The Copyright of this manual is held by uib gmbh in Mainz, Germany.

This manual is published under the creative commons license
'Attribution - ShareAlike' (by-sa).

CC by sa

A description of the license can be found here:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The legally binding text of the license can be found here:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Most parts of the opsi software is open source.
Not open source are the parts of the source code which contain new extensions, that are still under cofunding, which have not been paid off yet. See also: opsi cofunding projects

All of the open source code is published under the AGPLv3.

agplv3

The legally binding text of the AGPLv3 license can be found here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0-standalone.html

Information about the AGPL: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html

For licenses to use opsi in the context of closed source software, please contact uib gmbh.

The names 'opsi', 'opsi.org', 'open pc server integration' and the opsi logo are registered trademarks of uib gmbh.

2. Introduction of Windows clients in opsi

This manual describes the operation of Windows clients in opsi.

It is assumed that the installation and commissioning of an opsi-server has already been completed.

Main topics of this manual:

  1. Automatic Windows OS installation

  2. Enrollment and integration of Windows computers in opsi (Installation of the opsi-client-agent)

  3. Provision of the standard opsi software for Windows on the opsi server

  4. Installation of standard software on the Windows clients

  5. standard opsi software for Windows under opsi

  6. Packaging your own software

  7. Creation of opsi packages

  8. Notes on Windows clients

    1. Special commands for Windows

    2. Directories that you can use

2.1. Conventions of this document

Commands are highlighted separately:

This is a command

As part of the installation and configuration, you can usually copy the commands from these fields one after the other using copy & paste from this document and execute them.

This is opsi-script code:

Message "Installing "+ $ProductId$ +" ..."

Chapters that contain the name of a particular platform are specific to that platform. The supported platforms are:

  • Windows

  • Linux

  • macOS

3. Requirements for Windows clients

In the following the requirements for the management of Windows clients under opsi are described.

Technical requirements are an opsi-server with opsi 4.1.

3.1. Windows versions supported by opsi

Windows Version

Opsi 4.2

Opsi 4.1

Windows 11

supported

Windows 2022

supported

Windows 10

supported

supported

Windows 2019

supported

supported

Windows 2016

supported

supported

Windows 2012 R2

supported

supported

Windows 8.1

supported

supported

Windows 2012

supported

supported

Windows 8

discontinued

discontinued

Windows 2008 R2

supported

supported

Windows 7

supported

supported

Windows 2008

discontinued

discontinued

Windows Vista

discontinued

discontinued

Windows 2003

discontinued

discontinued

Windows XP

discontinued

discontinued

Windows 2000

discontinued

discontinued

supported: Supported unsupported: Unsupported develop: Under development discontinued: Discontinued

3.2. Hints to select the right client hardware

3.2.1. General information

There are no lists of supported or unsupported hardware for opsi, and due to the fast pace of the market, it will not be possible to maintain such lists.

Nevertheless, some requirements should be observed when procuring client hardware.
This is not because of specific problems with opsi, but because of the fundamental challenges of client management.
See also: Scheduling installations

In general, enterprise class devices are more likely to be suitable than consumer devices.

General information on the procurement of client hardware can be found here:

3.2.2. Ethernet / RJ45 / USB-Adapter / MacPassThrough

A wired network connection is of great importance or a necessity for many functions of client management. If possible, a client with a network adapter / RJ45 interface on the device is preferable to an adapter-based solution.

Ethernet RJ45 connector
Figure 1. Ethernet RJ45 connector

(Source / License of image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ethernet_RJ45_connector_p1160054.jpg
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

  • Booting from network
    No network boot without a wired network.
    Without network boot, operating system installations and some other features are not available.
    See also:

  • Wake on Lan
    The possibility of starting a computer via the network usually requires a wired network.

  • Bandwidth
    WLAN access points now reach remarkable bandwidths. In the case of installations on many devices on the same access point, these devices have to share the bandwidth of the access point, which in the best case leads to long installation times and, in the worst case, errors and failures.
    Therefore, wired network connections are still preferable for client management when possible.

Therefore, newly procured devices should have a wired network connection when possible.
However, more and more devices are marketed without a cable connection.
Should (for whatever reason) a device be obtained without Ethernet on board, a cable connection via an (USB) adapter or (USB) docking station should be possible and the following further prerequisites should be observed.

USB-RJ45-Adapter
Figure 2. USB-RJ45-Adapter

Such USB-RJ45 adapters bring the following problem: These 'adapters' are actually external network cards connected via USB. This means that the MAC address of this network interface does not identify the device but the adapter. This means that a fixed assignment of a MAC address to a device is in effect no longer possible. However, this fixed assignment is required for network booting and Wake-on-LAN.

This problem is known to the manufacturers and 'MacPassthrough' is offered as a solution for this.