See also: Deploying Windows 8: Unattended Installation Using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) – Part I In the first post of this series we’ve already reviewed the initial steps for preparing Windows Deployment Services (WDS), adding boot and clean Windows 8 images into the environment, an also how to capture a reference Windows 8 image for deployment. Now, it is […]
See also: Deploying Windows 8: Unattended Installation Using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) – Part II For a while now I’ve been preparing articles in this blog regarding deploying operating systems, and especially unattended deployments. I’ve started with Windows Vista deployments and the initial version of Windows Deployment Services (Post I, Post II and Post III); the moving forward with […]
For those that have been using Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 2.0 released recently (download link here) or using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 1, that works only with WAIK 2.0 (check these articles of mine about MDT 2010: Post I, Post II and Post III); maybe you’ve noticed that the management tools that were included with WAIK 1.1 (and 1.0) disappeared in this new version. These tools were consolidated by one command-line: DISM.exe (more info on Post I about MDT 2010). Meaning that the Windows PE management (like customizing, adding drivers or inserting Hyper-V integration components to those images) that you executed on previous versions of WAIK, has significant changes. On this post we’ll be reviewing how to add the Hyper-V Integration Components to a Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) image, including the new Windows PE 3.0. Why should I need to add the Hyper-V Integration Components to Windows PE? The Integration Components of Hyper-V are a set of drivers that are a significant performance change that you can apply to virtual machines for them to be able to install synthetic devices instead of emulated devices. Some of the drivers that are installed using the Integration Components are: Video driver, network driver (with this you avoid using Hyper-V’s Legacy Network adapter), storage driver, VMBUS (transport for synthetic devices), time sync (time synchronization with the host), etc. Adding Hyper-V Integration Components As I mentioned before, I prepared a set of […]
MSDN Code Gallery just released a first version for a very promising tool: WIM2VHD. With this you can take a raw WIM file (like the ones included inside any Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2) or a custom WIM (like a captured and customized image) and converted directly to a VHD that you can boot directly using Virtual PC, Virtual Server or Hyper-V. Take a look at this link: Windows(R) Image to Virtual Hard Disk (WIM2VHD) Converter Introduction The Windows(R) Image to Virtual Hard Disk (WIM2VHD) command-line tool allows you to create sysprepped VHD images from any Windows 7 installation source. VHDs created by WIM2VHD will boot directly to the Out Of Box Experience, ready for your first-use customizations. You can also automate the OOBE by supplying your own unattend.xml file, making the possibilities limitless. Fresh squeezed, organically grown, free-range VHDs – just like Mom used to make – that work with Virtual PC, Virtual Server, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Windows 7’s new Native VHD-Boot functionality! Requirements A computer running one of the following Windows operating systems: – Windows 7 – Windows Server 2008 R2 – Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V RTM enabled (x64 only) The Windows 7 Beta Automated Installation Kit (AIK) or Windows OEM Pre-Installation Kit (OPK) installed. A Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 installation source, or another Windows image captured to a .WIM file. How to Use It Create a Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Standard […]
Technology and user experience enthusiast, book author, customer-focused in the Dell Technologies family. Sharing a few thoughts around evaluating, designing, implementing and managing IT solutions
Augusto Alvarez 