Deploying Windows Vista

For the first time since Windows NT Server, Microsoft has improved how users, enterprises, PC makers, and OEMs configure, install, and deploy Windows. New capabilities, such as offline servicing and the ability to create just one install image for multiple hardware configurations, make Windows deployment easier than ever. But if you're an IT administrator who'll need to deploy Windows Vista either now or in the future, you've got a lot to learn.

It's All About Image
Vista is deployed via a file-based image—similar to an ISO or virtual hard disk file—instead of a complex directory structure of files. You can edit a Vista image live and can easily create custom install images. Furthermore, Microsoft is distributing only one Vista image instead of a different image for each product edition. (Technically, there are actually two images: one for 32-bit versions and one for x64 versions.) The product key you use during installation determines which edition is installed from the image and which features are available to the user. Vista is also internally componentized, making it easier to choose exactly which applications and features will be installed. (For information about Vista's componentization, see the Web-exclusive sidebar “Vista Componentization.”

Using simple drag-and-drop techniques (or scripting and command-line tools), you can easily update the Vista installation image with new device drivers, languages, service packs, and other features without having to go through image recompilation. Changes to images occur in real time, and you can base install images on other install images. For example, if you needed to roll out multiple language versions of Windows XP, you'd have to create a separate install point for each version. With Vista, you can create one language-free install image and then add language images on the fly, saving disk space and freeing you from having to maintain multiple install points.

Windows Imaging Format (WIM) images achieve smaller-than-expected file sizes by combining standard compression technology with Single Instance Storage (SIS) technology, which allows an image file to contain only one instance of each file, even when the image file contains multiple install images. You can edit a WIM image offline or mount it as a folder in the file system and work with it as you would any other folder. This capability will be revelatory to those used to the drudgery of maintaining and administering Remote Installation Services (RIS)–based client install points.

Tools of the Trade
Microsoft makes WIM management tools available in the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). The WAIK's collection of tools includes

• ImageX—a command-line tool that lets you capture and modify WIM-based disk images
• Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE)—a miniature, bootable version of Vista that can exist in RAM and bootstrap the Vista install process
• Windows System Image Manager—a tool that builds next-generation answer files, which Windows Setup uses to apply custom settings for hands-off Vista installs
• Windows Deployment Services (WDS)—a new tool that replaces RIS

I discuss all these tools a little later.

Out on a WIM: Examining a Vista Install Image
ImageX lets you view and modify Vista install images so that they can be deployed from a custom install DVD or a network file share. To edit the install image, copy install.wim to the hard disk of a system on which you've installed the WAIK. Then, open the WinPE tools command prompt from the WAIK Start Menu folder. This version of the command prompt includes paths for various WAIK command-line tools, including ImageX. Right-click the command line tool's icon in the Start Menu and choose Run as Administrator, clearing any User Account Protection dialog boxes that appear.

Create a folder (e.g., C:\mount) in the file system where the image will be mounted. You can then use ImageX's Mount (view only) and Mountwr (read/write) commands to mount, view, and customize the installation image. If your install.wim file is stored in C:\images and you want to mount it in C:\mount, you'd use the command

imagex /mountrw
  c:\images\install.wim 1 c:\mount 

Now, if you open My Computer and navigate to C:\mount, you'll see the standard Vista folder structure, with the Program Files, Users, and Windows folders in the root. If you display hidden and protected files, you'll also see items such as $Recycle.Bin, Documents and Settings, and ProgramData. You can add files or even entire directory structures to the resulting Vista installation wherever is appropriate within the mounted image. (Copy and paste seems to work more consistently than does dragging files in Windows Explorer.) You can also view the contents of files within the image and edit individual files.

After making changes to the image, unmount it—which removes it from the namespace of the Windows shell on your PC—and save your changes. To make ImageX write the changes back to the original file, you'd type

ImageX /unmount /commit c:\mount 

Writing changes back to the original file could take a while because install.wim is quite large. To unmount the image without saving your changes, type

ImageX /unmount c:\mount 

A big benefit of image-based deployment tools is that you can copy an image and then edit the copy. Because the images are single files, they're easy to manipulate in the file system.

To slipstream a service pack or hotfix into a Vista install image, simply copy the update's executable into the Upgrade folder in the root of the install image. There are no complex command-line scripts to run or key codes to remember.

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