Welcome
OS Deployment
BigFix OS Deployment, which is part of the BigFix Lifecycle Management suite, provides a consolidated, comprehensive solution to quickly deploy new workstations and servers throughout a network from a single, centralized location. This solution saves time and money, enforces a standardized and approved image, and reduces risks associated with non-compliant or insecure configurations.
Bare Metal deployments
You can install and manage BigFix for OS Deployment servers and create profiles for bare metal deployments.
Managing Bare Metal Targets
Wiping target disks
You can permanently wipe disks on selected Bare Metal targets, to comply with specific company policies and industry regulations.

BigFix Documentation Homepage
BigFix 11 Lifecycle Documentation
Welcome to the BigFix Lifecycle documentation, where you can find information about how to install, maintain, and use BigFix Lifecycle.
BigFix Platform
BigFix Query
Lifecycle overview
BigFix Lifecycle is single-agent, single-console technology that provides near real-time visibility into the state of endpoints.
Lifecycle guides in PDF format
Following is a list of links to the BigFix Lifecycle guides in PDF format:
Software Distribution
Use the BigFix Software Distribution applications to deploy software to endpoints across your network from a single location. Maintain control and visibility into software delivery and installation. Device owners can use the Self Service Application to manage software and other BigFix actions that are deployed to them as offers.
OS Deployment
BigFix OS Deployment, which is part of the BigFix Lifecycle Management suite, provides a consolidated, comprehensive solution to quickly deploy new workstations and servers throughout a network from a single, centralized location. This solution saves time and money, enforces a standardized and approved image, and reduces risks associated with non-compliant or insecure configurations.
- Product overview
- Configuring the OS Deployment Environment
  To start working with OS Deployment, run the configuration Fixlets and tasks listed in the Setup Node.
- Managing MDT Bundles and Deployment Media for Windows targets
  To perform OS Deployment of Windows operating systems, you prepare your deployment environment and resources using the Bundle and Media Manager Dashboard.
- Managing Drivers for Windows Deployments
  The Manage Images and Drivers node includes tasks to prepare and import drivers for deployment to Windows targets.
- Managing Linux OS Resources and Deployment Media
  You can import Linux OS Resources needed to create network boot media and to capture and deploy Linux images
- Managing Images
  The Manage Images and Drivers node includes tasks to capture, import and manage images for deployment to targets.
- Upload Mode
  By default, the OS images are permanently stored in the BigFix root server.
- Reimaging
  Reimaging is the process of saving the user state on a computer, installing a new image on it, and then restoring the user state.
- Installing Windows 10/11 or Windows Server using in-place upgrade
  To upgrade your existing Windows systems to Windows 10/11 or Windows Server you can use the in-place upgrade fixlets.
- Bare Metal deployments
  You can install and manage BigFix for OS Deployment servers and create profiles for bare metal deployments.
  - Creating bare metal profiles
    Create Bare Metal profiles from the Image Library dashboard, which you can then upload to the server.
  - Working with Bare Metal Profiles
  - Deploying a bare metal profile from the target binding menu
  - Deploying bare metal profiles based on target properties
  - Deploying a bare metal profile from the BigFix console
    You can deploy bare metal profiles to targets that are connected to Bare Metal Servers that have the Management Extender for Bare Metal Targets plug-in installed.
  - Capturing and restoring user state of Windows targets
    When you complete an operating system migration on new hardware, you can restore previously captured user settings on the new system.
  - Tuning WinPE TFTP settings for bare metal deployments
    You can tune WinPE download speed during Bare Metal deployments by running task 360.
  - Managing Bare Metal Targets
    - Booting targets without using PXE
      If you are not using PXE, you can create network boot media for your targets.
    - Changing Bare Metal Target Network Configuration Settings
      You can define or remove configuration settings for one or more network interface cards on selected targets using task 354.
    - Wiping target disks
      You can permanently wipe disks on selected Bare Metal targets, to comply with specific company policies and industry regulations.
    - Reset the status of a bare metal target
      You can reset the status of a bare metal target and make it available again for OS deployment tasks.
- Monitoring Deployment Activities
  You can track and monitor all deployment activities in your Endpoint Management network.
- Maintenance and troubleshooting
  You can monitor deployment activities, correct exceptions and adjust configuration settings specific to your environment through dashboards and tasks available for these purposes.
- Setting up OS Deployment in an air-gapped network
  You can choose to configure your OS Deployment and Bare Metal Imaging site in an air-gapped network.
- Deprecated and Superseded functionalities
  This topic lists the functionalities that are still present in OSD, but are deprecated.
- Create Ubuntu OS Resources manually
Remote Control
BigFix Remote Control application helps to communicate between different components, clients, and endpoints within BigFix environment.
Power Management
Use Power Management to control, monitor, and manage conservation policies in your deployment.
Server Automation
Server Automation provides powerful automation. You can use it to sequence automation actions in steps across multiple endpoints.
Profile Management
Profile Management is a WebUI-based feature of BigFix Lifecycle. It provides Security Administrators the capability to define and deploy security policies to Windows 10 and macOS devices.
CVE Search dashboard
BigFix CVE Search dashboard and Web Report are available as part of the CyberFOCUS site.
BigFix Remediate
BigFix MCM

Wiping target disks

You can permanently wipe disks on selected Bare Metal targets, to comply with specific company policies and industry regulations.

Run the Wipe Disk on Bare Metal Targets task (ID 300), to perform secure disk wiping on Bare Metal targets that have completed a PXE-boot and are registered to the BigFix server through the Bare Metal Extender Plug-in. The task destroys disk content on the target system. You can choose between 5 different destruction methods, which involve different levels of wiping of the master boot record and disk partitions. If you select the Arbitrary Overwrite method, you can also specify the number of overwrite rounds (number of passes) to be completed on the target disk.

WinPE is required for the disk wipe operation, and you can select it from the list of the available versions on the Bare Metal server. For the available WinPE versions to be displayed, you must have previously uploaded at least one MDT Bundle on the BigFix server.

When you have made your choices, click Take Action to select the targets for this task. When the action completes, the disk wipe operation is queued for execution on the Bare Metal Server. To see the results of the actual disk wipe operation on the selected targets, check the Deployment Activity dashboard.

Note: The disk wipe operation could fail if some drivers are missing from the selected WinPE. In this case, the product attempts to inject the missing drivers and the target may be rebooted several times before the operation completes unsuccessfully.