The Disk Partition tab lets you define partitions for Microsoft Windows provisioned servers. You can define partitions using a script or fields in the GUI.
| If you define multiple partitions, the drive letters used in the provisioned servers are not guaranteed to be the same as the drive letters you configured in the system package. The Windows OS reassigns the drive letters in alphabetical order on boot, skipping A and B. The letter C is the boot partition. The letter K is reserved for mapping to the provisioning data store; BMC recommends that you not use the letter K for any drive in disk partitioning. |
Defining partitions using a script | If you are creating a WinPE-based Windows system package, the script must use DiskPart syntax. The script executes in its entirety during the disk partition stage of provisioning. Note: When you use a script for partitioning, you are defining both the initial AND the permanent partitions. The initial partition size defined in the system package type object is not used in this case. (For information about specifying the initial partition size in the system package type object, see Creating-custom-system-package-types.) |
Defining partitions using the GUI fields | If you use the GUI-based approach and you define the primary partition and other partitions, the primary partition (that is, the C drive), is provisioned during the Disk Partition stage of provisioning. |
Field definitions
Use script for disk partitioning | - To supply a script that defines the disk partitions, select this option. Then add a script in the script text box using one of the following methods:
- Type the script directly in the input box.
- Type the name of a local property that contains the script, enclosing the property name with double question marks.
- Click Select Property
 to display a drop-down menu of available properties. Select the property that contains the script from the list. For information, see Inserting a script in a system package.
To use the GUI fields to define disk partitions, clear this option. Then add or edit lines in the disk partition table as follows: - To create a new partition, click Add
 . - To modify an existing partition, select the partition in the Disk Partition list and click Open
 . - To save your changes, click OK. The new or changed partition appears in the Disk Partitions list.
Note If you have EFI-based hardware on the server that you are provisioning and you want to enable booting using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) during provisioning (rather than using BIOS), you must define a UEFI partition, in addition to the primary partition.
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| Select a drive letter for the partition. |
| Select this option if the partition is the primary partition. |
| Select this option if the partition is a UEFI partition. |
| The type of file system. Select one of the following: - FAT32 — An enhanced version of the file allocation table file system. FAT32 offers compatibility with other operating systems, so if you are configuring a dual-boot system, you may want to use FAT32. If you are configuring a dual-boot partition with another Microsoft operating system, the primary partition must be FAT32. The maximum size you can specify for a FAT32 partition is 32 GB.
For a UEFI partition, FAT32 is the only valid option. - NTFS — NT File System is one of the file systems that Windows operating systems use for storing files. Microsoft recommends NTFS over FAT32 because of better security, compression, and performance. However, NTFS may not be compatible with other operating systems, so it may not be the correct choice if you are configuring a dual-boot system.
ReFS — Resilient File System (ReFS) is a new local file system. This file type is applicable for Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 operating systems. Note - Support for the ReFS File System type is available for Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 disk partitioning through the product user interface. ReFS is not supported when you create a partition using a script.
- ReFS is a secondary partition.
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| The size of the partition in megabytes. Set this value according to Microsoft's available disk space recommendations for the operating system specified in this system package.
To ensure that the operating system installation completes successfully, the provisioning process requires the following primary disk partition values: - For Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 operating systems: At least 10000 MB for an x86 system package type and at least 15000 MB for an x64 system package type.
- For Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 operating systems: At least 20000 MB.
- For all other Windows operating systems: At least 2000 MB.
- For a UEFI partition, specify a size between 50 to 250 megabytes. The default for a UEFI partition is 200 megabytes.
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Fill all unused space on disk | Check this option if you want the partition to fill all remaining space on the disk. Only one partition can fill all unused space. |
| Check this option to format the partition much faster than the normal format option. |
| The name for the partition. This name appears with the drive letter. For example: Misc (D:) . |
Proceed to the Post-disk-partition-Windows tab.