WMI Issues / am I using NTLite properly?

[readysteadywhoa]

Hi there, I've recently started using NTLite to try and create some customized images for deployment at the company I work for but I'm wondering if I'm actually using the program for it's intended purpose.

The images install great with the features I selected, but it seems to be pulling system info from the workstation that NTLite was installed on, especially in WMI. I noticed when doing certain WMI queries, it's trying to contact the computer name of the NTLite workstation the image was created on, as if it was the local computer name. In our case the issues are with the Unified Write Filter -- doing some WMI queries against it return the actual local computer name, while others return the NTLite computer name, breaking functionality.

I then tested the deployment scripts using an OEM image (Windows 10 Ent 1909) and the problem doesn't appear, so it seems to be with how the unattended image is being created in NTLite. I also tried SysPrepping/generalizing the install after the fact but the problem persists even then. I haven't found any options in NTLite that sound like they would affect WMI (I did select to 'clear cache' but I don't believe it's related). I'm also not using the options in NTLite to populate values in the image with local machine values. I'm building off the same 1909 Ent OEM image that I tested with.

I also tried running NTLIte from a brand new 1909 VM (as recommended online), but then the computer name of the VM was then being substituted on deployed computers in the same way as it was with the original NTLite workstation.

Anyone run into these issues before? I know one of the biggest use cases of NTLite is customizing an install for the specific computer you're running it on, but is there any way to create more generalized images that are meant to be deployed to multiple computers?

Thanks!

 

[nuhi]

Hi,

it's up to the user to type in any Computer Name you want on the Unattended page, do it after using the Autofill option, so that it doesn't get overwritten with the local value again.
Recently the option to Prompt for computer name during setup is also available (dropdown on the Computer Name option, or type in [Prompt]), so you can use it to deploy with any name using the same image.

Let me know if I misunderstood the question.

Thanks.

 

[readysteadywhoa]

Appreciate the heads up about new prompting for computer name feature, but it's not quite what I'm talking about.

For some reason the name of the workstation that NTLite was installed on is being replicated in the WMI repository on any deployed computers using that image. The deployed computers were never assigned the name of the NTLite workstation at any point, yet the name is stored in WMI as being the local computer (only in some queries though -- particularly while most Unified Write Filter-related queries work, except when adding file exclusions where it tries to contact the NTLite workstation name instead of it's own). I figured out a workaround -- resetting the WMI repository after the install is complete (winmgmt.exe /resetrepository) fixes things at least for my purposes (it gets the UWF file exclusions working properly).

Just wanted to confirm that I was using NTLIte properly and that there was not supposed to be any identifying info from the NTlite workstation being propagated to the deployed image (unless those options were selected in NTLite, which I definitely did not set). This might not have anything to do with NTLite specifically, could be caused by DISM or something else that works with the target image. At any rate I'm off to the races, thanks for the reply.