chapter preparing to deploy 1 windows vista · 2020. 3. 4. · 4 chapter 1 preparing to deploy...

Chapter

1

Preparing to Deploy Windows Vista

MICROSOFT EXAM OBJECTIVES COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:

�

Deploying Windows Vista

�

Analyze the business environment and select an appropriate deployment method.

�

Prepare a system for clean installation or upgrade.

65355.book Sunday, August 12, 2007 4:51 PM

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The excitement of the new gadgetry and upgraded features that come with an operating system release is usually a feeling reserved for those who are truly the technology geeks of the world. If you

are like us, you are ready to get into Windows Vista as soon as you receive the DVD. The reality is that, when providing your services in business, you must use your knowledge to provide a steady path to Windows Vista for your organization’s users. They want rock-solid compatibility, minimum downtime, and a smooth transition. These are not always the easiest objectives to meet, but all the cool features in the world will not score you points when an important appli-cation won’t run. Depending on how far you go back with Windows, you will recall that there have been a number of workarounds and homegrown solutions to provide ease for the end user when upgrading, but these usually meant headaches for you during setup and deployment. So, keeping in mind the long, sleepless nights, and the looks of nervous users when their computer won’t boot after an upgrade, let’s turn our enthusiasm to the tools and methods available to make deploying this operating system a smooth endeavor. When we discuss Windows Vista, you’ll see the vast improvement made in deployment.

Analyzing the Business Environment

The best method of deploying Windows Vista depends on the unique makeup and require-ments of the organization. Business needs, objectives, hardware, applications, infrastructure, and users all play a part in how you decide to roll out Windows Vista. The project can become large and may require the skills of a project manager to grasp all the requirements and manage the necessary resources for a project of this scope. Briefly, here is an overview of the require-ments and areas to consider when developing your deployment plan:

Details of the infrastructure

Here are some of the specific infrastructure areas you should be concerned about and some common questions you should ask to develop your requirements:

Network

This includes details of your local LAN, such as speed and type, but also the WAN. Do you have slow or international connections? What is your bandwidth? Do you have remote sites that are connected by slow or inconsistent links? Do you use a Windows Active Directory? If possible, diagram the network.

Hardware

Understand the hardware that you will be deploying. What are the hardware specifications of your computers? Do you have desktops, laptops, or both? Are your com-puters and the components within on the list of Windows Vista–compatible devices? How diverse are your systems?



3

Software

Understand your software needs and what is required to run on Windows Vista. Do you have older applications? Are there applications that require administrator access? Do they write to the registry? Do you have custom written applications? What kind of test plan do you need? How complex are your systems?

Organization

The structure of the organization can often influence how you deploy a new operating system. Do you have a department with a need for new technology first, such as R&D? Do you have departments that are risk adverse? Do you need to gain sign-off from individual managers for their departments? Do they have specific needs, such as a help desk that will need 24-hour access to computers with no downtime? Do they have specific secu-rity requirements?

Users

Do you have a complete set of requirements for your users? Do you understand their needs, such as how they save their data and what applications and data they will need after an upgrade? Do you understand the various roles that users have? What customiza-tion of the operating system do they require to be productive? What downtime can they afford?

Customization details

After gathering the infrastructure requirements and the needs of the users, decide what options to enable and how you should customize Windows Vista to meet the user’s needs. Detail how they have their OS customized now and what they depend on to be productive. This includes migrating system settings as well as data. The last thing you should do is experiment on users who have work to do.

Schedule

Develop a schedule for deployment. This can be a complicated task, but you should include staff, hours available to deploy, effects of infrastructure such as network bandwidth, and how efficient your process is. Do yourself a favor and don’t overestimate your ability to get it done. An OS upgrade is a major task and you’re bound to hit some bumps in the road. Be realistic when you schedule your deployment.

Testing and pilot programs

Set up a test environment where you can mirror your systems on a small scale. Include hardware, software applications, and networking that will be in your target environment. This usually involves several iterations of a build image until you have met your objectives. After testing is complete, find a group of users and negotiate with them to allow a pilot of the new system. Use observation, feedback, and solid metrics to determine what you need to tweak and what is ready to go.

Rollout

Finally, you will roll out your Windows Vista image to the organization based on your own project plan. If you lay out and plan for the previous objectives, you should be well on your way to a smooth finale.

Introducing the Deployment Tools

Windows Vista and its corresponding deployment tools have made for some significant enhancements to the administrator’s abilities to deploy the OS in a low-hassle, low-cost manner. Windows Vista itself has made great strides in modularization, allowing these tools to easily cus-tomize how Windows Vista is deployed and even updated before ever touching a computer. The


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newest hardware-independent image format, WIM (for Windows Imaging), allows for even greater flexibility. If you have ever dealt with Remote Installation Services (RIS), disk imaging software, or crazy registry hacks to get a migration to function, you will certainly appreciate the effort put forth to make the latest tools much easier.

The Windows Vista deployment tools are all a part of the

Business Desktop Deployment Solution 2007 (BDD)

. BDD is Microsoft’s guidance documentation and a toolset for deploying in a methodical and proven manner. Although BDD is not a new toolset, BDD 2007 makes sig-nificant additions specific for Windows Vista deployment. The following tools are included:

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment

This hardware data collector determines the readiness of your computers, as shown in Figure 1.1.

Application Compatibility Toolkit

This tool collects inventory and analyzes your applications for Windows Vista readiness; you can launch it as shown in Figure 1.2.

User State Migration Tool

This tool migrates user state data in an automated fashion using customized XML files.

ImageX

This tool creates and edits WIM images.

System Image Manager (SIM)

The SIM tool modifies images, allowing you to add and remove components, as shown in Figure 1.3.

Windows PE

This environment loads without the OS and is suitable for capturing images and editing.

Deployment Workbench

This tool unifies the functionality of several tools, allowing OS configuration, network deployment points, driver injection, and several other functions, as shown in Figure 1.4.

F I G U R E 1 . 1

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool



5

F I G U R E 1 . 2

Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit

F I G U R E 1 . 3

The SIM tool


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F I G U R E 1 . 4

The Deployment Workbench

BDD is geared toward the enterprise, so the breadth of features contained by these tools can be overwhelming at first. For our purposes, we will cover what you need to know to get Win-dows Vista deployed. Just remember, if you need more customization or features, look it up in the tool’s documentation.

Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

is the replacement for RIS. WDS provides the back-end services needed to deploy Windows Vista, including storage of images, management, and deployment methods. It is able to install to bare-metal systems utilizing the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) to boot systems to Windows PE over the network. WDS works with BDD and the new toolset and is a part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), avail-able from within the Deployment Workbench.

Meeting the Hardware Requirements

The hardware requirements for Windows Vista are a bit different from previous versions of Win-dows. Whereas before we were accustomed to a set of minimum requirements and recommended requirements, now specific features are disabled if you do not have the horsepower to support them. Specifically, the Aero interface—the new, optional 3D interface—requires you have a cer-tain level of graphical prowess. Aero isn’t the only feature set that is specific to hardware. Some other features of the operating system will be enabled only when running on certain hardware, such as power features on a notebook or handwriting recognition on a Tablet PC.

There are minimum requirements and two standards for computers that were not preinstalled with Windows Vista: Windows Vista Capable and Windows Vista Premium Ready, which tie into Windows Vista logo approval. These were approved for logos on computers running Win-dows XP that met certain hardware requirements as well as guaranteed driver availability.

Win-dows Vista Capable

means that the computer meets the minimum requirements to run Windows



7

Vista.

Windows Vista Premium Ready

means that the computer will support a full experience that includes the advanced graphics required to run the Aero interface. Although newly released hardware that meets these requirements will bear the logos, in case you have older hardware, let’s look at the requirements you’ll have to meet to run Windows Vista.

First, here are the minimum requirements to run Windows Vista:�

800MHz or faster modern processor (

x

86 or

x

64 based)�

512MB of RAM�

SVGA (800

×

600 resolution) capable video adapter�

20GB hard disk/15GB free�

CD-ROM drive

Here are the minimum requirements to have the Windows Vista Capable logo:�

800MHz or faster modern processor (

x

86 or

x

64 based)�

512MB of RAM�

DirectX 9-capable video adapter �

Meets criteria for “Designed for Windows XP” or “Designed for Windows XP

x

64” logo

Here are the minimum requirements to have the Windows Vista Premium Ready logo: �

1GHz or faster modern processor (

x

86 or

x

64 based)�

1GB if RAM�

Aero-capable video adapter (Graphical Processor Unit that supports DirectX 9 or later, has a Windows Driver Display Model driver, supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, sup-ports 32 bit per pixel color depth, and a minimum 128MB of graphics memory or shared 1GB RAM).

�

40GB disk space/15GB free�

DVD-ROM drive

The minimum requirements allow you to run the core Windows Vista features. The Win-dows Vista Capable moniker defines a system that is capable of running the core Windows Vista features and has a guarantee that all components will be supported under the new oper-ating system. This guarantees that drivers will be available for the hardware. To take advan-tage of the other enhanced features of the graphical interface, the Windows Vista Premium Ready requirements are necessary. This also gives the same guarantee of device compatibility with Windows Vista. Even though Windows Vista Capable and Windows Vista Premium are logo standards, you can use them as guidelines for any hardware to determine which compo-nents of Windows Vista the computer will support. These general standards will go hand in hand with specific hardware components and their support under Windows Vista. You should check the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) on the Microsoft website to see whether your specific hardware has been tested. Components and computers not included on this list are not guaranteed by Microsoft to work with Windows Vista.

Driver support is an essential factor that needs to be considered when looking at whether your hardware is supported in Windows Vista. Generally, you’ll want to use device drivers


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designed for Windows Vista whenever possible. In fact, you will be required to use digitally signed Windows Vista drivers in the 64-bit version. Windows Vista drivers may not always be available, so check during your testing to see whether the Windows 2000/XP/2003 drivers you need will work. Sixteen-bit drivers for Windows 3.1 to Windows 95/98/ME versions are not compatible with Windows Vista. Windows NT 4 drivers are not supported either.

When upgrading existing computers, it is important to ensure the latest BIOS revision is installed. There are modern calls Windows Vista makes to the BIOS, including Advanced Con-figuration and Power Interface functions. To give yourself the best opportunity for full func-tionality, check with the computer or motherboard manufacturer for the latest BIOS code.

We know that, in many cases, Windows Vista is not going to be deployed on new, logo-bearing precertified hardware. There is a new tool that will assist you in determining the capa-bilities of your organization’s hardware. The

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment

tool allows you to assess hardware and device driver compatibility. It collects inventory from your network, without any installation of agent software, and stores it centrally in a relational SQL Express database so you can generate reports on that data for analysis, as shown earlier in Fig-ure 1.1. It automatically generates reports on your environment, both at a high level as well as a detailed view. This should be used in the planning stages for an organization of any real size or complexity, especially if you do not have an existing inventory tool deployed. You can download the tool from the Microsoft website.

Determining Application Support and Compatibility

Windows Vista might seem familiar in many ways, but for applications this can be the prob-lem. Windows Vista is based on kernels from the Windows 2000 lineage, but new features, such as advanced security, can cause applications to behave badly. Programs that require administrator rights or write access to certain portions of the registry that are not usually part of best program-ming practice will now run into Windows Vista features such as User Access Control, the Least User Account, Windows Resource Protection, and restricted Internet Explorer system access. Also, code that works at a low level, such as network drivers or code that needs system access like virus scanners, will be affected. Windows Vista is now enforcing good habits from your programs for the benefit of better security, but application compatibility may suffer as a result. It is essential that you include application testing during the testing phase of your deployment.

First, you need to know what applications you will be running on Windows Vista. You need an inventory of your computer’s software for applications and their versions. Often you will find that you are not only running more applications than you first believed, but you are also running varied versions of the same application. Now you should prioritize those applications. Which are mission critical, and which are fluff? The fluff you find will likely include programs such as games, original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-specific programs, utilities that include fea-tures now provided in Windows Vista, and downloaded gadgets such as weather reporters. The mission-critical applications will need extensive testing and validation before you deploy Win-dows Vista.

When dealing with programs designed for previous versions of Windows, you can follow some guidelines to make sure they work correctly. Applications built for Windows 95, Win-dows 98, or Windows ME store registry data in different locations than 2000-based programs.



9

They might make calls to DLLs specific to those platforms. They might also install different files depending on the OS they detect. You can mitigate most of these issues by taking a few precau-tions. You can reinstall the application so it installs the proper files and allows Windows Vista to redirect those registry entries to their proper locations. You can also migrate the DLLs you identify as needed for the program. You can also use Windows Vista’s Compatibility Mode, described later in the book, to provide environment variables that allow the program to run.

Applications designed in Windows 2000 and XP and, usually, Windows NT will likely be compatible with Windows Vista. They share a common code base that maintains high compati-bility. The programs that will have the most problems will be those that act at a low level with the file system, depend on Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), customized Plug and Play solutions, RAID disk mirror software, customized network stacks like proprietary VPN soft-ware, third-party network clients, virus protection, and uninterruptible power supplies. Often, these programs will need to be uninstalled if you plan on upgrading to Windows Vista.

Special folders are often hard-coded into applications. These folders include Program Files, My Documents, and Documents and Settings. Windows Vista will automatically redirect requests to these folders to their new locations. Windows Vista also has redirected registry writes to restricted areas by routing those writes to a virtual store, tricking the application while maintaining Windows Vista’s protected user mode security. This is also the case where some applications will not run unless they find a specific OS. Version-checking the operating system can cause an application to fail even though the application will run correctly on the newer OS. This is simply dealt with by Windows Vista reporting a different OS version to the program via Windows Vista’s Compatibility Mode.

Microsoft has tested thousands of popular applications and knows how to handle certain quirks of popular programs to make them work with Windows Vista. This functionality is built into the Windows Vista Program Compatibility Assistant, included with the OS. This will appear when running a legacy application and make recommended changes that you would normally need to make manually in Windows Vista’s Compatibility Mode options.

You may find that you’ll want to upgrade or replace programs because they are incompatible or you just want to take the chance to take advantage of new features. This will definitely be the case with programs such as virus protection that will not be compatible because of their low-level drivers and interaction with the file system. When replacing programs, you should know that Microsoft has set forth the Windows Vista Application Specification. If your application complies and you get it independently tested, it will be certified to run on Windows Vista.

Microsoft provides a tool to test your custom applications against Windows Vista. The

Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit

is a Microsoft download that assists you in plan-ning your tests, as shown earlier in Figure 1.2. Utilize the MSDN white papers and articles on methods for testing.

Understanding Your Network

No matter the size of your organization, understanding your network is critical to success in deployment. From your protocols to your domain, everything should be well defined so you can make good decisions. Standard logical and physical network diagrams can be a big help in understanding the big picture.


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Your physical network diagram will include details on WAN links, as shown in Figure 1.5. The LAN will represent nodes like computer printers and network devices, such as switches and routers. Details should include IP addresses, IP ranges or networks, speeds like 10Mb or 100Mb, type of technology like point-to-point T1 or frame relay, and notes on slow links or highly utilized links.

Your logical diagram should include your domain infrastructure, including servers and their roles, domain controller, and name services like DNS. Represent Active Directory forests and trees if applicable. Attach any trusts and policies that will affect your deployment. Security issues, like firewalls and VPN connections, can also affect your options for deployment.

Details of your network will help you determine what method is best for deployment. For example, if you have remote offices with slow network links, you might want to consider using physical methods such as DVD or USB storage to transport the Windows Vista image to the local machines. In high-bandwidth situations, an image server hosted on the LAN might be more appropriate.

F I G U R E 1 . 5

Example network diagram

Knowing the Organization and Your Users

Understanding how your systems are used and how they fit into the organization’s objective will help you make decisions on what configuration will best suit the business. Gathering these requirements allows you make decisions on what configuration will serve your enterprise. Now is the time to understand how your implementation and deployment plan can be simplified for

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these organizations. Know when to install, what applications are needed, what hardware is used, and what, if any, standardization efforts would benefit them the most. Also, collect any specifics of a department that are out of the ordinary. For example, do they use static IPs while the rest of the company uses DHCP? Do they need special security lockdown for web browsing because of productivity concerns? Do they have a special need for the Novell Client because they have legacy NetWare servers? Don’t let these requirements be showstoppers during the deployment phase.

You may want to consider maintaining multiple configurations based on business needs. The flexibility you’ll gain from selecting different application combinations as well as different hardware types, such as laptops and tablet computers, will pay off in less setup time after the install. Selecting these configurations and then standardizing on them allows you to plan prop-erly and reduces the complexity of supporting many variations of software. Using your tested configurations yields the best results, keeps your support costs down and enables you to antic-ipate problems. Know what you want to include and what you want to customize; we’ll review creating the image in the next chapter.

Certain controls are available when you use Windows Vista in a Windows 2003 domain. You have Windows Vista–specific Group Policy settings, new security settings, Internet Explorer MMC, Group Policy scripts, and offline files and folders. These options are available with or without a Windows 2003 domain: roaming profiles, folder redirection, Internet Explorer main-tenance, administrative templates, and logon scripts. Details on security features and Group Pol-icies are included in forthcoming chapters.

If your organization is international, consider how you’ll deploy languages. Unlike previ-ous versions such as Windows XP where the operating system was built on a specific language, Windows Vista is language agnostic. That means you can deploy any language with the same image of Windows Vista. Previous problems where some menus and prompts would be in English or where you had to select a language specific image are no longer an issue.

Fortunately, because Windows Vista can adapt to any language, you can build a single image and global deployment regardless of the language needed. You should also remember your trav-eling users, who may need access to documents written in other languages. Having those language packs installed or ready to install on demand can be another great way to leverage Windows Vista’s language abilities. Consider using the Multilingual User Interface (MUI) in your deploy-ments of a single image to allow users to customize the language needs for their region.

When installing Windows Vista for other languages, remember that these language packs may require additional disk space for the language pack as well as special hardware such as special language keyboards or other input

devices.

You can install alternate language packs onto Windows Vista in order to view files saved in that language without making it the primary language of the com-

puter. To type text in that language, you must also add it as an input language.


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Picking the Correct Edition

You have several edition options when deploying Windows Vista. There is a version to fit most needs, from basic home needs to worldwide companies. Even though you will likely stay with business-centric versions in your considerations, let’s review what is available:

Windows Vista Home Basic

Designed for basic home needs and basic computer configura-tions. It does not include the Aero interface, any advanced multimedia Media Center features, or business-centric features such as domain logon, the Mobility Center, or Backup.

Windows Vista Home Premium

This includes advanced features for laptops and the Aero interface as well as multimedia centric features such as Windows DVD Maker, but does not includes business features such as domain logon or BitLocker encryption.

Windows Vista Business

This version includes most features important to business such as Windows Complete PC Backup and Networking Center, but it leaves out multimedia and games.

Windows Vista Ultimate

This version includes all the features of the Home Premium and Business versions as well as advanced features such as BitLocker encryption and Windows Vista Extras.

Windows Vista Enterprise

This version is intended for large organizations that need flexi-bility in deployment and enterprise-centric features like BitLocker, the right to run four virtual operating system sessions for backward application compatibility, and the Subsystem for Unix-based Applications. This version is only available to Volume License customers who have computers covered by the Microsoft Software Assurance license program.

Selecting an Appropriate Deployment Method

After you have analyzed your business environment, take the time to make some decisions about how to deploy Windows Vista in your environment. You can deploy Windows Vista in several ways, and each approach is appropriate for certain situations. From the individual client perspective, you can perform a clean installation or an in-place upgrade. You can also choose to transfer user state data when performing a clean installation so that a user’s settings will be retained on the new computer. You can also think of automation from a larger perspective and look at the tools that work to increase efficiencies for enterprise deployments. In the following sections, we will review these various methods and technologies.

Performing an In-Place Upgrade

One decision you need to make is whether you want to upgrade from the existing operating system and take advantage of keeping all the programs and settings or perform a clean


Selecting an Appropriate Deployment Method

13

installation to start fresh and avoid any compatibility issues. An

in-place upgrade

keeps all user settings and installed programs except those that are listed as incompatible.

If you decide to upgrade, you need to know that you cannot do an in-place upgrade from Windows 3.

x

, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000. Win-dows 2000 and Windows XP are eligible for the upgrade versions of Windows Vista, but only Windows XP can utilize an in-place upgrade. Table 1.1 lists the Windows version upgrade paths.

When performing an in-place upgrade, the disk partition that Windows Vista will reside on must be NTFS formatted and have the required free space of 15GB. You cannot perform an in-place upgrade on the 64-bit version of Windows XP.

All other versions of Windows must utilize a clean install. This is not to say that you will lose all of your user data and settings. Tools such as the Windows Easy Transfer Wizard or the User State Migration Tool will help you maintain the user’s environment even after a clean installation.

If you use an upgrade version of Windows Vista, you must launch that setup from inside the current operating system. It’s not enough to just have the previous version’s CD to validate its license. In short, you cannot boot from the Windows Vista DVD and perform a clean install with an upgrade version

of Windows Vista.

If you plan on using the in-place upgrade path in your organization, run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor against your Windows XP build. This will identify common incompatibilities you’ll have to address before you install Windows Vista. The tool is available for download from the

Microsoft website.

T A B L E 1 . 1

Windows Version Upgrade Path

Current OS Version Capable of In-Place Upgrade

Windows XP Home Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate

Windows XP Media Center Windows Vista Home Premium, Ultimate

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Windows Vista Business, Ultimate

Windows XP Professional 32-bit (SP2) Windows Vista Business, Ultimate


14 Chapter 1 � Preparing to Deploy Windows Vista

If you are deploying to a large organization, it’s likely you will be using the Enterprise ver-sion of Windows Vista. In this case, upgrades are not supported and frankly, not preferred. The interaction required when performing an in-place upgrade does not map well to the need of a mass deployment. In-place upgrades are best for individual, small office, and special case scenarios.

Performing a Clean Installation

A clean installation will be the most familiar and preferred method for those working in a large organization. This type of installation makes a clean break and avoids any compati-bility pitfalls that can come from performing an in-place upgrade en mass. In fact, when tak-ing advantage of such technologies as Windows Deployment Services, a clean installation will be the only option. With a clean install, you will have to reinstall all applications and reset any user settings necessary or transfer them using the migration tools like Easy Trans-fer Wizard.

You need to perform a clean install when any the following is true:� There is no existing operating system on the computer.� There is a need to boot to multiple operating systems.� The operating system installed does not support an in-place upgrade to Windows Vista

(see Table 1.1 earlier).� Your tools or deployment method require a clean installation.

In Exercise 1.1, you’ll learn how to perform a clean installation of Windows Vista.

E X E R C I S E 1 . 1

Performing a Clean Installation of Windows Vista

1. Insert the Windows Vista DVD media into the computer and reboot. Make sure that the DVD-ROM is selected as a bootable device in order before the hard drive.

2. A progress bar will display showing that it is loading files, as shown here.


Selecting an Appropriate Deployment Method 15

3. The first prompt from the setup routine will ask for your regional settings, as shown here. Enter the appropriate settings from the drop-down menus. Click Next.

4. The next prompt displays a prominent button called Install Now. A few other choices are also shown here. You’d use the Repair Your Computer option when you have an existing Windows Vista installation that is corrupted and unusable. Click Install Now to continue.

E X E R C I S E 1 . 1 ( c o n t i n u e d )



5. Setup will now begin the Collecting Information phase. The first step in this phase is to collect the license key, as shown here. A link to the privacy statement is also included on this screen. From here you’d ordinarily enter the license key. If you do not have the key now or you want to delay activation for up to 30 days for some reason—for example, if you’re testing the Windows Vista installation on a computer that will not house the OS for long-term use—then do not enter it here. If you want to enter the key, enter it now, click Next, and then skip to step 8.




6. If you chose to leave the license key prompt blank, click Next. You will be prompted with a warning informing you of the consequences of leaving this field blank, as shown here.

7. Click Yes. You will be prompted to choose the edition of Vista you own. Pick correctly, or else you may have to reinstall, as shown here. Select the appropriate edition, click the checkbox indicating you picked correctly, and then click Next. Note that with a correct license key entered, you would skip this step since setup would detect which edition the key unlocks. You will also be prompted to activate the key when connected to the Internet. Choose Yes if you want avoid this step later.




8. The next prompt is the license agreement. You are required to agree to the license agree-ment before you can proceed with Setup, as shown here. Click the check box I Accept the License Terms, and click Next.

9. Now you may be prompted to select the type of installation you want, as shown here. If you have an existing version of Windows, you will be given the option to upgrade. If prompted, select the custom option for a clean installation.




10. You will be prompted to pick a drive to install Windows Vista. Your hard drive(s) should appear here. Click the advanced link, and you will have options to format the drive, extend the partition, create a new partition, or load a driver, as shown here. Pick the drive you want to install to, and click Next.

11. If you do not see a disk partition available, you may have to format from an incompatible file system or you may have a disk controller that Windows Vista does not recognize. If you need to add a disk controller driver to see your disks, click Load Driver. Have the driver available at the root of a floppy disk, optical disk, or USB flash drive, as shown here.




12. Setup will now perform its installation without any further prompting until you enter the Windows Vista desktop, as shown here. Expect two reboots while Setup finishes install-ing. Depending on your hardware, you should expect it to take from 30 minutes to more than an hour to complete.

13. When Windows Vista boots, it will prompt you for some further information. First it will ask you to set up one user account, as shown here. Also, you define a password and a pic-ture associated with this account. This is not an administrator account. You do not have the option to join a domain or define a workgroup here. Once you have entered your account information, click Next.




14. The next prompt asks for a computer name and a background wallpaper. Define a com-puter name that is unique on the network, as shown here.

15. Now you are prompted to choose Windows Update settings, as shown here. The recom-mended setting will allow Windows to install and manage how updates are applied. Install Important Updates Only will allow only high-risk security updates to be applied. The Ask Me Later option will prompt later for a choice. There is no choice here to ignore updates. Choose the appropriate answer, and click Next.




16. This prompt is for time and date information, as shown here. Enter the appropriate infor-mation, and click Next.

17. The last informational prompt asks what kind of network your computer is connected to, as shown here. This will determine how aggressive the default settings of Windows Fire-wall should be. Pick Home, Work, or Public Location as appropriate, and click Next.




18. Once finished, you will click Start in the Thank You window. Windows Vista will now complete Setup by checking your computer’s performance and generating a perfor-mance index, as shown here. It will determine the capabilities of your computer to support features such as the Aero-enhanced graphical interface.

19. Next you will be prompted to log on to your computer using the account you just set up, as shown here. Enter your logon credentials, and click the button with the arrow or press Enter.




Migrating Data and Settings

You can gain the typical benefits of an in-place upgrade by maintaining the data and settings of a user but laying a new image onto their computer. The user’s data and settings, often referred to as user state data, usually consists of accounts, data folders, program settings, desktop attributes, Internet favorites, and e-mail settings.

This kind of migration typically has two methods: side-by-side and wipe-and-load. A side-by-side migration involves collecting data from an old computer, storing the data temporarily, and restoring the data and settings to a new Windows Vista computer. Wipe-and-load allows you to save the user state data to a temporary location, upgrade the existing computer to Win-dows Vista using a clean install method, and then restore the user state data to the new oper-ating system.

One of the tools available to ease the effort of transferring user state data is the Easy Transfer Wizard. This tool is included on the Windows Vista disk and can move user accounts, certain

20. When you see the desktop, the desktop setup will complete, and you will be prompted with the Welcome Center, as shown here. Windows Vista has now been successfully installed.




program settings, Internet Explorer settings and favorites, data folders and files, and e-mail set-tings from certain e-mail clients such as Outlook Express or Outlook. You can transfer the data using a network folder, over the network between computers, on a CD or DVD, on a USB flash disk, or via an Easy Transfer Cable. The Easy Transfer Wizard cannot be automated or scripted and must be run in the context of the user, so it is appropriate for use only in individual or small office situations.

The Easy Transfer Cable looks like a standard USB cable, but the specific part is required when used with the Easy Transfer Wizard. You cannot use a stan-dard USB cable.

The User State Migration Tool (USMT) is an enterprise tool for migrating user state data. It is automated, customizable, and intended for a large number of systems. It can be run in a batch mode and will collect profile information on every user on a machine. USMT defaults to saving most of what the Easy Transfer Wizard saves in addition to more domain and network-centric settings. Beyond the defaults, you can use migration rule files (XML based) to specify exactly what will be migrated. USMT supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista as a source and Windows XP and Windows Vista as a destination.

There is endless customization you can do with all of the migration XML files that are used to control USMT. Use them to suit your business needs. You can also automate your jobs using batches and products such as SMS. Refer to Chapter 2 for more extensive information about USMT.

Introducing Windows Imaging

To understand how Windows Vista is actually installed onto a computer and how to custom-ize that installation, you must become familiar with a new technology in Windows: WIM. WIM is short for Windows Imaging and replaces the tried-and-true but not-as-flexible setup engine that has been around and modified since Windows NT. Most companies long ago turned to third-party imaging solutions to deploy many machines. Microsoft responded with Remote Installation Services, but that process, while automated, was susceptible to the sensi-tivities of the original setup engine.

Microsoft has completely rebuilt the setup process by building it upon an image-based for-mat. Some unique aspects of the WIM format set it apart and provide benefits not seen with other imaging tools. First, it is not sector based but is instead file based. This approach allows much of the unique flexibility you are afforded. Benefits include allowing the WIM to be hard-ware independent, thus allowing it to run on x86 and x64 platforms. It will also store multiple versions or deployment images of the OS in a small space because duplicate files are stored only once. Second, you can inject or remove files from an image easily. This can be especially impor-tant for patches and drivers. You can apply the image to a disk of any appropriate size and do it without destroying any existing data if you desire because it is not a sector-based format. This also contributes to good compression since white space is avoided. The format also supports media spanning, allowing for multiple discs like CDs or DVDs containing a single image.



With the entrance of WIM, the era of the CAB file–based installation has come to a close. Although you could say they are similar in that they compress files, WIM also stores metadata about the file and folders it is stored in, including ACLs. Anyone administering multiple images for different hardware and software deployments will be happy about how file-based imaging is utilized. You can now maintain multiple images in a single file. In fact, the flexibility allows you to update your images, maintain multiple images, and keep them in a reasonably sized file.

Using Windows PE to Load and Save a WIM

Before we can discuss capturing a WIM image, we need to discuss the environment needed to load and save a WIM. Windows PE 2.0 is designed as a basic environment that is also robust enough to support some advanced needs. It is a big part of how Microsoft has implemented Windows Vista installations and allows you to customize your own images. It enables you to take advantage of the WIM image by injecting drivers (see the sidebar “Injecting a Driver”) and providing configuration information, and it provides recovery offline and independent of Windows Vista. In fact, if you want, you could run many applications from within Windows PE. During the clean install exercise, you spent quite a bit of time in Windows PE during the initial stages of the setup.

Windows PE 2.0 exists in its own WIM file on the Windows Vista disk that is marked as boot-able (boot.wim). It is available for download as part of BDD 2007. Even though it can be used for troubleshooting and recovery, for now let’s concentrate on installation. When booted, Win-dows PE uses about 100MB of RAM with a 32MB scratch space that allows programs to read and write into memory. It will detect and run on modern hardware and use TCP/IP networking. Because it runs in RAM, a hard disk drive with an operating system is not necessary.

Injecting a Driver

Are you wondering how Windows PE is saving you time? Well, one common past issue with an installation was new hardware, especially items such as disk controllers that had to be rec-ognized during the setup process but did not have supported drivers built-in. Before, if you wanted to add files to a custom installation after it was created, you had to use SlipStream and configure several files before you could use that driver. This was a long process. Your other option was to baby-sit the installation with a trusty floppy disk containing your driver files.

Now, a simple command from within Windows PE injects a new driver file into your image. Here is an example:

peimg.exe /inf SATARAID.inf VISTABUILD\Windows

Just tell peimg.exe your driver name (you can even use wildcards) and point it to the directory of your image. Wow, that was easy!



Even though you can boot Windows PE from a bootable disk like a CD or USB drive, you can also use a Windows Deployment server to host an image that can be loaded over the network to a PXE-enabled computer. When doing mass deployment, you can have these computers boot to Windows PE over the network, run WMI scripts to check hardware configurations, back up user state data, partition and format the hard disk, and move to an unattended installation of a cus-tom Windows Vista image.

Capturing the Image with ImageX

ImageX is an important yet relatively simple tool. Because automation is often needed, the Win-dows Vista developers went with a simple command-line driven interface. ImageX runs from within Windows or Windows PE and allows you to create, modify, or apply WIM images. There are some additional options; for example, you can use /append to add to an existing WIM and /mount to actually load an image as you would a CD-ROM ISO to a directory. Even though you can get a GUI with some of the ImageX functionality through the Windows Deployment Ser-vices, it’s recommended that you stick to the command-line tool.

Before you delve into the specifics, you should get familiar with the command-line switches of ImageX, as shown in Table 1.2.

T A B L E 1 . 2 ImageX Command-Line Switches

Switch Description

/append Appends an image onto the WIM file.

/apply Applies the image onto the disk drive.

/capture Captures the image into a new WIM file.

/commit Commits any changes made to a mounted image

/compress Sets compression options. You can choose None for fastest capture, Fast for a balanced compression for speed and size, and Maximum for the slowest but best compression.

/config Specifies a file to set advanced options.

/delete Deletes an image from a WIM file.

/dir Displays the folder and file structure within an image.

/export Transfers an image between WIM files.

/info Displays the XML store information of the WIM.



As you can see, ImageX has quite a few options. We’ll concentrate on a few that you will likely use the most. The /capture switch is used to capture the files on a volume, such as C:, into a volume image. It is interesting to note that you can also specify just a directory instead of an entire drive. If you want to add to the WIM you have created, you can use the /append switch. The /delete switch removes any reference to a volume image but does not delete the data. If you want to clear that deleted data from the WIM, use the /export switch, which clears those unwanted files in the new WIM.

Once you have your image ready to go, there will be the inevitable patch or last-minute addition. With ImageX, you can modify the image by mounting it to a folder. It appears with a normal folder structure underneath the folder you mounted to, and by using /mountrw, you can add, move, or remove references to files. Keep in mind that changes you make are not applied until you use the /commit switch and deleted or replaced files are not truly deleted or overwritten and will consume space in the WIM.

In Exercise 1.2, you’ll learn how to use ImageX to browse to a WIM image file.

/ref Sets WIM references for an apply operation.

/scroll Scrolls output, which should usually be routed to a file.

/split Splits a WIM file into separate parts.

/verify Verifies duplicate and extracted files.

/mount Mounts an image to a directory for read-only access.

/mountrw Mounts an image to a directory with read-write access.

/unmount Unmounts an image.

E X E R C I S E 1 . 2

Using ImageX to Browse to a WIM Image File

You will use the ImageX tool to open a WIM image in a read/write status and mount it to a folder on your computer. You will be able to browse the WIM like a normal file system folder.

1. First, make sure you have installed the Microsoft Windows AIK. This is available on the Microsoft website or from BDD 2007.

2. Copy the original install.wim Windows Vista image file from the DVD to your local hard drive. On the Vista DVD, the location is X:\Sources\install.wim (where X: is the drive letter of your DVD-ROM).

T A B L E 1 . 2 ImageX Command-Line Switches (continued)

Switch Description


Summary 29

System Image Manager Overview

Windows System Image Manager (SIM) is a GUI tool that automates the creation of answer files in order to automate the installation process (shown earlier in Figure 1.3). unattend.xml replaces unattend.txt for Windows Vista deployments. You can use SIM on a regular tech-nician’s lab computer to develop the file and then deploy it to a master computer containing the customized installation of Windows Vista you build. You will then save that image to a WIM.

We will cover this tool in more detail in the next chapter, but here is the common way to use SIM. First, open SIM, select an image, and then create a new answer file. Next, in the Win-dows Image pane, you can modify components. Common components are creating a parti-tion, and setting the location where to install Windows Vista. You can also enter the product keys, accept the end-user agreement, and skip other user setup prompts. SIM will also validate your autounattend.xml answer file and troubleshoot problems. You’ll use that file to create an installation on a master computer, and you’ll run sysprep.exe to seal your installation. You’ll then use Windows PE and ImageX to create your custom WIM image. Chapter 2 more fully covers SIM.

SummaryAs you discovered in this chapter, deploying Windows Vista in the enterprise requires a lot more consideration than a simple DVD install. The operating system is new in many ways. Whereas the installation process remained relatively unchanged since NT 4, Windows Vista introduces us to the WIM image format. The operating system has a new set of requirements as well as additional requirements in the RAM and graphics department to take advantage of

3. Open a command prompt (in administrator mode from Windows Vista), and navigate to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 (use cd C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86).

4. From command line, enter imagex /mountrw e:\install.wim 1 e:\mount, where e:\install.wim is the location of your install.wim file and e:\mount is the folder where you will mount the image to browse and modify. Ensure the folder exists.

5. Now browse the mount point using Windows Explorer or the command prompt. You will see all the files as normal. You will notice that the file structure is similar to a nor-mal Windows Vista installation and does not have a unique structure of installation files like previous versions of Windows would have. This is the image that will be applied to a computer without many changes.

6. To unmount the image, enter Imagex /unmount e:\mount from the command prompt where e:\mount is the mount point you selected.




all the enhanced interface features. With the tools available, you get a wide array of options for customization to fit your organizational structure. The central workbench of Business Desktop Deployment puts many of the backend features in one place. To prepare customized deploy-ments, the Automated Installation Kit (AIK) brings the unattended installation tools, such as Sys-tem Image Manager and Windows PE, together. The abilities of the USMT tools to back up and transfer user state data takes many of the user’s burdens away while giving the administrator a smooth, integrated way to get at those tricky application settings and user files. Although these tools are a big improvement in many ways and help you automate deployment, you do still have to do your homework. You need to test application and hardware compatibility and then test it again. Know your inventory and know how it fits into Windows Vista’s config.xml require-ments. Don’t forget that your users rely on their customizations and application settings as much as their data files.

Exam EssentialsKnow how to analyze your business environment. Deploying Windows Vista to your enter-prise will involve most of your infrastructure. Be aware of the limitations and how those affect your methodologies.

The user base will be impacted the most. Not only must you remember to consider users’ needs from an operating system standpoint, but you should also know what they need to get their jobs done and what you can do to lessen the interruption of their productivity.

Be aware of the deployment tools you have at your disposal. Many tools are available that allow for automation and customization. Based on your business requirements, pick the fea-tures that you want to utilize for your business. USMT, SIM, and BDD are just some examples of pieces available to your toolset.

Don’t overthink your deployment tools. For example, if you need to transfer user state data for only five people in a remote office to new laptops, you probably do not need to spend time configuring XML files for USMT. The Easy Transfer Wizard would likely suffice.

Know when to choose a clean installation or upgrade. Often upgrades are avoided in an enter-prise environment, simply because there are variables to application and driver compatibility that can cause support issues. If you do choose to perform in-place upgrades, test thoroughly.

Usually a clean installation is the best method. The benefits of keeping user state data in an in-place upgrade are realized in the Easy Transfer Wizard and USMT tools. In addition, you can control what makes the trip to a new computer, possibly keeping trouble applications and files out of your brand-new installations.

Understand the new image format WIM. The technologies built to deploy Windows Vista dif-fer significantly from previous versions. The Windows Image format gives new flexibility in deployment. Also, the language-agnostic nature of Windows Vista alleviates headaches when deploying across regions. Take advantage of WIM by using multiple versions of a deployment in a single WIM image and updating files in the image using the ImageX and Windows PE tools.


Review Questions 31

Review Questions1. You have been tasked with upgrading an office of computers to Windows Vista Business Edition.

The desktop computers have 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 processors, 1GB of RAM, a 64MB video card that is DirectX 7 compliant with a non-WDDM driver, Ethernet 10/100Mb network inter-faces, and 80GB hard drives. The office manager wants to use the Aero desktop interface and he wants to minimize cost on upgrades. What do you recommend?

A. Upgrade each computer to 2GB of RAM, upgrade the video card to a DirectX 10–compliant model with 512MB of video RAM, and upgrade the hard drive to a minimum of 250GB.

B. Recommend a video card upgrade to a WDDM-compliant video card that has or can make 128MB available.

C. Recommend a system swap with brand-new Windows Vista Premium–ready computers.

D. Upgrade the processor to a dual-core model and upgrade the video card to a WDDM-compliant model.

2. As part of an infrastructure upgrade project, you are deploying Windows Vista using an auto-mated method to several different site offices for your company. The main Chicago office hosts 30 Windows Vista–ready computers with a 100Mbps network connection and several file servers. The Kansas City office is connected to the home office via a slow 128K WAN link and has five Windows Vista–ready computers. Decide the best ways to deploy Windows Vista to these machines. (Choose all that apply.)

A. Install Windows Vista using the default setup program from the DVD on each machine at both sites.

B. For the Chicago office, create an answer file on a floppy disk and use it along with the DVD for an unattended installation.

C. In the Chicago office, set up one of the file servers as a Windows Deployment server and deploy the Windows Vista WIM image file and an unattend.xml file. Boot the computers using PXE to install Windows Vista over the network.

D. In the Kansas City office, set up one of the Chicago file servers as a Windows Deployment server and deploy a WIM image file and an unattend.xml file over the WAN. Boot the computers using PXE to install Windows Vista over the network.

E. In the Kansas City office, deploy a USB key containing the Windows PE environment and an unattend.xml file as well as the Windows Vista DVD. Boot from the USB key for the automated installation from the DVD.

3. You have customized a Windows Vista computer with settings and software that you need to exist on every Windows Vista computer you will build. You want to use this computer as a model, taking its settings and software to every Windows Vista machine you install. What tool should you use to create an image of this computer?

A. Use ImageX from the command line of Windows Vista.

B. Use Window System Image Manager to create an image.

C. Use an unattend.xml file customized with the settings and additional software to install.

D. Use ImageX from the Windows PE environment to create the image.



4. You have 50 brand-new computers, but you want to replace the current operating system with Windows Vista. You create an image using ImageX. After you create the image, you find out that a new version of the video driver prevents system crashes. What do you do in order to take advantage of the latest driver when deploying the WIM image?

A. Install the driver manually after the image is applied to all the computers.

B. Create a brand-new WIM image from a new install with the latest driver.

C. Instruct your users to use Windows Update and select the driver from the Available Updates list.

D. Use ImageX to inject the updated driver into your existing WIM image.

5. During installation of Windows Vista on a new machine, you choose to skip entering a product key as you do not have it readily available. You proceed to choose Windows Vista Ultimate edi-tion, as that is the version required for this computer. However, after retrieving the license key from your desk, you find that the license key is for Windows Vista Business edition, and you can-not activate the installation. What must you do to resolve the issue, using the key that you have?

A. Reinstall Windows, choosing the correct edition.

B. Use the License Management Tool.

C. Install Windows Vista Business edition on a second partition.

D. Call Microsoft Support to change the license key type.

6. You are planning an upgrade of several PCs to Windows Vista. Three of the PCs are running Win-dows XP Professional, two of them are running Windows 2000 Professional, and five of them are running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. How many in-place upgrades can you complete?

A. 2

B. 4

C. 6

D. 8

7. A user needs to transfer her settings from an older laptop running Windows XP to a new laptop running Windows Vista. The user needs her My Documents, Printers, Outlook e-mail settings, and Desktop setup on the new computer. What is the best method?

A. Use the Easy Transfer Wizard and utilize an available network connection to transfer the data.

B. Copy the files requested and manually configure the Outlook e-mail client.

C. Have the user copy the files, manually set her wallpaper, and copy the configuration file for Outlook.

D. Use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.


Review Questions 33

8. You need to create an answer file for use in an automated, unattended Windows Vista setup. How should you create the file?

A. Open Notepad and create a file named unattend.txt. Then input the correct parameters.

B. Use SIM to automate the creation of unattend.xml.

C. Use SIM to automate the creation of unattend.txt.

D. Use the BDD console to create the appropriate files.

9. You are preparing for a staged rollout of Windows Vista to your company. The biggest con-cern is some of the applications that exist in the environment. There are several versions of a productivity application installed and other commercial software that might pose a problem. You need to understand what effect the applications installed will have on your upgrade plans. What should you do?

A. Use the Application Compatibility Toolkit to run an inventory of your environment to determine whether the applications are compatible with Windows Vista.

B. Use the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment to run a report on the readiness of your environment.

C. Run the Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer to report on the compatibility of your current applications with Windows Vista.

D. Have your users send you an inventory spreadsheet of the applications and versions installed on their systems. Input that data into a spreadsheet or database to analyze the results.

10. Your colleague is performing a Windows Vista in-place upgrade to a system that is Windows Vista ready. It contains a 3.4GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a WDDM-compliant video card with 128MB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive with 12GB free. He says the Windows Vista upgrade failed. What is the likely reason?

A. The video card does not have enough video memory.

B. The RAM is below the minimum required.

C. The hard drive is too small.

D. The hard drive does not contain enough free space.

11. You need to install Windows Vista on some computers being shipped to the Mexico office. It’s been requested that you load the Spanish language version of Windows Vista. How do you accomplish this?

A. Purchase the Spanish version of Windows Vista and install it.

B. Load the English edition of Windows Vista and the download the Spanish language pack add-on.

C. Use the same Windows Vista disk to install Windows Vista and select Spanish when prompted for a language.

D. Slipstream the Spanish language pack into the image file.



12. You are planning a project to upgrade your organization’s computers from Windows XP to Win-dows Vista Business Edition. You have an Active Directory and a 100Mbps network infrastruc-ture, and you use Office 2003 across all the computers. You have a mix of laptop and desktop models and need to understand where upgrades will be necessary. What should you do?

A. Write a script to query the machines using SNMP. Collect that data into a spreadsheet for analysis.

B. Use the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool.

C. Take a manual inventory and compare it to the Hardware Compatibility List.

D. Run the Application Compatibility Toolkit and use the reports to find underpowered hardware.

13. You are using the ImageX tool to make additions to an existing WIM file. Before you can use the update WIM file, what command must you use?

A. imagex /mount

B. imagex /compress

C. imagex /commit

D. imagex /complete

14. You plan to upgrade user’s computers to Windows Vista over the weekend. You want to be able to script the user state backup using a batch job deployed and run by SMS. What tool should you use?

A. File and Transfer Wizard

B. Business Desktop Deployment 2007

C. ScanState.exe

D. unattend.xml

15. Windows Vista can be installed from a number of devices. Which of the following are correct? (Choose three.)

A. CD-ROM

B. USB key

C. Network

D. DVD-ROM


Review Questions 35

16. You receive a call from a user who has received a new laptop that was preinstalled with Win-dows Vista by the manufacturer. She has plugged the network cable in and wants to log on to the company’s Active Directory domain but is not getting prompted for a username or pass-word. She has opened the System Properties and in the Computer Name Changes window there is no option to enter the domain name. What should she do?

A. She should open Control Panel, select Network, select the option Logon to an Active Directory, and install this feature.

B. She should perform an in-place upgrade to Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, or Windows Vista Enterprise.

C. You should run a logon script on the computer to allow logon to the domain.

D. She should disable the wireless networking as it is causing a conflict with the Ethernet network interface.

17. A user needs to maintain on his computer a document-management program that was written for Windows 98. There is no upgrade available, but the application is essential to his job. You are concerned because review of the application shows that it will attempt to write to a now protected area of the registry. The Application Compatibility Toolkit report shows that the application can be run on Windows Vista in Windows ME compatibility mode. What can you do to allow this application to install correctly?

A. Compare the application’s registry settings and add them to the Windows Vista computer manually.

B. Run the application in a virtual machine.

C. Allow the user to continue to use the Windows 98 computer side by side with his new Windows Vista computer.

D. Run the program in Windows ME compatibility mode as suggested.

18. You have been assigned to a project to bring your organization of 500 people to a standard operating system of Windows Vista. To this point, there has been no central standard for client computers. In addition, you will be upgrading to Office 2007. Which of the following should be done during your upgrade project? (Choose all that apply.)

A. Set up a test lab. Use the lab to create and deploy images.

B. Have a base of users test your deployment before rolling it out to the company.

C. As quickly as possible, have your managers pass around the installation disc to your users and ask them to install Windows Vista when time is available.

D. Interview a sample of the user base to understand their requirements from the operating system.

E. Tell users the day before you are ready to deploy that their computers will be upgraded.

F. Take an inventory of the environment using the tools available in the BDD, both hardware and software.



19. You have created a WIM that includes a new deployment-ready Windows Vista image as well as several custom favorites in Internet Explorer. Management has now decided that the intra-net favorite is unnecessary. How do you update the image?

A. From the command prompt:

imagex /mountrw image.wim

delete

imagex /commit

imagex /unmount

B. Double-click the file image.wim, browse to the favorite file, and delete the file.

C. From the command prompt:

imagex /mountrw image.wim

delete

imagex /apply

D. Edit the image.cab file from Windows Explorer. Browse to the favorite file and delete it.

20. You need to plan in-place upgrades for several important PCs in your organization to Win-dows Vista. Minimizing downtime is the most important goal. What steps must you take to minimize the downtime while still completing an effective upgrade? (Choose all that apply.)

A. Run the Windows Hardware Assessment tool.

B. Format the hard drive.

C. Export settings to a central repository.

D. Run the Window Vista Upgrade Advisor.

E. Run the Windows Vista Installer from the DVD while booted into the current operating system.

F. Use the Easy Transfer Wizard.


Answers to Review Questions 37

Answers to Review Questions1. B. In order to run Windows Vista Business edition, you must have a 1GHz processor, 512MB

of RAM, a video card with 128MB of video RAM (which can be from system memory) that is WDDM compliant, and 40GB of hard disk space. There are certainly other upgrades that would improve performance, but this, at a minimum, would require a video card upgrade in order to run Aero. If the Aero interface is not required, the original configuration is capable of running Windows Vista.

2. C, E. The Chicago office has a large number of computers and a fast network with file servers available. Booting from the network using PXE and loading from a Windows Deployment server will be the fastest and most efficient use of available resources. The Kansas City office has fewer computers and no local file server. In this case, we can still automate the installation using Windows PE booted from the USB key and using the unattend.xml file from the Chi-cago deployment. Using the DVD will be the quickest, easiest method since there are only a few computers.

3. D. To create a WIM image, the ImageX tool is the only choice. However, you cannot create a deployment-ready image directly in Windows Vista. You must first boot to a Windows PE environment and use the tool from the command line.

4. D. The flexibility of the WIM format allows you to add individual drivers to your WIM image. The command is peimg.exe /inf.

5. A. If you choose the incorrect edition and choose not to enter the license key during Setup, you will have to reinstall the correct edition to match the license key.

6. D. While Windows 2000 Professional licenses can qualify for upgrade pricing, you cannot actually execute an in-place upgrade to Windows Vista; you will have to do a clean install.

7. A. The Easy Transfer Wizard will move all of the setting specified. Although it is not as flexible as the USMT tools, it is also easier to use when a small number of transfers are required and automation of the tool is unnecessary.

8. B. SIM (System Image Manager) allows you to create an XML answer file that can contain specific packages, components, and updates available in a WIM image file.

9. A. The Application Compatibility Toolkit will inventory your environment and report on the compatibility of applications that it identifies and that have been tested against Windows Vista.

10. D. The disk space requirement for a Windows Vista installation is a 40GB hard drive with at least 15GB free.

11. C. Windows Vista is now language agnostic, which means most languages supported by Win-dows Vista are now included and part of the normal setup process without the need for a sep-arate version of the OS.



12. B. The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool allows you to assess hardware and device driver compatibility. It will collect inventory from your network, without any installation of agent software, and store it centrally in a relational SQL Express database so you can generate reports on that data for analysis.

13. C. When making changes to a WIM image, you must commit the change before it will take effect.

14. C. ScanState scans and stores user state data such as files and application settings to a specified location. It is very flexible and can be used in a batch automation scenario.

15. B, C, D. The new setup routine based upon WIM allows us to install Windows Vista from any bootable device. This includes a DVD-ROM, a network location using PXE boot, and a USB key with sufficient space to hold the WIM. A CD-ROM does not have enough space to hold the required files. An in-place upgrade does not even require booting from one of these devices; it will copy the files from within the previous version of Windows onto the hard disk.

16. B. Domain logon is supported in Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, and Win-dows Vista Enterprise editions. Windows Vista Home and Home Premium do not support enterprise-level connectivity options like Active Directory domain logon.

17. D. Even though Windows Vista includes new levels of security and the registry does have areas that cannot be written to by applications because of security or simply because the locations have changed, file and registry redirection is a part of the operating system. Windows Vista will allow the application to write to a virtual store, fooling the application into thinking that it is writing directly to the now protected area of the registry.

18. A, B, D, F. Deploy Windows Vista in your organizations using best practices. These include careful planning, inventory, and communication. You must consider what the environment looks like prior to the upgrade and what the user’s requirements dictate.

19. A. The ImageX tool is a powerful command-line utility that is designed to work with WIM files. When editing a WIM file, you must first read-write mount the image to a folder to make it browsable and editable. You can now modify the file using standard commands, and after you have finished you must commit the changes to the image.

20. D, E. Run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to ensure that there won’t be any issues (or to resolve them ahead of time). Then run the in-place upgrade; all files and settings will be preserved.
