A simple imaging system for Windows 7 and Vista.

 

 

 

 I have read tons of white papers, read books of every size and value and attended classes for imaging. But it comes down to a very poor selection for small to medium size businesses. After looking at all the choices you come away scratching your head and wondering what in the hell have I gotten myself into.  Most businesses do not have time to deploy a WDS, WAIK, MDT, DS server, and SCCM into their SOHO IT system.

 

So, what have I done?

 I have created a simple imaging system that does not require a lot of upkeep, is easy to update when needed, is a single hardware agnostic image for 14 different models of desktops and laptops currently and can be for more and is easy to setup post imaging.

 

What have I used to create this?

Windows AIK 7, a windows 7 desktop used as a WAIK/MDT File share server, Ladybug WinPE 3.0 Boot Disk, Volume license of Windows 7 and Office 2010, KMS server and Sysprep.

 

How have I done this?

Necessity is a very powerful motivator. Yes, it started 3 years ago when I reached the end of what BartPE could do imaging and just as Vista came out. It was a whole new era to imaging process because we could no longer Ghost and use newsid.exe on Vista desktops images and had to go to sysprepped images.

I started in with a simple WinPE 2.0 boot disk, command line with .wim images and a file share. It worked great with Vista and XP images and I learned a whole new process. But, one of the down falls was command line. I am OK with it, but these new kids using it are very lost and it was no time before I realized that I needed a GUI environment like ole BartPE was.

I searched, tried different boot types like “Boot Land, and VistaPE” but they all had way more stuff than I wanted or needed and it was complicated to edit them. So I noticed that all of them used WinPE as a base for the boot OS. So, I started to tear all of them apart and see what made them tick. 4 days of “honey I need more coffee” and I had a working GUI prototype that was easy to edit and manage. That’s about 100 CD’s and 100 boot ups of VM’s later, LOL. From that point on I had it and just kept adding batch files to it to do all the imaging work.

When Windows 7 came out with WinPE 3.0 and DISM well howdy ole Fitz was ahead of most people and one of the first things we did was figure out a whole new imaging process for 7 with its “system” and “windows” partitions and incorporated those commands right into Ladybug. Of course I had to upgrade Ladybug as well to WinPE 3.0.  But it works better than it ever did, and Ghost is still in there and works for legacy stuff.

The next step in the process was how to create a hardware agnostic image for 14 models of workstations. Yes, I wanted a default users profile for anyone that logged into a machine like XP had, and I wanted certain things turned on or off. Oh my, there are like years of exploration here in this area. I knew what I wanted and just kept hammering away until I found something that worked. It was by accident at home one night that the big break through happen and I put all the pieces together. It wasn’t any time at all before I got everything working in a prototype model before moving it into production.

 

So, how does this Imaging system work?

First of all, you build a big fat image on a “master workstation” I use the latest new equipment for this and add all the applications that a normal desktop user sees. After you get where you want it, you clean it up, and then go to your WAIK/SIM manager and create a custom “Sysprep.xml” that copies your “admin” account into the default users profile when sysprepped. Grab a copy with ladybug before Sysprep so in case it crashes during Sysprep you have a working copy.

Then let it come back up and Sysprep itself.  Then, ImageX a copy of the Windows drive only  over to your WAIK server.  Once there mount it and add all your drivers from your other models of workstations in “off-line” mode. Edit what you want to and commit changes.  ImageX back that copy onto your MW and use BCD edit (in Ladybug v5.5 or higher) and boot back up machine.

Now you are ready to use Sysprep once more and your new hardware agnostic image is ready for deployment.

Now the best part of this is that you have an image sitting on your WAIK server that you can mount up at any time, add drivers, files, folders, packages, updates, SP’s and services through DISM. It has been Sysprepped once and will never change status. (MS limits process of 3 max) so after editing it, you place it back on MW, Sysprep it again and it is still at Sysprep #2 when it is deployed.

Now, there are many little items I have left out on purpose here but once you get into this it will not take you long to figure it all out.  It works and does not require and lot of time or effort to make. Compared to a WDS or “lite-touch” setup with scripts and such it is a breeze. It’s simple and can be deployed though your wholesaler, OEM, and remotely installed by a normal user on site with ladybug and a USB HDD.

The only issues that I have run into are the BIOS and Firmware updates that cannot be installed correctly with “drivers only”, especially the Intel SOL and IMEI sets. So I have created a small folder on “C” drive and placed them in there by Model number to install “post imaging”. I am now working on editing my Sysprep.xml file to add these after image by Model number.

I like simple non scripted processes that are easy to use. Sometimes big and fancy come with a huge cost of time, labor and effort when all you need is something simple. That’s my motto: KISS (keep it simple stupid)

This loads and works from the latest and greatest hardware to old IBM T41’s and yes those old IBM’s with 1 to 1.5 GB of ram run 7 Enterprise without issue at all.