LiteDeploy Core

This repository is for development only — not production.
Full workspace for designing, testing, and lab-validating LiteDeploy. Expect breaking changes and unfinished pieces (package orchestration, real FullOS Progress). Lab / disposable-VM use only.

Windows bare-metal imaging engine (under development) — WinPE → install → interactive FullOS resume — plain PowerShell 5.1 components. Admin.Build flattens scripts into a lab DeploymentShare for imaging tests. A future shipping product tree is separate; this Core repo is not that.


Status	Development only — not production
Host	Windows PowerShell 5.1 (`powershell.exe`), STA for Engine / UI
Boot modes	Network (SMB → `Z:`) and Media (USB → `<drive>:\~LiteDeploy`)
Imaging	`setup.exe` or `dism.exe`
FullOS resume	`HKLM\...\Run\LiteDeployFullOS` (not Task Scheduler / SetupComplete)
Smoke suite	`_Tests\` — 155 / 155
Docs map	`_Docs/README.md`

What this project is

LiteDeploy Core is a componentized imaging stack, not a Task Sequence host and not an MDT fork. Each Runtime/Admin script owns one job (Boot, Disk, Image, FullOS, …). Engine orchestrates WinPE; FullOS continues after first interactive logon when the workflow has post-install actions.

It solves the hard handoff problems wiring usually gets wrong:

Credentials never appear on net use command lines — native New-SmbMapping / New-PSDrive + in-memory WinPECT seal/unseal
Paths come from Environment (Development vs Production) — consumers do not invent sibling DeploymentShare trees
Unattend is template + placeholders (Standard / DomainJoin / IntuneReady), with Specialize RunSynchronous orders owned by Image
State/logs survive reboot via DeploymentState + triple mirror (RAM / share / OS volume)

Not in scope yet (planned): automatic package orchestration after FullOS, DeployVault as a share vault tool, cloud/Azure blob pull. See _Docs/planning/.

End-to-end flow

flowchart TB
  subgraph AdminPrep["Admin prep (full Windows)"]
    Config["Admin.Config → BootConfig.json"]
    Content["Admin.Content / Images / Drivers / Workflows"]
    Build["Admin.Build → flat share Engine + Tools"]
    Config --> Build
    Content --> Build
  end

  subgraph WinPE["WinPE — SYSTEM"]
    Boot["Boot: network + native share map Z:"]
    Engine["Engine pipeline"]
    Pre["UI.HardwarePrecheck"]
    Sel["UI.WorkflowSelection"]
    Prog["UI.Progress process"]
    Disk["Disk -ConfirmDestroy"]
    Image["Image -ExecuteSetup"]
    Hand["Handoff → W:\\~LiteDeploy<br/>Runtime · Tools · state · WinPECT hive"]
    Boot --> Engine
    Engine --> Pre --> Sel
    Engine --> Prog
    Sel --> Disk --> Image --> Hand
  end

  subgraph FirstBoot["Windows first boot"]
    Gate{"workflow actions > 0?"}
    OOBE["OOBE only<br/>(e.g. Intune Ready)"]
    Spec["specialize RunSynchronous<br/>1 description · 2 HKLM Run<br/>3–4 UAC bypass if Domain Join"]
    Logon["Interactive logon<br/>Audit Admin or AutoLogon"]
    Gate -->|no| OOBE
    Gate -->|yes| Spec --> Logon
  end

  subgraph FullOS["FullOS — Session 1"]
    Run["HKLM Run → LiteDeploy.FullOS.ps1"]
    Console["HKCU console handoff<br/>later windows only"]
    ReArm["Re-arm Run · kill sysprep.exe"]
    Secrets["WinPECT unseal · Z: · log mirror"]
    Probe["Interactive Probe window<br/>(Progress/packages next)"]
    Run --> Console --> ReArm --> Secrets --> Probe
  end

  Build -.->|publish| Boot
  Hand --> Gate
  Logon --> Run

Detailed sequence, privilege model, and reboot survival: Architecture diagrams.

Mental model

Layer	Owns	Does not own
Boot	WinPE entry, share connect, BootObject, launch Engine	Disk wipe, imaging
Engine	WinPE pipeline order, required component names, handoff	Domain catalog parsing (Workflow), UI chrome
Environment	Dev vs Prod path map, content resolution	Guessing missing files / creating layout trees
Workflow + UI.Selection	Catalog / selection contract. Row title is `editionName`; `(version)` is added only when that name does not already contain it	Imaging
Disk / Drivers / Image	Destructive OS work behind explicit switches	FullOS package loop
FullOS	Post-boot Session 1 resume, console handoff, secrets, Z:, Run re-arm	WinPE UI
Admin.*	Share authoring & publish	Runtime pipeline
`_Tests` / `_Templates`	Smoke suite & authoring contract	Not published to the share

PowerShell 5.1 + Set-StrictMode -Version 2.0 + WinPE constraints
One responsibility per component
Disk/Image read-only unless -ConfirmDestroy / -ExecuteSetup
Secrets in memory / WinPECT only
Edit numbered sources only (flat mirrors gitignored)

Quick start

# Smoke (optional published Runtime)
powershell.exe -NoProfile -STA -ExecutionPolicy Bypass `
  -File '.\_Tests\Test-LiteDeployArchitectureV2.ps1' `
  -PublishedRuntimeRoot 'C:\DeploymentShare\Engine\Scripts\Runtime'

.\_Templates\Get-LiteDeployComponentInventory.ps1 | Format-Table -AutoSize

.\Engine\Scripts\Admin\000-Build\LiteDeploy.Admin.Build.ps1 `
  -DeploymentShare 'C:\DeploymentShare'

Lab checklist: Project status.

Folder structure

This repo

LiteDeploy Core/
├── _Media/                  # brand art (master + GitHub light/dark README)
├── Engine/Scripts/          # numbered Admin + Runtime (+ 110-UI) — edit here
├── Engine/Tools/            # WinPECT, etc. → published to share Tools\
├── DeploymentShare/         # lab skeleton (flat Engine after Build)
├── _Templates/              # component blueprint + inventory
├── _Tests/                  # architecture smoke suite
├── _Docs/
└── _Experiments/            # local prototypes / reference (gitignored)

WinPE bootstrap (ramdisk)

Minimal set inside boot.wim — not the full content tree:

X:\~LiteDeploy\
├── Boot\LiteDeploy.Boot.ps1
├── Runtime\                 # Environment, Logs, Hardware
└── Config\BootConfig.json

Deployment source (Network or Media — same tree)

Reference skeleton in this repo: DeploymentShare\. Only the root changes by mode:

Mode	Root	BootConfig
Network	UNC share mapped to `Z:\`	`Type=Network` + `NetworkPath`
Media	`<USB>:\~LiteDeploy` (or `LocalRootName`)	`Type=Media`

<root>\                                 # e.g. \\Server\Share$ → Z:\   or   E:\~LiteDeploy
├── Config\
│   └── BootConfig.json
├── Content\
│   ├── BootMedia\
│   │   ├── ISO\
│   │   └── WIM\
│   ├── Drivers\                        # LocalCatalog.json, ComputerModels.csv, packs
│   ├── OperatingSystems\               # catalog.json + media
│   ├── Packages\
│   │   ├── Apps\
│   │   └── System\                     # e.g. autopilot-enroll, domain-join, …
│   ├── Temp\
│   └── Unattend\                       # Standard.xml, DomainJoin.xml, IntuneReady.xml
├── Engine\
│   ├── Scripts\
│   │   ├── Runtime\                    # flat LiteDeploy.*.ps1 + UI\
│   │   │                               # Engine, DeploymentEngine alias, FullOS, …
│   │   └── Admin\                      # flat Admin.*.ps1 + UI\
│   └── Tools\
│       └── WinPECT\
├── WorkFlows\                          # *.json
└── WorkLogs\
    ├── Admin\
    └── Deployments\                    # <UID>\ mirrors at runtime

Engine: <root>\Engine\Scripts\Runtime\LiteDeploy.Engine.ps1.
More: WinPE bootstrap, DeploymentShare README.

Live execution chain

1. WinPE (SYSTEM)

startnet → Boot → Engine -BootObject
  → HardwarePrecheck → WorkflowSelection → Progress
  → Disk -ConfirmDestroy → Image -ExecuteSetup
  → stage Runtime/Tools/state on W:\~LiteDeploy + WinPECT seal → reboot

2. FullOS (Session 1, when `actions.Count > 0`)

specialize: Order 1 description · Order 2 HKLM Run · Orders 3–4 UAC (Domain Join only)
logon (Audit Admin | AutoLogon) → FullOS.ps1
  → HKCU console handoff (consoles started afterward) · kill sysprep.exe · re-arm Run · WinPECT · Z: · probe · Packages (planned)
  → clear Run · restore EnableLUA if bypassed

Native PowerShell share connect only. No SetupComplete / auditUser / Task Scheduler for this path.

Component inventory (v2)

Runtime

Component	Dev folder	Published file	Role
Boot	`000-Boot`	`LiteDeploy.Boot.ps1`	startnet parent; share connect; launch Engine
Logs	`010-Logs`	`LiteDeploy.Logs.ps1`	CMTrace + console; mirrors
Environment	`020-Environment`	`LiteDeploy.Environment.ps1`	Named paths, mode, theme helpers
Hardware	`030-Hardware`	`LiteDeploy.Hardware.ps1`	Inventory / readiness
State	`040-State`	`LiteDeploy.State.ps1`	DeploymentState.json + RAM map
Workflow	`050-Workflow`	`LiteDeploy.Workflow.ps1`	Catalog / selection domain; edition title appends version only when the name omits it
Disk	`060-Disk`	`LiteDeploy.Disk.ps1`	Wipe / partition / format
Drivers	`070-Drivers`	`LiteDeploy.Drivers.ps1`	Catalog/hardware match (extract/stage stubs — not full apply yet)
Image	`080-Image`	`LiteDeploy.Image.ps1`	DISM/Setup, unattend, bcdboot, drivers
Packages	`090-Packages`	`LiteDeploy.Packages.ps1`	Package helpers (FullOS sequencing planned)
Engine	`100-Engine`	`LiteDeploy.Engine.ps1`	WinPE orchestrator
FullOS	`100-Engine`	`LiteDeploy.FullOS.ps1`	Post-boot Session 1 resume; HKCU console handoff on load
UI.*	`110-UI\...`	`Runtime\UI\LiteDeploy.UI.*`	Precheck, Selection, Progress, Theme, HostShell

Admin

Component	Dev folder	Published file
Admin.Build	`000-Build`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Build.ps1`
Admin.Content	`010-Content`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Content.ps1`
Admin.Images	`020-Images`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Images.ps1`
Admin.Drivers	`030-Drivers`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Drivers.ps1`
Admin.Packages	`040-Packages`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Packages.ps1`
Admin.Workflows	`050-Workflows`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Workflows.ps1`
Admin.Config	`060-Config`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Config.ps1`
Admin.Validation	`070-Validation`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Validation.ps1`
Admin.Utilities	`080-Utilities`	`LiteDeploy.Admin.Utilities.ps1`
Admin UI	`090-UI`	`Admin\UI\LiteDeploy.Admin.UI.*`

Contracts: Component guide.

Related repositories

Repository	Role
WinPEBuilder	WinPE ISO / Boot.wim
WinPECT	WinPE → FullOS credential transfer
DeployVault	Future optional credential vault (not incorporated)

Documentation

Doc	Use when
_Docs map	Finding anything
Project status	What works vs gaps
Architecture diagrams	E2E sequence & privilege
Engine reading guide	Variables, imports, `-ValidateOnly`
WinPE bootstrap	startnet / bootstrap payload
Maintenance	Smoke tests, publish, release checks
Credentials / WinPECT	Secret handoff
LOCAL_TODO	Active roadmap
Package orchestrator plan	Planned FullOS packages
Engine Scripts README	Dev folder map
Deployment Share README	Published share layout
Smoke tests / Templates	Repo tooling

Keep changes small: one responsibility, explicit inputs, useful errors.

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LiteDeploy Core

What this project is

End-to-end flow

Mental model

Quick start

Folder structure

This repo

WinPE bootstrap (ramdisk)

Deployment source (Network or Media — same tree)

Live execution chain

1. WinPE (SYSTEM)

2. FullOS (Session 1, when `actions.Count > 0`)

Component inventory (v2)

Runtime

Admin

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Documentation

About

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Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
DeploymentShare		DeploymentShare
Engine		Engine
_Docs		_Docs
_Media		_Media
_Templates		_Templates
_Tests		_Tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md

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LiteDeploy Core

What this project is

End-to-end flow

Mental model

Quick start

Folder structure

This repo

WinPE bootstrap (ramdisk)

Deployment source (Network or Media — same tree)

Live execution chain

1. WinPE (SYSTEM)

2. FullOS (Session 1, when actions.Count > 0)

Component inventory (v2)

Runtime

Admin

Related repositories

Documentation

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2. FullOS (Session 1, when `actions.Count > 0`)