The installation will overwrite all existing data on the target drive.

Preparing the Image

  1. Connect the prepared USB memory stick to the target device and switch on the target device.

  2. Select Standard Installation + Recovery or Verbose Installation + Recovery.


  3. Select the language for the installation process.

    The installation program IGEL OS Creator opens. Here, you can configure settings for the installation process and start it. 

  4. Optional; only available if your device has booted in UEFI mode: If you want to install the legacy/BIOS version of IGEL OS 11, activate Force Legacy Installation.

    If you have activated Force Legacy Installation, remember to set the system to legacy/BIOS mode after installation.



  5. Optional; only available if your device has booted in UEFI mode: If you want to use an MS-DOS partition table instead of a GPT partition table, activate Force MS-DOS Partitioning.


  6. Activate Factory Image and enter your factory ID.



  7. Check the Target drive to ensure that the system is installed on the desired drive.


  8. If you want to exclude features of IGEL OS, e.g. to save storage space, click Feature Selection and edit the settings as required.


    • All: Select all features

    • None: Select no feature

    • Feature: Sort the list alphabetically

    • Size: Sort the list by the memory requirements of the features

  9. If you want to change initial settings for the devices you are about to deploy, click Edit

    The IGEL Setup opens, enabling you to change the settings in the same way as with a regular IGEL OS installation. The changes are stored on the USB memory stick from which the IGEL OS Creator (OSC) is executed. For details about the settings, see the chapters Setup and the subsequent chapters in the IGEL OS Reference Manual.


  10. If you want to undo your changes and restore the original settings, click Reset.


  11. If you want to perform a functional test on each device, enable Reset after first boot.

    Important Note

    If Reset after first boot is activated in your factory preload image, the first boot of your devices MUST take place BEFORE shipment to end customers!



  12. To start the installation, click Install firmware.  


  13. Confirm the warning dialog.


    The installation program will set up IGEL OS 11 on the target drive. If you see the success message, the installation is complete.

  14. Click on Shutdown.


  15. Read out the image from your device to deploy it on the units.

    DO NOT BOOT THE EXACT FACTORY IMAGE THAT IS INTENDED FOR DEPLOYMENT ON YOUR DEVICES! ALL DEVICES TO WHICH THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN DEPLOYED WOULD SHARE ONE AND THE SAME UNIT ID. AS A RESULT, YOUR DEVICES WOULD BE PRACTICALLY UNUSABLE.

    If you want to test the factory image prior to its deployment, transfer it to your target medium first and then boot the image on the machine on which you have created it, or any other test machine. The important thing is that the factory image that will be mass-deployed to your units has not been booted before.

    16 GiB Maximum Image Size

    The maximum size of the image that is created by the IGEL OS Creator (OSC) is 16 GiB. Therefore, only the first 16 GiB of your storage medium are needed. If your devices have larger storage, this will allow for faster deployment.

  16. To ensure the integrity of the image, you should create checksums of the original image and of the images that are deployed, and then compare them. For details, see IGEL Endpoint Partners: Ensuring Image Integrity with a Checksum.

  17. Proceed as appropriate:
    • If Reset after first boot is inactive, you can deploy the images on the units and roll them out straight away. The deployment should include comparing the checksums.
    • If Reset after first boot has been activated, deploy the images on the units and continue with Unit Testing. 

Unit Testing

Perform the following procedure on the original device and on every unit on which the image has been deployed. 

Important Note

The first boot test MUST take place with each unit BEFORE it is rolled out. (Otherwise, the device would present the green test screen instead of the IGEL Setup Assistant.)

  1. Start the device and review the green test screen.


  2. Click OK.
    You can access IGEL OS in a regular way and perform your tests.

  3. Shut the device down.
    The device is ready for roll-out.