Forum Discussion
Clone Surface Hub SSDs?
Hi all,
I have to install a large number of Surface Hubs in the next months. The supplier tells me he is unable to guarantee that the version of Windows 10 Team will be up to date and is likely to be 1-2 versions behind.
Last time this happened it took several hours to download and update the Surface Hub's OS, and I'd like to avoid that.
My tech team has purchased a disk duplication station and is proposing to "clone" an up to date SDD to the other SSDS, but I am nervous that the BitLocker encryption will not allow this.
Can anyone comment on cloning BitLocker disks or is there a better way of quickly updating to the newest OS?
Richard
7 Replies
- Hi Richard
My understanding is, due to Secure Boot and BitLocker, this won't be possible.
Also, given that the Surface Hubs will likely be shipped with 1511, anything that would leave it in an unbootable state would require an SSD replacement with Microsoft as Cloud Recovery is only available following the 1703 update.
Personally, I'd play it safe and update them all manually. It'll likely be less pain in the long run.
DanHi Dan,
Your answer reflects my feelings - I think BitLocker will block this method.
Do you know of any faster method of going from 1511 to the newest release? Some method with the newest release on a USB stick and a side load or similar? My expereinces so far are that relying on Windows Update can take a day or more per hub.
- Hi Richard
Sadly no, there's only 2 methods: WU via the internet, or WSUS.
However, I think WSUS support for feature updates was only introduced from 1607, so regardless you're going to have to do the first feature update to get off of 1511 over the internet.
Also, the W10 Team images are not publicly available and, even if you managed to get an image, you wouldn't be able to side-load.
Internet speed will definitely be a factor. One of our 10Mb sites took almost 7 hours to update from 1511. Our 10Gb sites take 60-90 minutes. Alot of the time is spent preparing the update. MS have made huge improvements behind the scenes for feature updates, and they're ALOT faster these days, but if you start on 1511, it's going to take a while.
I think your best bet is to prepare as best as possible for the updates. When I had 20+ to do, I booked a large room for them all, left them in the boxes, unwrapped them, plugged them all in to multiple power adapters and switches, and did them all in one go overnight. Took a bit of organising, but was easier than doing them one at a time, or waiting for them to be installed then updating/configuring.
D
