Automating Dual Boot Deployments - Part 1 - Introduction

I have been putting a lot of effort into the automation of dual boot deployments on Apple hardware and I am ready to start publishing that work. This first post in the series will cover my motivation for this work and future posts will include the details on my approach and methodology.

Trend 1 - Higher Demand
Dickinson College has seen a growth in the demand for dual boot Apple devices in recent years. I personally support three dual boot labs and many classrooms which total to almost 100 devices that need to be configured and re-imaged on an annual basis.

Trend 2 - Imaging Problems
With newer versions of macOS and Windows the benefits of creating "golden master" images are quickly fading and moving towards scripted installations/thin imaging is becoming a more preferred method of deployment. The tools used to create those images are also becoming more difficult to work with. In particular, changes in the macOS architecture have made creating images of Bootcamp partitions more difficult, if not impossible in some scenarios. The differences in hardware also make moving an image from one platform to another very difficult, also. For instance, creating an image on a Dell and applying it to an Apple device is fraught with peril.

Trend 3 - Thin Imaging/Scripted Installation
We have already made the transition to thin imaging on our Apple hardware for macOS and scripted installations for configuring Windows on our Dell systems. There was not a method for replicating this technique for Windows on Apple hardware in a dual boot scenario.

Motivator 1 - Desire for consistency
This divergence of configuration management resulted in a lack of consistency across devices. For example, imagine two classrooms with instructor computers. Classroom A has an iMac that is configured with macOS and Windows. Classroom B has a Dell with just Windows. If a professor teaches in classroom A using Windows she should expect the same experience in classroom B. Having the ability to create the same configuration on both platforms is highly desirable.

Motivator 2 - Making the most of current resources
With the move to thin imaging and scripted installations the desktop support team has put a large amount of time into packaging applications for deployment. This work could not be leveraged effectively when configuring Windows on dual boot systems.

Motivator 3 - Laziness
Let's be honest, I don't want to spend time configuring computers by hand, especially at a large scale. I have found that it is worth putting the time into developing a system that will save countless hours of clicking and typing.

Combining these trends and motivators led me to the work that I will be detailing in the next several posts. The broad strokes of my technique leverage Windows Native Boot to a virtual hard drive that contains the imaging environment for our Quest K2000 appliance. An image containing this virtual hard drive is placed onto the Bootcamp partition of a dual boot Apple device and when booted a scripted installation is performed. The end result is a Deploystudio workflow that completely automates the configuration of a dual boot system for both platforms that is consistent with other deployments across campus.