System requirements

To enable and use OS deployment in your environment, ensure that you have the required software prerequisites.

BigFix prerequisites:

• OS Deployment runs on BigFix versions 9.5, 10.0, and 11.0.

OS Deployment supports a subset of the operating systems supported by BigFix. For a complete list of supported operating systems for BigFix components, see System requirements. When new Operating System versions and updates are supported by BigFix components, OS Deployment begins testing on them. This means that operating system support in OS Deployment is not always concurrent to the support announced for BigFix Platform components.

OS Deployment supports capturing, imaging, and bare metal OS provisioning of the following operating systems:

Windows:

• Microsoft™ Windows™ 11 (x64) Education, Pro, and Enterprise editions up to version 23H2
• Microsoft™ Windows™ 10 (x86, x64) Education, Pro, and Enterprise editions up to version 22H2
• Microsoft™ Windows™ 8.1 (x86, x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ 8 (x86, x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ 7 (x86, x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2016/2019/2022 (x64)¹, Essentials², Standard, and Data Center editions
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2016/2019 (x64) with Hyper-V role¹
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2012 (x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2012 R2 (x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2012 (x64) with Hyper-V role
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2012 R2 (x64) with Hyper-V role
• Microsoft™ Hyper-V Server 2012 (x64)
• Microsoft™ Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 (x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2008 R2 (x64)
• Microsoft™ Windows™ Server 2008 (x86, x64)

For 64-bit (x64) architectures, these operating systems are supported for both BIOS and UEFI firmware. For 32-bit (x86) architectures, only BIOS is supported.

Note:

1. Reimaging to Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 requires that the BigFix client version 9.5.3 or later is installed on the source operating system before you start the reimage process. In-place upgrade of Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 is not supported.
2. Essentials edition is not available in Windows Server 2022.

For further information about the tool versions required for Windows deployments, see Installing MDT Bundle Creators.

You can capture, reimage, and complete Bare Metal deployments on UEFI targets with the Secure Boot firmware option enabled. You can also create deployment media for these targets. Depending on the deployment scenario, check the specific requirements in the relevant topics.

The prerequisites for the BigFix client computer on which you build the MDT Bundle are described in Installing MDT Bundle Creators. You can install all prerequisites using the Bundle and Media Manager dashboard.

Linux:

OS Deployment supports capturing, imaging, and bare metal provisioning of the following operating systems:

• RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Version 6 up to update 10 (x86, x64)
• RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Version 7 up to update 9 (x64)
• RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Version 8 up to update 9 (x64)
• RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Version 9 up to update 4 (x64)
• CentOS Linux Version 7 up to update 8 (x64)
• CentOS Linux Version 8 up to update 1 (x64)
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Version 11² up to SP 4 (x86, x64)
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Version 12 (x64) up to SP5
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) Version 12 (x64) up to SP4
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLE) Version 15 up to SP5¹
• Linux Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop ³
• Linux Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop ³
• Linux Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop ³
• Linux Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop ³

For x64 architectures, these operating systems are supported for both BIOS and UEFI firmware. For x86 architectures, only BIOS is supported.

Note:

1. SLE15 is supported only for Server (SLES15) and Desktop (SLED15) products.
2. Capture of SLES/SLED Version 11 systems is not supported.
3. Linux Ubuntu is supported only for capture and bare metal deployments of captured images (XFS and ZFS file systems are not supported). All other provisioning scenarios are not supported. To deploy Ubuntu Desktop, you must first create and upload a corresponding OS Resource.

VMware:

The following OS versions are supported for bare metal provisioning on targets:

• VMware ESXi 5.x, up to 5.5 Update 3
• VMware ESXi 6.0 up to Update 3
• VMware ESXi 6.5 up to Update 3
• VMware ESXi 6.7

Note: This platform is supported on BIOS firmware only.