Sybex 70-680 MCTS Panek Book

dazl1212

Hi Guys,

First post on here so go easy on me.
I have the MCTS 70-680 Panek book.
I have got up to chapter two of the book and I have noticed two things.
1. Exercise 2.4 it tells you to use the Win PE disk to run Image X but gives you no instructions on how to make the Win P.E disk.... am I reading this wrong or missing something.
2. Exercise 2.8 It goes on about a WDS Server and windows server 2008 I don't have much of a network or Windows 2008. Do I need to get these or is there a simulator I can download that the book doesn't allude to?
Has any body else read this book? I have used Sybex books in the past and they have been great. Am I missing the point entirely or am I just being thick? I read the Self Paced training kit book but gave up 3 chapters in because it was riddled with mistakes and I got fed up wasting hours trying to get the correct commands.

Mokilok

Hi Dazl

I used this book to pass 70-680. It assumes that you have some experience with Server or that you are working in a IT Support type role. I would get yourself a copy of Server Ent from somewhere if you can find one and setup Hyper-V. Hyper-V is very simple to use and you can setup virtual Windows 7 Machines and Server OS's inside it as Virtual Machines ( a lab).
This book misses a few things so learn from more than one source, theres also a couple mistakes.

A couple of the practice questions gave confusing and misleading answers. I can't remember the exact questions but an example would be "Which Windows 7 Editions support Bitlocker Functionality?
Starter
Home
Pro
Enterprise"
Answer: "Only Enterprise supports Bitlocker Functionality"

Where the correct answer would actually include Ultimate but as that wasn't listed as an option the answer becomes misleading.

Along with the book I relied heavily upon my experience (as I work with imageX and server 2008 R2 at work) but there is also a CBT Nuggets video series if you need it.

BTW! To get a PE image download and Install the latest version of WAIK (This way you get WinPE 3.0 instead of the old one) which will put the Windows PE Deployment tools Command prompt in your start menu. You then create your WinPE folders based on Architecture by using the following command in the Windows PE Command Prompt window: copype.cmd x86 C:\WinPE\x86\

OR

copype.cmd amd64 C:\WinPE\amd64\

There is also now one for Itanium based processors which you probably won't need to use but good to know anyway, which is:

copype.cmd ia64 C:\WinPE\ia64\

Overall I would say that book was pretty bad but in the end I passed first time and it was the only resource I used so it must have contained all the required information if albeit a little confusing at times.

dazl1212

Thank you very much for the above post brilliant post.
I have a little experience of server 2008 but not nearly enough. The stuff you have posted is exactly what I was looking for and I will have a tinker with that all this weekend and let you know how I get on. Unfortunately its the chicken and egg situation with getting the experience and the certs, you cant have one without the other.

dazl1212

Also is there anyway I could set up a virtual network on this or any other program with say a server running S2008 and a couple of clients running windows 7?