Windows Vista Image Deployment Step-By-Step Guide

Thisdocumentprovidesinstructionsfor implementingabasicimagebaseddeploymentof Therearemanyguidesavailableontheinternet, butwefelttheyallmisssomesteps.Therefore wedecidedtoshareourinternaldocumentation. Theprocessforourdeploymentscenario includes: PrepareanUSBstickwith WindowsPEBootDisk Prepareandcaptureanimage(ImageX) Manuallydeployanimageonasingle machine(ImageX) Thisdocumentdoesnotcoverautomated deploymentofimagesonmultiplecomputers usingtoolsasADS.

MicrosoftWindowsVistaoperatingsystem.We recommendthatyoufirstusethestepsprovided inthisguideinatestlabenvironmentasameans tobecomefamiliarwithnewandupdated deploymentfeaturesandtechnologiesavailable inWindowsVista. MigratinganOperatingSystemisamajorproject thatrequirescarefulplanningandguidance.To easetheprocess,Microsofthasprovideda

numberoftoolsforautomatingVista deploymentsincludingtheWindowsAutomated InstallationKit(WAIK),theMicrosoftDeployment Toolkit2008(MDT),WindowsDeployment

Services(WDS)andthenewUserStateMigration Tool.
RaasVanGaverestraat83 B9000GENT,Belgium Email info@orbitone.com Website www.orbitone.com Tel. Fax VAT: Bank:

Date: Developedby: Reference: Company:

5September2008 LievenMeys,OlivierMangelschots ORB9463 OrbitOneInternal

+3292657420 +3292657410 BE456.457.353 442705900150(KBC)

Contents
1. Introduction_______________________________________________________________3 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 2. WindowsPE_________________________________________________________3 Sysprep_____________________________________________________________3 OSLicensing_________________________________________________________3

PrepareaWindowsPEBootDisk ______________________________________________4 2.1. 2.2. 2.3. Requirements________________________________________________________4 Stepbystep_________________________________________________________4 AdddriverstoanexistingwinPEbootdisk_________________________________7

3. 4.

Prepareamasterinstallation________________________________________________9 Creatinganimage__________________________________________________________11 4.1. 4.2. Captureimages ______________________________________________________11 Addstufftoyourexistingimage _________________________________________12

5.

DeployingImages __________________________________________________________13 5.1. 5.2. Installanimage ______________________________________________________13 Completetheinstallation_______________________________________________14

6.

Resources ________________________________________________________________15 _

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

1.

Introduction
Windows PE

1.1.

WindowsPreinstallationEnvironment(WinPE)isalightweightversionofWindowsXP,Windows Server2003orWindowsVistathatisusedforthedeploymentofworkstationsandservers.Itis intendedasa32bitor64bitreplacementforMSDOSduringtheinstallationphaseofWindows, andcanbebootedviaPXE,CDROM,USBflashdriveorharddisk.Traditionallyusedbylarge corporationsandOEMs(topreinstallWindowsclientoperatingsystemstoPCsduring manufacturing),itisnowwidelyavailablefreeofchargeviatheWindowsAutomatedInstallation Kit(WAIK).TheWindowsAutomatedInstallationKithelpsyoutoinstall,customize,anddeploy theMicrosoftWindowsVistafamilyofoperatingsystems.

1.2.

Sysprep

SysprepisthenameofMicrosoft'sSystemPreparationUtilityforMicrosoftWindowsoperating systemdeployment.Ithasbeenusedforyears,butthistoolhaschangedsignificantlyfor WindowsVista.InpreviousversionsofWindows(WindowsXPand2000),Sysprepwasmade availableintheWindowsOPK,WindowsCDDeploy.cabfile,or,inthelatestservicepack.With VistathereisnolongeraDeploy.cabfileontheCDandnolongerSetupManagerforcreating answersfilesbecauseVistausesanewsetofdeploymenttools(ItsallavailableintheOSitself). Sysprepcanbeusedtoprepareanoperatingsystemfordiskcloningandrestorationviaadisk image.IfyoudontusesysprepbeforeyoucloneanOSyoushallhaveproblemswiththeunique SID(SecurityIdentifier).

1.3.

OS Licensing

ItsveryimportanttochoosetherightOSlicense(OEM,VolumeLicense,MSDN,ActionPack,...)if youwanttoprepareanoperatingsystemfordiskcloning.OnceyoumadeanimageofanOEM OS,youcanuseonlyOEMkeystoactivatetheOS!

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

2.

Prepare a Windows PE Boot Disk

Requirements

2.1.

Beforeyoubegin,youneedtodownloadWindowsAutomatedInstallationKit(WAIK)fromthe Microsoftsite(seebelow).YoualsoneedadisktostoretheOS(anUSBstickforexample). http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C7D4BC6D15F342849123 679830D629F2&displaylang=en

2.2.

Step-by-step
InstalltheWAIK(itisdeliveredasan.IMGfilefromthedownloadsiteeitherburnthis toaCDormountitusingatoolsuchasVirtualCloneCD) IntheStartmenunavigatetoAllPrograms>MicrosoftWindowsAIKandrunthe WindowsPEToolscommandpromptasanAdministrator Dontcopy/pastethecommandstothecmd,becausewordchangessome characterslike!!!!

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

 Atthecommandpromptrun o copypex86c:\PEBuild (thiscopiesthePESourcetoanewdirectorythatwewilluseforconstructing ourimageifyouneededtheAMD64sourcethenreplacex86withamd64). YourenowinC:\ProgramFiles\WindowsAIK\Tools\PETools Atthecommandprompt(noticeyouarenowinthec:\PEBuilddirectory)run o imagex/mountrwwinpe.wim1mount (thismountstheWinPEimagefileinthemountdirectoryreadyforustoadd into,thenumber1istheindexnumberoftheimageyouwanttoworkwith. Theindexnumberinrequired.Wimfilescancontainmorethanoneimage,and theindexnumberindicateswhatimageyouwanttoworkwith.) Createan.inifilecalledwimscript.ini.ThisfileisusedbyImageXtoexcludeunneeded filesandfolderswhencapturinganimageofaVistaPC.ImageXwill,bydefault,exclude certainfiles,butifitfindsawimscript.inifileinthesamefolderasImageX,itwillusethis fileforanyadditionalexclusions. o Opennotepadandcopy/pastetheinfobelowthensaveitinthedirectory c:\ProgramFiles\WindowsAIK\Tools\x86\andnameitwimscript.ini [ExclusionList] ntfs.log hiberfil.sys pagefile.sys "SystemVolumeInformation" RECYCLER Windows\CSC [CompressionExclusionList] *.mp3 *.zip *.cab \WINDOWS\inf\*.pnf http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc749311.aspx SothatwehavetheimagexanddeploymenttoolsavailableinourPEBootdisk,run

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

 o xcopy"c:\ProgramFiles\WindowsAIK\Tools\x86\*.*"mount\/s

Atthispointyoucouldaddotherfilesintotheimage(suchasGhosttools,PMenu,etc) bycopyingthemintothemountdirectoryyoucanalsousethepeimgcommandatthis pointtoinstallothersupporttoolssuchasscriptingandHTAsupport. (Ifyoudontwanttoaddthisgotothenextstep) Runpeimg/listmounttoseethefulllistandthenthefollowingactionstoinstallnew support: o peimg/install=WinPEXMLPackage/image=C:\PEBuild\mount\Windows peimg/install=WinPEHTAPackage/image=C:\PEBuild\mount\Windows WinPEHTAPackage HTMLsupportforapplications

WinPEScriptingPackage SupportforWindowsScriptingHost WinPEXMLPackage WinPESRTPackage WinPeMDACPackage Onceyouarereadytosealtheimageupthenrun o peimg/prepmount thiswillensurethattheWinPEimageisoptimised.Youwillneedtoagreeto sealit Typeyes,otherwiseitwillnotclosetheimage Aftersealingtheimageyouthenneedtounmountit o imagex/unmountmount/commit SupportforanXMLParser WindowsRecoveryEnvironmentComponent SupportforMicrosoftDataAccessComponent

ToplacethenewlycreatedcustomWinPEimageintothecorrectfolderthatwecanthen callontocreatethebootdisk.Run o copy/ywinpe.wimiso\sources\boot.wim

TocreateabootableISOfilethatcanthenbeusedtobootintoWinPE,changebackto c:\ProgramFiles\WindowsAIK\Tools\PEToolsandthenrunthefollowingcommand o oscdimg.exenhb"c:\ProgramFiles\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\boot\etfsboot.com"c:\PEbuild\isoc:\PEBuild\PE.iso

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

 (thenoptionallowsforlongfilenamesandtheboptionmakesitbootable, andhsaystowriteanyhiddenfilesorfolders;nospacebetweenbc, otherwiseitwillnotwork) o Justexitthecmdandgotoc:\PEbuild=>PE.isoisthefileyoucouldburntoa cd So,younowhaveanISOfilethatyoucouldburntoaCDorDVD.Buttheideaofdoing allthiswastogetabootableUSBdevice.Sohereisthefinalstep:GrabtheUSBdiskand thenusethefollowingdiskpartcommands(bewarnedcheckthediskthatyouare goingtobeusingisdisk1orifnotthenusethecorrectoneforyourcircumstancethe cleancommandisacleanofthediskITWILLDESTROYTHEDATAONTHEDISKTHAT YOUSELECTCHECKBEFOREPROCEDING!): o diskpart selectdisk1 clean createpartitionprimary selectpartition1 active formatfs=NTFS assign exit Aftercompletingthediskcleanandcreatingtheformat,copythecontentsof c:\PEBuild\ISOdirectorytotheUSBStick.Ifyouarewantingtobeabletodolocal deploymentsthenthefinalstepistoaddintheWIMfilethatyouwanttouse(Vista, XP,2003etc).YouarenowreadytobootoffyourUSBstickandcaptureorinstallWIM files!

2.3.

Add drivers to an existing winPE boot disk

WhenyourunwinPEonanewcomputeritspossiblethatyougetthefollowingerrorwhenyou view/renewthenetworksettings: "WindowsIPConfiguration" "AnerroroccurredwhilereleasinginterfaceLoopbackPseudoInterface1:Thesystemcannot findthefilespecified." "Theoperationfailedasnoadapterisinthestatepermissableforthisoperation."

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

 ThisproblemoccurswhenwindowsPEismissingadriver,inthiscaseitsanicdriver.Tosolve thisproblemweneedtocreateanewwindowsPEbootdisk.Followthestepsbelowtocreatean uptodatewindowsPE: Downloadthenewestnetworkcarddrivers Installthenetworkdriversonyourpc GotoWindowsPEToolsCommandPromptandexecutethefollowingcommands: imagex/mountrwC:\PEBuild\winpe.wim1C:\PEBuild\Mount o Idumpedmynew/extradriversintheC:\PEBuild\extraNICdriversfolder.

peimg/inf=C:\PEBuild\extraNICdrivers\*.inf/image=C:\PEBuild\Mount\Windows imagex/unmount/commitC:\PEBuild\Mount copy/yC:\PEBuild\winpe.wimC:\PEBuild\iso\sources\boot.wim oscdimg.exenhb"c:\ProgramFiles\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\boot\etfsboot.com"C:\PEBuild\isoc:\PEBuild\PE.iso o don'tcopythelastrulefromword>justtypeit,otherwiseyouwillgetthe errorbelow: ERROR:Couldnotdeleteexistingfile"C:\PEBuild\iso" Error5:Accessisdenied.

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

3.

Prepare a master installation

Beforeyouareabletocaptureanimage,youneedtoprepareamasterinstallation.Installall thesoftwareanddriversyouneed.DontactivatetheOSorapplications,theactivationshallbe cleanedbysysprep! Weadvisetocarefullyselectandplanthetoolsandapplicationsthatwillbeincludedinthe imageaswellasthenumberofimagesyouneedinyourorganisation: Organizemeetingswiththepeopleinthedepartmentsinyourorganisation. Discusswhattoolstheyfrequentlyuse.Makesuretoidentifyolderorincompatible apps. Trytolimitthenumberofmasterimagesyouneedinyourorganisation.Thiswillmake themaintenancemoretransparent. Checkyourlicensingoptions.Sometimesyoucanincludeanapplicationintheimage withouttheneedforalicense,aslongasitsnotactivated. Example:thereisawebdesignteaminyourorganisationwith8people.3ofthemuse AdobePhotoshopandIllustrator.TheothermakeuseofafreeHTMLeditororweb basedcontentmanagementsystems.Yourcompanyowns3userlicensesofAdobe CreativeSuiteCS3.Insteadofhavingtocreate2imagesforthisteam,justcreate1. IncludeCS3intheimage,butonlyactivateitforthe3peoplethatneedit.Nowyouhave theflexibilitytodeactivatealicenseononecomputerandactivateitonanother. Onlyinstallrecentapplicationswiththeirlatestupdates/servicepack. DoNOTjointhemachineinadomain.Thiswillbedoneafteryoudeployanimage. DoNOTactivateanylicensesofWindowsVistaorMicrosoftOffice,thesewillbe removedbysysprep. Keepaninventoryofeverythingthatyouinstalledorconfiguredontheimage( applications,servicepacks,drivers,updates,customconfigurations,...) Whenyourimageisready,deployandputitononecomputerandhaveauserworkon itforafewdays.Askforfeedback: o o o o Didyouneedtoinstallanydriversornewapplications? Didyouneedtoconfigure/customizecertainthings. Didyouneedtoinstallupdatesorservicepacks? Didyouexperienceanycrashorhiccups?

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

 o Isthemachineandapplicationsrunningfastenough?

Finetuneyourimageuntilthetestusersarehappy.Thiswillgreatlyreduceyour helpdeskcallswhenyoudeploythenewmachines! Disable/Finetunetheindexingandusethebestperformance(noaeroglasslook)Ifyou wanttoincreaseWindowsVista

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

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4.

Creating an image
Capture images
RunsyspreponyourcomputertocleartheSID ChooseOOBE(Generalizeisntnecessary,choosethiswhenyouwanttokeepsomeof thewindowssettingsyoumade!!Chooseforshutdown) ChooseforEnterSystemAuditModeifyouwanttouseananswerfile.Its possibletomadeanunattendedtextfile/answerfileinVista,butwedontuse thisatOrbitOne(youcanusethisformajordeployments).ifyouwanttomade ananswerfilethenyoushoulduseWindowsSystemImageManager,thisisone ofthedeploymenttoolsinVista(youneedtodownloadtheWAIKfirst). WindowsSIMisthetoolyouusetomanageanimagefilescontents.

Onceyouhaveagoodmasterinstallation,itstimetocaptureitinanwimfile.

4.1.

RestartandputtheWindowsPECDROMorUSBstickinyourcomputer BootwithWindowsPECDROMorUSBStick Notethatyoumayneedtochangethebootpriorityinthebios. X:\Imagex.exe/compressfast/captureC:C:\vista.wimVistainstall/verify Thesystemisnowcreatingacompressedimagefile,thiscantakeseveralminutesto hours,dependingonthesizeofyouOSandapps.

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

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 Connecttoanetworksharewherethereisenoughstoragespacetouploadtheimage: Netusey:\\server\share\ Youmayneedtoenterausernameandpassword. CopyC:\vista.wimy: Theimageisnowcopyingtothenetworkdrive.Thiscantakequitesometime.Weadvise tousegigabitEthernet.

4.2.

Add stuff to your existing image

UsePackageManagertoaddsoftware,drivers,orcustomconfigstoanexistingimage. PackageManagerisnewforWindowsVista.PackageManageristhecmdtoolthatisusedto applyupdates,languagepacks,andotherupdatesthatareprovidedbyMicrosoft. Moreinfoonhttp://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc749509.aspx

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

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5.

Deploying Images
Install an image

5.1.

NowwearegoingtousetheWindowsPEbootdisk,thatwemadeearlierinthisdocument,and wefollowthestepsbelow: BootusingWindowsPE(CDROMorUSBstick) Notethatyoumayneedtochangethebootpriorityinthebios. Usethediskpartcommandtoformattheharddrive o o o o o o o o Diskpart selectdisk0 clean createpartitionprimary selectpartition1 active formatquick exit

Connecttoanetworksharewherethereisenoughstoragespacetouploadtheimage: Netusey:\\server\share\ Youmayneedtoenterausernameandpassword. X:\windows\system32\formatc:/FS:NTFS/q>Itsnotnecessary,itsequaltostepb X:\Imagex/applyy:\vistax86.wim1c: Theimagewillbeappliedonthelocalharddisk.Thiscantakeseveralminutestohours, dependingonyournetworkspeedandimagesize. Toresolveabootproblem,followthesethreesteps: o o o x:\windows\system32\bcdedit/set{default}devicepartition=c: x:\windows\system32\bcdedit/set{default}osdevicepartition=c: x:\windows\system32\bcdedit/set{bootmgr}devicepartition=c:

RemovetheWindowsPXbootdiskandreboot.

OrbitOneInternal WindowsVistaImageDeploymentStepByStepGuide5September2008

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5.2.

Complete the installation

FollowtheWindowsWizard Checkfordriverproblems(e.g.differenthardwarethentheonetheimageisbasedon) JointhecomputertoActiveDirectorydomain ActivateWindows,Officeandotherapplications Finetunewindowsifthisisnecessary ...

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6.

Resources

WindowsVistaDeploymentStepbyStepGuide http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc721929.aspx

WindowsAIK http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc748933.aspx

HowtocreateWindowsPEbootdisk http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid192_gci1297757,00.html http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/winvistape2.htm http://www.vistapcguy.net/?p=71

GeneralInformation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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