Deployment Deployment Deployment :P

ally_uk

Yowdy guys had a quick flick through the MS Press book last night and just need a few pointers in further understanding the process and order of capturing images and what the various tools do. So Below I will give you a idea of what I already know lol and hopefully you can say Ally good job or hell no that's wrong :P

WIM Files - windows image files,

SIM - Used to create anwser files to automate the installation process, can also customize internet explorer settings and other stuff lol

DISM - Used to add driver files, language packs into the image

Imagex - used to capture the Image

There also is a command line tool used to create iso forget the name of it

So this is where I fall down a bit

WinPe, windows preinstallation environment, If I have a computer without Windows 7 installed and boot this up what is the purpose of it? Do I use it to install WAIK? totally confused about this bit what can somebody just give me a good explanation on WinPE. what is the purpose of booting up WinPe?

Sysprep - Used to remove machine identifiers, Computer names, prepare the machines for end deployment.

slowly but surely I think I am starting to make sense of it lol

mark_s0

It's used as a basic OS that runs basic services such as tcp/ip networking and file sharing.
If you had a computer without Windows 7 installed, you would boot to the WinPE environment either via a PXE server or cd/usb flash, then from there connect to a network share and download an image onto the computer.
You can do the opposite too, say you've built a Windows 7 machine and you want to capture it as an image to deploy elsewhere. You can use WinPE to boot into and capture an image to either a hard disk or network share.

We're looking to use it with WDS for image capturing and deploying.

HTH

ally_uk

The second part of your answer doesn't really make any sense to me though, if you have Windows 7 already installed then why do you need to even boot WinPe? surely you would setup your Windows 7 install install required applications and tweak it to how you want it i.e customize software and look and then use imagex or something to capture the image? am I over complicating matters? or do I have a valid point? why do you need a minimal operating system?

Psoasman

You would load a reference computer and get is set the way you need. You then boot into WinPe, use ImageX to capture the image to a USB drive or a network share.
Be aware there are some sytax errors in the MS press book, so you would want to check technet. I used Darril Gibson's book for practicing the deployment and capturing of images and had no problems with it.

ally_uk

Cant you just like run image x from WAIK in Windows eliminating the need for winPE or am I being a asshat about this lol

mark_s0

Sorry my answer wasn't that clear. As Psoasman said, you need to boot into WinPE to use ImageX. As far as I know, you can't use it straight from WAIK as ImageX needs an environment to boot into before it can be run. Like most other image capturing solutions (Ghost/Altiris), you need an environment to boot into as you can't capture system files whilst they are running.

ally_uk

Many thanks for the heads up , I think I am getting the hang of this it doesn't seem that daunting anymore, I guess the MSPRESS book isn't that bad, you just have to go over the information slowly and check the errata, I was thinking of creating a easy to follow guide on deployment with the correct information once I have learnt some more to help others out will upload it to the forum.

mark_s0

ally_uk wrote: »

Many thanks for the heads up , I think I am getting the hang of this it doesn't seem that daunting anymore, I guess the MSPRESS book isn't that bad, you just have to go over the information slowly and check the errata, I was thinking of creating a easy to follow guide on deployment with the correct information once I have learnt some more to help others out will upload it to the forum.

A guide sounds good! With more and more people switching to Windows 7 and relying on free/cheap deployment solutions, it'll be really useful.

Psoasman

ally_uk wrote: »

I was thinking of creating a easy to follow guide on deployment with the correct information once I have learnt some more to help others out will upload it to the forum.

That's one of the best ways to learn. Research it and pass it on to others. Good for you.

kriscamaro68

ally_uk wrote: »

Cant you just like run image x from WAIK in Windows eliminating the need for winPE or am I being a asshat about this lol

No you can not run imagex from within waik or a windows 7 os to copy an image of itself because there are processes and resouces that use files and what not in system32, windows, and all those directories. With these in use you would get errors saying that the files could not be copied because they are in use or full write protected. This is why the winpe environment is needed because it allows you to copy the image with none of the files being used durning the imaging process. Also another tip is check out gimagex. It s a gui for imagex that can be used in winpe for ez image creation and restoration.