Forum Discussion
Clone Surface Hub SSDs?
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.
Dan
Hi 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.
DHi Daniel,
Thanks for your answer, which confirms my fears. Unfortunately your method won't work for me as the Surface Hubs will be drop-shipped from Germany to many sites around Europe. Sounds like an extra night or two in hotels!
My thinking is that BitLocker is expressly designed to prevent what my guys are planning, i.e. cloning a disk and having it accessable on another PC. I believe the BitLocker key involves the onboard TPM chip and any clone will not work, even if the BitLocker key is input.
Do you know enough about BitLocker to confirm my theory?Richard