FluxDeployDocs
Topics: Recipes

Recipes

A Deployment Recipe is a reusable configuration that defines everything needed to deploy Windows to a machine. Recipes combine a Windows image, driver packages, answer file settings, and task sequences into a single deployable unit. One recipe can be used to deploy hundreds of machines.

Creating a Recipe

Navigate to Recipes and click New Recipe. The dialog has two steps:

  1. Starting point - a tile per archetype: Blank Recipe, Standard Workstation, Laptop with BitLocker, Autopilot Registration, Wipe & Redeploy. The tile decides the task steps, driver matching mode and answer-file handling.
  2. Details - Recipe Name and Windows Image, plus the Autopilot Group Tag when the chosen tile registers devices with Autopilot.

Everything else - driver packages, relay groups, the deployment password, Autopilot and the Active flag - is edited on the recipe page after creation. Only active recipes are available for deployment; when a single active recipe exists, machines are auto-assigned during registration with no technician interaction required.

The Recipe Detail Page

/recipes/{id} has three tabs:

  • Overview - recipe details (image, active flag, answer file) on the left; deployment counts, Windows Autopilot, the deployment password and relay group assignment on the right
  • Drivers - driver selection mode and the assigned driver packages
  • Task Sequence - the per-phase step editor

The detail page updates while you watch it; you do not need to refresh it.

Windows Server images: if the recipe's image is Windows Server, the Autopilot switch is disabled with the note "Windows Autopilot is not available for Windows Server images", and you cannot move a recipe that has Autopilot on onto a Server image (turn Autopilot off first). See Deploying Windows Server.

Autopilot, Security and Relay Groups used to be tabs of their own. Their old addresses (/recipes/{id}/autopilot, /security, /relay-groups) redirect to Overview.

Driver Selection Modes

Each recipe has a Driver Selection Mode that controls how deployment drivers are matched to hardware:

Manual Mode (Default)

You explicitly select driver packages in the recipe configuration. All selected packages are injected regardless of the target machine's hardware. Best for environments with uniform hardware.

Auto Mode

The server automatically matches drivers based on the machine's manufacturer and model, reported via WMI during agent registration. This is equivalent to MDT's "Total Control" driver management.

How Auto matching works:

  1. Agent sends Manufacturer + Model from Win32_ComputerSystem during check-in
  2. Server queries driver packages where the manufacturer matches and SupportedModelsJson contains the machine model
  3. Matching is case-insensitive with partial model name support (e.g., "HP EliteDesk 800 G6" matches a pack tagged "EliteDesk 800 G6")
  4. Results are filtered by supported Windows versions and sorted by priority
  5. If no model match is found, the recipe falls back to any packages explicitly listed in the manual driver list

Tip: Use Auto mode with OEM catalog downloads - manufacturer and model fields are auto-populated from catalog metadata. A single recipe can serve all hardware models.

Unattended Deployment

Overview > Unattended deployment decides whether a machine deploying this recipe from an unattended boot image may wipe its disk with nobody at the keyboard. When it is off, the technician confirms the wipe even on an unattended boot image. When it is on, the agent shows a 30-second countdown naming the disk, and any key stops it. New recipes start with it off. See Unattended Deployment.

Active Flag

The IsActive flag controls recipe availability:

  • Active recipes appear in the agent's recipe selection menu and are available for relay sync
  • Inactive recipes are hidden from deployments but retained for reference
  • When exactly one recipe is active, the agent auto-assigns it with zero technician interaction
  • When multiple recipes are active, the agent displays a numbered menu for the technician to choose

Relay group assignment

A relay group decides which recipes (and with them images and drivers) its relay sites receive. On the recipe detail page's Overview tab, checkboxes assign the recipe to one or more relay groups; relay sites in a ticked group receive the recipe, its Windows image and its drivers while the recipe is active.

Every new recipe - created or cloned - joins the default relay group (the create dialog shows it ticked), so relay sites in that group receive it as soon as it is active. Untick the default group on the Overview to keep a recipe off those relay sites; it stays off. The same assignment can be made from the other direction on Relay sites > Relay groups. See Relay groups.

Per-Machine State

Recipes are intentionally reusable - there is no per-machine targeting. Deployment state (status, progress, timestamps) is tracked on the Machine entity, not the recipe. This means:

  • No MAC address lists or machine-to-recipe mapping
  • The recipe definition stays clean and reusable
  • Machine history is preserved independently