ePEffigy is a SMB (Small to Medium Business) WinPE tool that automates Windows operating system deployments. ePEffigy also utilizes OEM imaging concepts, specifically recovery partitions and OS restore functionality. It can be used to create single partition systems as well, however the power of ePEffigy is truly unleashed with the ability for technicians to maintain, capture and deploy multiple images from a recovery partition. These images are not limited to the same OS version, technicians can store Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 OS images on a single recovery partition and maintain, capture and deploy from any of these OS versions.

This can be accomplished from a customizable Windows Boot Menu or in stealth mode by using a "hot key" that the technician defines to be used at computer startup. ePEffigy is also a great tool for troubleshooting pc's in a WinPE environment, very similar to other PE utilities but with added functionality and ease of use. Technicians can query the currently installed OS for network settings to use for connecting to networks or they can use native WinPE DHCP for network support.

Mapping of network drives is supported and these settings can also be stored for future use so that the technician does not need to type in cumbersome networking commands every time they boot into ePEffigy. They can simply select from a previously used mapping.

PE applications are also supported in ePEffigy. Technicians can add PE applications to their flash drive and then add shortcuts to launch these applications with ease. Great for adding malware removal tools or registry cleaners to ePEffigy flash drives.

Not only is ePEffigy a great tool it is also easy to install and build flash drives to boot from. The ePEffigy Builder application that technicians download is a Microsoft .Net application that is supported on XP(32-Bit) and Vista/Windows 7(32/64-Bit). ePEffigy will build out the entire environment with a click of a button.

There are 2 free pre-requisites for ePEffigy:

1) .Net Framework 2.0 or greater (If you do not have this it is included in the download for number 2).

2) Microsoft's WAIK for Windows 7

The ePEffigy builder application can also make USB flash drives bootable for technicians if the ePEffigy Builder applicaton is installed on a Vista or Windows 7 technician pc. This is also accomplished with ease as the technician only needs to plug in their flash drive, click a button, and then browse to their flash drive.

Once the bootable flash drive is created they can click a button and ePEffigy Builder will copy all of the pre-configured files and settings to the flash drive and the technician is ready to boot into ePEffigy and image pc's or use any other WinPE task they choose.

ePEffigy could be modified for your company in multiple ways, below are just a few examples:

1) Using a recovery scenario ePEffigy could query the underlying OS for a statically assigned IP address then automatically connect to a remote server where there are images ready for deployment and either pull an assigned image or provide a selection of images from a network share. This is useful for companies that have statically assigned IP address subnets in remote locations, as WDS/SCCM uses DHCP PXE boot which can be limiting for some companies.

2) Support for multiple disks

3) Support for multiple partitions

4) Support for server imaging

5) ePEffigy could also be custom programmed to query the currently installed OS for its statically assigned IP address and then when applying a sysprepped image from a recovery partition it could apply the IP address seamlessly so that end users in remote locations can rebuild their machines without the need for new machines to be built and then shipped (this could be used in tandem with a software distribution tool).