WAIK

Soon, the real Windows 7 fun begins!

OK, so now OEMs may have the Windows 7 RTM and MSDN and TechNet will have it on August 6 (in exactly two weeks, as I write this blog). In the very near future, the breathless hype and excitement of a new release will be replaced by the hard work of learning how to install, package, and deploy that new OS in a workplace setting. Of course, my first big question is “Will the MS servers be ready and able to handle the download traffic as everybody with a TechNet or MSDN subscription tries to grab licenses and keys on 8/6?” I can’t also help but speculate that there will be a kind of “birthwatch” in effect, as would-be downloaders keep checking in on the download areas on both sites to see if the files and keys are ready for access or not. As I recall, when the final version of Vista SP2 hit MSDN, it didn’t actually become available until mid-afternoon the day it was made available. It will be interested to see how the initial proferring plays out, and how heaviliy loaded the MS servers will be.

Longer term, though, I suspect there’ll also be lots of interest in and traffic toward the various Microsoft deployment tools that can accommodate Windows 7. Interested enterprise desktop professionals will surely want to check out (and keep an eye on) the Microsoft Solution Accelerators Web page, where they will find links to the following items of special interest:

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010: This is still in Beta (Beta 2, actually) and it looks like access may be limited, so keep an eye on this item because it will surely change to production status around the Windows 7 GA date (10/22/2009).
• Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0: Developing guidelines and documents on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 deployment efforts. Access to this beta is still wide-open and may be worthwhile for enterprise admins.
• Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit: Includes tools and guidance to assess IT infrastructures and plan for introduction of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, among numerous other items of potential interest. This beta is still wide-open, too.

Here are some other items of related and potential interest as well, already widely available:

• You can already download the MED-V V1 Planning, Deployment, and Operations Guide, and the toolkit itself should also be available by the GA date (but only to MS Assurance customers). Still some interesting into in here, however.
• The TechNet Library includes an interesting offering  entitled “What’s New in Deployment Tools” that includes coverage of the new Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) and in Windows Deployment Services.
• The MS Download Center offers a document entitled “Windows 7 Desktop Deployment Overview.”
• You’ll also want to dig into the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (requires a subscription through the Microsoft Volume Licensing program), if that’s relevant to your enterprise.
• The TechNet Deployment Tools Technical Reference is a great place to go looking for information on all the various tools and capabilities that MS provides to help admins automate Windows deployment efforts.

There’s plenty more where all those things came from, but this will be more than enough to get you started, and to help you zero in on the items most likely to do your enterprise some good during upcoming deployment planning and implementation efforts. Enjoy!

Windows PE and the PE Walkthroughs

The Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 2.0 delivers a basic, no-frills operating system with limited services and no GUI capabilities that’s built upon the Windows Vista kernel. You can use it to prep a PC for Vista installation, to copy disk images from a network file server to a target machine, and to fire off Windows Vista setup and installation. To learn more about Windows PE, check out the Technet article “What is Windows PE?“

With a little foreknowledge about Windows PE at your disposal, you can’t help but find these Windows PE Walkthroughs (step-by-step instructions on building and using various Windows PE environments) on TechNet of terrific interest:

• Walkthrough: Create a Bootable Windows PE RAM Disk on CD-ROM
• Walkthrough: Create a Bootable Windows PE RAM Disk on UFD
  (In case this acronym is unfamiliar to you, as it was to me: UFD = USB Flash Drive)
• Walkthrough: Create a Bootable Windows PE RAM Disk on Hard Disk
• Walkthrough: Boot Windows PE from CD-ROM
• Walkthrough: Boot Windows PE from Hard Disk
• Walkthrough: Create a Custom Windows PE Image

By the time you work your way through this material, you’ll be well-prepared to deal with most of the chores related to creating and manipulating the Windows Image (.wim) files that Vista uses for installation and setup. Definitely worth getting to know, and spending some time with. I’m pitching a book on this subject right now myself, with a Web site to go along with it, in fact. WinPE is also great for Vista troubleshooting, low-level system maintenance and repair, and more as well.

Dig Into Vista Install Capabilities To Fit Target Hardware

By itself, Vista does a pretty good job of fitting itself to the platforms on which it’s installed. But savvy administrators can do a lot more to construct custom Vista install images with a bit of time and effort, and the right tools and approaches. To get a good sense of what kinds of capabilities you can put to work, for example, read this interview from 2006 (!) Microsoft Australia’s John Pritchard. Entitled “Inside Vista’s new image-based install” it’s as good an overview of what the Windows Imaging (.WIM) file capability that drives Vista installs can do for customized images as well as standard ones. It also discusses how to integrate executable (.exe, .msi, and so forth) driver installers as part of the Vista install process to further customize Vista images for specific hardware configurations. Interested admins will also find Paul Thurrot’s “Windows Vista Review/Part 3: Installing Windows Vista” illuminating as well.

For this kind of task, however, the Windows Automated Installation Kit page on Technet provides pointers to the primary resources admins will need to explore these possibilities further. That’s where you’ll find pointers to the WAIK User’s Guide, a discussion of Windows Preinstallation Phases, the Deployment Tools Technical Reference, and the Unattended Windows Setup Reference, all of which play important roles in this activity.

In my next blogs, I’ll be digging into this task further, with some examples and illustrations, and exploring this document set in more detail. Stay tuned!

–Ed–