Windows 7 deployment

Back to the Future with Windows 7 Deployment

OK, take note: the posting date for this blog is 9/25/2009. Now, take a look at this picture:

October 9 is still 15 days away!

As I was poking around on TechNet looking for refreshed content related to Windows 7 (whose GA date is now less than a month in the offing) I stumbled across this Windows 7: Deployment item. I don’t want to intimate that Microsoft is misrepresenting anything here, nor can I imagine they’ve mastered time travel among their many patented and proprietary technologies. Instead, I have to speculate that somebody, somewhere goofed somehow and the wrong date field got supplied for this material (and all I can really say for sure is that it’s here on the TechNet site as I’m looking at it on September 25th).

Enough with the humor, already. What you’ll find in this Library element is a roadmap to all kinds of Windows 7 deployment tools and information. Major headings include Application Compatibility, Upgrade and Migration, and Desktop Deployment, with minor headings for the User State Migration Tool 4.0 and the latest version of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK for Windows 7).

Despite the gaffe on the date, there are some good pointers in here. You’ll probably want to have your laugh, then dig into the various materials linked here. Laugh first, enjoy next!

[Added later on 9/25/09]My latest TechNet Flash just popped into my inbox, and sure enough, Windows 7 is at the top of its coverage. Check out this snippet from that newsletter (it will eventually show up as Volume 11, Issue 21 on the TechNet Flash page, but it’s not there yet: they seem to hang two newsletters behind online).

Snippet from TechNet Flash Vol 11, Issue 21 9-23-09

To forestall the inevitable frustration at a picture of a link that isn’t really a link at all, click 10 Things to jump to that URL, or MDOP to jump to that one instead. Cheers!

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!