Anyone find all the different deployment/imaging options overwhelming?

I am on chapter three of Configuring Windows 7 (Self-Paced training kit). I honestly feel very overwhelmed by all the different methods available, the different command-line switches, and even the different image file types. Did anyone else feel overwhelmed by this? Any suggestions?

Oh and before I forget, how much time should I spend on learning the command-line switches, and commands?

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Comments

earweed

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I am on chapter three of Configuring Windows 7 (Self-Paced training kit).
Did anyone else feel overwhelmed by this?

That's where I left off on my Windows 7 studies because I was kind of overwhelmed by it. I'll pick it back up and take the exam probaly either after this term at WGU or after I finish up next term.
I'm mainly just studying for Server 2K8 stuff and doing a little research to figure out what to do for my Capstone project.

Hyper-Me

There really arent that many totally different methods, as much as the different methods compliment one another for a given scenario.

If you think what is in the 680 is overwhelming...wait til you try the 686

Let me know if you need any help with it, as its one of my stronger areas. I can also make some short videos showing a concept if you need.

Grynder

I felt the same way after reading chapter 3.
But after using the study links here and using google to research the different imaging/deployment options I have come to the conclusion that chapter 3 is just a very badly written and unorganized chapter

Zartanasaurus

Yes, if you're just reading it for the first time, it seems very redundant. Easiest thing to do is to just do it and you'll understand it better.

starwolf43

The chapters on system images ended up being a road block for me in my studying. I had planned to complete a chapter a day, but when I got to those chapters, I too felt overwhelmed by it and it ended up taking me over a week just to make sense of all the information in those chapters.

I feel those two chapters were just very badly written. I had to pretty much copy most of the information in those chapters into a Microsoft Word document and then reorganize the information into a way that I found more logical and after that, the information was easier for me to understand.

Thankfully, the rest of the chapters in the book are written better.

ally_uk

I read chapter 2 in the MS Press book last night and I agree it is a bit of a mess, all over the place, did the author proof read this at all? just seems like a copy and paste job and some sections are even repeated. I sightly understand concepts, Correct me if I am wrong in my understanding of deploying.

WAIK - You use SIM to create anwser files or anwser files can created manually by editing a unattend.xml file, Using SIM you can Edit WIM images. Anwser files must be saved to the root directory of a USB, or external device.

Sysprep - Used to prepare the machine for the end user, you can use the sysprep /generalize command to remove unqiue identifiers and prepare the image to be captured, Or you can use sysprerp / audit, to boot windows in audit mode and configure the system for the end user i.e install applications,

Windows PE 3.0 - Preinstall enviornment, Boot this up and you then use Image X to capture the image or you can connect to network shares and install Images of Windows 7, PE is can also used to troubleshoot machines in which the windows installed failed.

WDS Server - Windows Deployment Services is essentially a replacement for RIS allows you install Windows images via network, i.e boot up a machine using PXE and grabbing the image you want off a server.

I havent really touched on MDT 2010 ,VHD's or DISM yet

I kinda understand the basics but need to write up the steps a bit clearer and actually practice deployments in a lab situation.

Hyper-Me

You've got the jist of it, ally. But SIM is not used to edit images, its used to edit/create answer files.

You can mount an image using ImageX and edit the files inside of it, or you can mount it with DISM and do the same, and also insert/remove drivers/packages and turn on/off certain windows features.

ally_uk

Thanks, i'm getting there though doing much better then I did when I first started.

The thing I am confused about is if you have a computer with no O/S installed if you boot to Windows PE 3.0 can you then capture a image of the computer? that doesn't make sense as there isn't a O/S installed wait I am confusing myself lol

What is the purpose of the PE?

Hyper-Me

PE is used as a live environment outside of what is on the disk, so you can capture an image or apply an image. Its also very handy for troubleshooting.

the imaging technology that ImageX uses is file-based. So long as the file system is FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS you can capture the file structure of that partition. (Regardless of whether or not there is an actual OS installed on that partition).

MentholMoose

John Baker is in the process of doing a series of screencasts on Win7 deployment.

Windows 7 Deployment – Introduction to Deployment (Part 1)
Windows 7 Deployment – Deployment Tools (Part 2)
Windows 7 Deployment – MDT 2010 Deployment Process (Part 3)
Windows 7 Deployment – Deployment Step 1: Gather Required Software (Part 4)
Windows 7 Deployment – Step 2: Prepare the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Environment (Part 5)