Release notes

What changed in each release, and anything worth knowing before you update.

1.2.18 — 18 August 2026

Rewrite your boot media for this one.

• Computer names now activate before the domain join. First boot uses Windows' supported online rename flow, then continues automatically after the required restart and joins Active Directory under the requested name.
• Deployments recover safely from a stale pending computer name left by older media instead of repeatedly rebooting while waiting for a registry-only rename to activate.
• Identity automation waits for Windows startup services, verifies the final computer name, domain membership, and secure channel, and records a clear failure if confirmation times out.
• Planned identity restarts are capped at three. ImageForge now stops safely and preserves its diagnostic log instead of allowing an unattended rename/domain-join reboot loop.

1.2.17 — 18 August 2026

Rewrite your boot media for this one.

• Domain identity changes now survive every required restart. ImageForge leaves an old domain, applies the requested computer name, and joins the destination domain as a restart-aware sequence that continues automatically under SYSTEM at startup.
• Domain problems are caught before deployment. The preflight checks domain-controller discovery, credentials, the selected OU, existing computer objects, and duplicate SPNs, with specific corrective guidance instead of discovering the problem after imaging.
• Replacement clones now apply the requested name across every offline Windows control set, preventing a stale control set from restoring the captured machine's identity.
• Custom first-boot commands run only after ImageForge finishes identity and domain work, with separate status and logging so a custom script cannot hide or interrupt the join.
• Website downloads, checksums, billing calls, and the admin console now use branded image-forge.net paths instead of exposing the service host in customer links.

1.2.16 — 17 August 2026

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• Domain completion is resilient and diagnosable. First boot now waits for a domain controller, retries a failed join at up to three administrator sign-ins, records details in C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\ImageForge-firstboot.log, and reliably schedules the restart that completes the new computer identity.
• Deployment profiles are checked before the disk is erased. Missing local/domain credentials, invalid name-template tokens, unsafe sequence widths, and a blank hostname for a domain deployment now stop while the target disk is still intact. The exact normalized Windows/AD computer name is shown in the deployment plan.
• The completion screen clearly separates a finished image apply from profile actions that still need to run in Windows, lists the expected first-boot behavior and diagnostic logs, and uploads the completed PE session log before waiting at the reboot prompt.
• ImageForge-managed local-admin and domain work runs before a profile's custom first-boot command, so a custom exit, failure, or restart cannot silently skip identity setup.
• USB media written from the ISO now appears as IMAGEFORGE instead of the generic USB label.

1.2.15 — 17 August 2026

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• Domain joins now use the computer name selected during deployment. On a replacement clone, Active Directory could previously create or reuse the computer object under Windows' old or temporary name even though the deployed PC showed the requested name after restart. ImageForge now binds that requested name directly to the domain join, keeping Windows and AD consistent.
• This corrects new deployments. A PC already affected by the mismatch should be unjoined to a workgroup, restarted, and joined again once with its correct name.

1.2.14 — 14 August 2026

Rewrite your boot media for this one.

• Deployment images no longer stop at the Microsoft account screen. A generalized (Sysprep) image used to come up in Windows' out-of-box experience demanding a Microsoft account, with no obvious way past it. Deploying one now answers those screens automatically. Give the deployment profile a local admin account and a locale to skip setup entirely and boot straight to the sign-in screen — the deploy screen tells you if either is missing. Replacement clones are unaffected. See skipping the out-of-box experience.
• The local administrator account from a profile is now reconciled rather than re-created at first sign-in, so it no longer fails when Windows setup created it first.

1.2.13 — 14 August 2026

Rewrite your boot media for this one.

• Deployment profiles now apply to replacement clones. Domain join, the local administrator account, and custom first-boot scripts previously only ran on generalized (Sysprep) images. On a replacement clone — the default capture type — they were installed but never executed, so a profile appeared to do nothing beyond renaming the PC. They now run at the deployed PC's first sign-in. Sign in as a local administrator first: a domain join needs elevation and network access.
• Deploy now states plainly which profile settings applied immediately and which run at first sign-in, instead of reporting success for both.
• Driver packs accept vendor CAB files (such as Dell Command | Deploy) and convert them for you. Uploads are now checked on arrival: a vendor .exe, a wrong file, or a ZIP with no drivers in it is refused immediately with an explanation, rather than being accepted and quietly installing nothing during a deployment. The driver list shows how many drivers each pack contains.
• Profile editing has a cancel button.

1.2.12 — 13 August 2026

• Webhooks work with Slack, Teams, and Discord. Chat services reject the plain event format, so those integrations previously failed on every message. Choose a payload format to match the receiver; raw remains the default and is unchanged for RMM and PSA systems.
• Send test event button: verify a webhook immediately instead of waiting for a real capture or deployment, and see exactly what the receiving system said.
• New webhooks and integration guide.

1.2.11 — 13 August 2026

• Deployments report their progress to the Forge. The activity view previously went quiet after the image finished downloading; it now follows the apply, driver injection, and boot-file stages on the PC being imaged.
• Console fixes: a dashboard action that did not look like a button, a misaligned status badge, and wasted space on the overview page.

1.2.10 — 13 August 2026

• Capture works again on PCs that have never used BitLocker. Those PCs were incorrectly blocked at the capture preflight. If you saw "could not read BitLocker status", this release fixes it.

1.2.9 — 13 August 2026

• Signing out of the console no longer leaves the header and its search bar usable over the locked screen.

1.2.8 — 12 August 2026

• Image categories you can create, rename, and assign, with a refreshed server console and a command search box (Ctrl K).
• Technician access codes can be issued without an expiry date.

Earlier releases

1.2.7 added the capture readiness checker and automatic Forge certificate authentication, so technicians no longer type a fingerprint by hand. 1.2.6 introduced explicit capture purposes — replacement clone or deployment image. 1.2.3 added the self-service 14-day trial. For anything older, contact contact@image-forge.net.