Getting Help with the Engineering Base Desktop (EBD)

Faculty and staff who have a problem using the Engineering Base Desktop (EBD), including restoring backed-up data or accessing departmental servers and printers, should contact their departmental IT support staff for assistance. They are also encouraged to review our knowledge base for answers to frequently asked questions.

Support of the EBD is shared between CAEN and departments, and when necessary, CAEN will work with departmental IT support staff regarding:


Driver Integration

For a successful installation of the EBD, device drivers will be needed in two places: the WinPE boot image that is launched to begin an EBD installation, and the Windows operating system that is eventually installed on the system. CAEN has added drivers to support over 100 different computer hardware models, but occasionally new models are released or non-standard hardware is purchased. When this occurs, the EBD installer requires additional drivers to be added to WinPE, Windows, or both before a successful installation can occur.

Self-service Integration (New for EBD 2022!)

CAEN provides a method for departmental IT support staff to integrate their own drivers for an EBD installation. Further information on this process, refer to our knowledge base article.

Full Integration

If a large number of identical computers in your department are not on the supported hardware list above, you can request the hardware be integrated. CAEN will evaluate requests for unsupported platforms on a case-by-case basis. Full integrations involve evaluating all components of the hardware, and are usually performed only if CAEN purchases a large number of identical systems for CAEN computer labs.

Deployment Assistance

Departmental IT support staff should make sure to read the Pre-Deployment Guide before beginning the deployment process. Any questions or problems regarding deployment of the EBD should be reported to CAEN.

Supported Hardware

The initial set of hardware is comprised of models that are already supported or recommended for purchase by CAEN. Being identified as supported hardware means that device drivers and applications for that system have been tested and verified to work with the EBD. You may also run the EBD in a virtual machine:

Desktop Hardware

  • HP Z2
  • HP Z2 Mini
  • HP Z240
  • HP Z230
  • HP Z220
  • HP ProDesk 600
  • HP EliteOne 800
  • HP Compaq Elite 8300 All-In-One

Laptop Hardware

  • HP EliteBook 840
  • HP EliteBook Folio 1040
  • Microsoft Surface Book

Virtual Machine Players

  • VMWare Workstation (Microsoft Windows)
  • VMWare Fusion (Apple Mac OS)

Reporting Deployment Problems

If you are having deployment problems, ensure that:

  • The boot order priority list has the hard drive listed before the network adapter.
  • All USB drives are disconnected.
  • The computer make and model are on the supported hardware listed above.
  • The computer is plugged into the network.
  • The computer object exists in Active Directory.

Support will not be provided for computers not on the supported hardware list.

If you still experience problems with deployment, contact CAEN. Include the following when reporting deployment problems:

  • Computer make and model (e.g. HP Z2)
  • Hostname and/or IP address
  • Deployment log files
  • Problem description, including any error codes

Future Plans

The EBD is intended to support administrative and productivity use on computers in Michigan Engineering departments. Each release is part of a community support model, and as such, departmental IT support staff are encouraged to submit back to CAEN modifications they make to support particular computer hardware or software applications in their department. Additional computer systems may be added to the supported hardware list by CAEN based on the feedback provided by departments.