[koden]

Hi ..

Some years ago I have been doing this..

At that time it was making unattended XP installations.

Today I would like to ask:

If I would like to have a win7 image that I could install on different kind of hardware....
Image should contain all the standard programs I use.

What would be the best way to create it?

1. making a unattended version as I did in XP

2. Use MS tool (WAIK?) to take a copy of a win 7 installation

or is there a 3 way to do it?

[Tripredacus]

You should make an Unattended install and have it boot into Audit Mode. Install your software then, make sure for all users. Go into device manager and see what drivers you will need to install.
Sysprep /generalise and then capture the WIM using DISM. Then you can use DISM to inject the drivers into the image.

[koden]

Tripredacus, on 14 December 2012 - 08:34 AM, said:

You should make an Unattended install and have it boot into Audit Mode. Install your software then, make sure for all users. Go into device manager and see what drivers you will need to install.
Sysprep /generalise and then capture the WIM using DISM. Then you can use DISM to inject the drivers into the image.

Ok thanks...

I do not always know what hardware I have to install on, so could I leave that point with inject drivers and do that after the installation?
simply by visit manufactor of the hardware and install drivers not found by win 7 ?

[Tripredacus]

Sure you can install the drivers after imaging if you want. If you are not a System Builder, you should look into using MDT 2010 to create deployments. Also look at our sticky:
http://www.msfn.org/...-documentation/

[koden]

thanks... I will start with this and try it..

[gustavo21]

The best mode is without extra drivers. Using Imagex and sysprep you can easyly make an universal windows 7. I quote my answer to other post:

You first need to know how to do a WinPE (x86 or x64)

Quote

Hello. First you have to customize your windows 7, in audit mode.

- Install new fresh OS.
- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /audit
- When restart delete the user you had done (Only Administrator User left)
- Install Updates, customize, install drivers, etc.
- Generate an unattend.xml file for unattend the sysprep process and ser copyprofile=true. (if you need help with this just ask)
- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /oobe /generalize /quit /unattend:unattend.xml
- Restart with WinPE
- Run Imagex /capture /compress fast c: c:\windows7.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate" (or whatever)

Then in other pc, run WinPE with the image you captured before

If you wanna clean all HDD and you have no data to keep.

Execute Diskpart
In diskpart type:
list disk (see what number of disk you wanna install)
sel disk 0 (if is 0)
clean
create part pri
sel part 1
assign letter C:
active
exit

when exit diskpart, execute:

format c: /q /y /fs:NTFS /v:Windows
Imagex /apply X:\windows7.wim 1 c: (X: is the drive you have the image. may be D, E, F etc)

When imagex ends:

C:\windows\system32\bcdboot c:\windows /s c:
exit

restart and wait for a full unattended and universal windows installation.

[WinOutreach4]

To create the unattend file (answer file), please use the Windows System Image Manager (WSIM). WSIM is a part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). WSIM will ask you for an image, and builds a catalog file that will show you the components and settings available for that image. There is also a validation tool that will list any errors.

As Tripredacus has suggested, the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) will be the best method for deployment. You can have it install drivers, Windows updates, and software after Windows is installed. This will allow you to keep a lighter base image and can customize per department needs(which software is installed to which computers) based on which task sequenceyou use. MDT can also be used to capture images from the reference computer.

MDT also uses several other free tools to assist in your deployments: The Application Compatibility Tool (ACT), User State Migration Tool (USMT), Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP), Windows AutomatedInstallation Kit (WAIK), and more. It can also be used with Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).

In addition to the links Tripredacus has in his 'Windows7 deployment documentation' thread, here are some other videos to show you the power and flexibility of MDT.


Part 1: Building the Deployment Environment

Alphabet Soup Deployment: Understanding MDT, WDS, MAP, ACT, SCCM, and USMT


More articles and videos about deploying Windows 7, as well as the tools mentioned in this post can be found on the Springboard Series pages for Windows 7.


Hope this helps,

David
Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro

This post has been edited by WinOutreach4: 18 December 2012 - 01:55 PM

[koden]

Thank you all.... I look forward to begin with this... just need some time :-)