, pick the OS image to deploy from those listed.

SQ1-OSRecovery5.png

Warning: Selecting Restore will wipe ALL files from the main system drive using the image that is contained on the Recovery Partition.

Once the process has completed, click Close then Exit to boot into the newly restored OS.

 

Command

Choosing the Command option from the menu opens a command prompt with the WinPE/RE Environment. This can be useful for experienced technicians wanting to perform specific maintenance or setup tasks.

 

Exit

Choosing the Exit option from the menu exits the SquareOne OS Recovery application and reboots the device to the standard OS.

 

Configuration

SquareOne OS Recovery has the following options for custom configuration:

  • An option to run a PowerShell script on start-up, for example to map network drives or perform hardware detection.
  • A configuration file to set default values for file browsing (i.e. default directory or file name filter)

The use of these configuration options is beyond the scope of this article. Please contact Bsquare for assistance.