FROM THE Windows® 7 Resource Kit Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, Jerry Honeycutt, Ed Wilson, and the Windows 7 Team at Microsoft I Chapter 3 Deployment Platform .............................................. 85 I Chapter 4 Planning Deployment ............................................ 113 I Chapter 5 Testing Application Compatability ........................... 139 I Chapter 6 Developing Disk Images ......................................... 179 I Chapter 7 Migrating User State Data ...................................... 223 I Chapter 8 Deploying Applications .......................................... 247 I Chapter 9 Preparing Windows PE ........................................... 273 I Chapter 10 Confi guring Windows Deployment Services .............. 293 I Chapter 11 Using Volume Activation ........................................ 335 I Chapter 12 Deploying with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit ........... 355 DEPLOYING WINDOWS 7 83 Chapter 3 Deployment Platform n Tools Introduction 85 n Windows 7 Deployment Terminology 87 n Platform Components 89 n Deployment Scenarios 99 n Understanding Setup 101 n Basic Deployment Process 105 n Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Process 107 n Summary 110 n Additional Resources 111 uilding on technology that the Windows Vista operating system introduced, Windows 7 Bdeployment technology has evolved significantly since Windows XP Professional . For example, it supports file-based disk imaging to make high-volume deployments quicker, more efficient, and more cost effective . The Windows 7 operating system also provides more robust deployment tools through the Windows Automated Installation Kit 2 .0 (Windows AIK 2 .0), including Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) and Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) . This chapter helps you get started with the Windows 7 deployment platform . It in- troduces these tools, describing how they relate to each other and providing you with a basic understanding of why and when to use each tool . The remaining chapters in Part II, “Deployment,” describe in detail the tools introduced in this chapter . The Windows Auto- mated Installation Kit User’s Guide in the Windows AIK 2 .0 also details each tool described in this chapter . Tools Introduction Compared to Windows XP, Windows 7 introduces numerous changes to the technology you use for deployment . Additionally, Windows 7 improves and consolidates many of the tools you used for Windows Vista deployment . The Windows AIK 2 .0 includes most of 85 these tools . Others are built into the operating system . The Windows AIK 2 .0 fully documents all of the tools this chapter describes, including command-line options for using them, how they work on a detailed level, and so on . NOTE The Windows AIK 2.0 is not included in the Windows 7 media. (By comparison, Windows XP has a file called Deploy.cab that includes its deployment tools.) Instead, the Windows AIK 2.0 is a free download from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads. The following features are new for Windows 7 deployment: n Windows System Image Manager Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) is a tool for creating distribution shares and editing answer files (Unattend .xml) . It exposes all configurable settings in Windows 7; you use it to save customizations in Unattend .xml . The Windows AIK 2 .0 includes the Windows SIM . n Windows Setup Setup for Windows 7 installs the Windows image ( wim). file and uses the new Unattend .xml answer file to automate installation . Unattend .xml replaces the set of answer files used in earlier versions of Windows (Unattend txt,. Sysprep .inf, and so on) . Because image-based setup (IBS) is faster, you can use it in high-volume deployments and for automating image maintenance . Microsoft made numerous improvements to Windows Setup (now called Setup .exe instead of Winnt .exe or Winnt32 .exe), such as a completely graphical user interface, use of a single answer file (Unattend .xml) for configuration, and support for configuration passes (phases) . n Sysprep The System Preparation (Sysprep) tool prepares an installation of Windows 7 for imaging, auditing, and deployment . You use imaging to capture a customized Windows 7 image that you can deploy throughout your organization . You use audit mode to add additional device drivers and applications to a Windows 7 installation and test the integrity of the installation before handing off the computer to the end user . You can also use Sysprep to prepare an image for deployment . When the end user starts Windows 7, Windows Welcome starts . Unlike earlier versions of Windows, Windows 7 includes Sysprep natively—you no longer have to download the current version . n Windows Preinstallation Environment Windows Preinstallation Environment 3 .0 (Windows PE 3 .0) provides operating system features for installing, troubleshooting, and recovering Windows 7 . Windows PE 3 .0 is the latest release of Windows PE based on Windows 7 . With Windows PE, you can start a computer from a network or remov- able media . Windows PE provides the network and other resources necessary to install and troubleshoot Windows 7 . Windows Setup, Windows Deployment Services, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (MDT 2010) all use Windows PE to start computers . The Windows AIK 2 .0 includes Windows PE 3 .0 . 86 CHAPter 3 Deployment Platform n Deployment Image Servicing and Management Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) is a new command-line tool that you can use to service a Windows 7 image or prepare a Windows PE image . DISM consolidates the functionality of the Package Manager (Pkgmgr .exe), PEImg, and Intlcfg tools from Windows Vista . You can use DISM to service packages, device drivers, Windows 7 features, and inter- national settings in Windows 7 images . Additionally, DISM provides rich enumeration features that you can use to determine the contents of Windows 7 images . n ImageX ImageX is a command-line tool that you can use to capture, modify, and ap- ply file-based images for deployment . Windows Setup, Windows Deployment Services, System Center Configuration Manager 2007, and MDT 2010 all use ImageX to capture, edit, and deploy Windows 7 images . Windows 7 improves ImageX over Windows Vista by enabling it to mount multiple images simultaneously and support interim saves (you must still service each mounted image individually by using DISM) . Additionally, the Windows 7 version of ImageX has a new architecture for mounting and servicing images that is more robust than in Windows Vista . The Windows AIK 2 .0 includes ImageX . You can also mount images in Windows PE, and Windows 7 includes the device driver inbox . n Windows Imaging Microsoft delivers Windows 7 on product media as a highly compressed Windows Imaging ( wim). file . You can install Windows 7 directly from the Windows 7 media or customize the image for deployment . Windows 7 images are file based, allowing you to edit them nondestructively . You can also store multiple operat- ing system images in a single wim. file . n DiskPart Using DiskPart, you can mount a virtual hard disk ( vhd). file offline and service it just like a Windows image file . n User State Migration Tool You can use the User State Migration Tool 4 .0 (USMT 4 .0) to migrate user settings from the previous operating system to Windows 7 . Preserving user settings helps ensure that users can get back to work quickly after deployment . USMT 4 .0 provides new features that improve its flexibility and performance over USMT 3 .0 . Hard-link migration improves performance in refresh scenarios, offline mi- gration enables you to capture user state from within Windows PE, and the document finder reduces the need for you to create custom migration Extensible Markup Lan- guage (XML) files when capturing all user documents . The Windows AIK 2 .0 includes USMT 4 .0 . Windows 7 Deployment Terminology The following terms are unique to Windows 7 deployment and MDT 2010 . Understanding this terminology will help you better understand the deployment content in this book and the resources it refers to: n Answer file An XML file that scripts the setup experience and installation settings for Windows 7 . The answer file for Windows Setup is usually Unattend .xml or Windows 7 Deployment Terminology CHAPter 3 87 Autounattend .xml . You can use Windows SIM to create and modify this answer file . MDT 2010 builds answer files automatically, which you can customize if necessary . n Catalog file A binary file that contains the state of all the settings and packages in a Windows 7 image . When you use Windows SIM to create a catalog file, it enumer- ates the Windows 7 image for a list of all settings in that image as well as the current list of features and their current states . Because the contents of a Windows 7 image can change over time, it is important that you re-create the catalog file whenever you update an image . n Feature A part of the Windows 7 operating system that specifies the files, resources, and settings for a specific Windows 7 feature or part of a Windows 7 feature . Some features include unattended installation settings, which you can customize by using Windows SIM . n Configuration pass A phase of Windows 7 installation . Windows Setup installs and configures different parts of the operating system in different configuration passes . You can apply Windows 7 unattended installation settings in one or more configuration passes . For more information about configuration passes, see the Windows Automated Installation Kit User’s Guide in the Windows AIK 2 .0 . n Configuration set A file and folder structure that contains files that control the preinstallation process and define customizations for the Windows 7 installation . n Destination computer The computer on which you install Windows 7 during deployment . You can either run Windows Setup on the destination computer or copy a master installation onto a destination computer . The term target computer is also commonly used to refer to this . n Deployment share A folder that contains the source files for Windows products that you install . It may also contain additional device drivers and application files .