Windows 7 Deployment

[Chris_Jones]

Has anyone got an Idiots guide for packaging and deploying Windows 7? I've got it sysprepped, but I dont know what to do with regards an answer file to auto join the domain etc. I've tried the windows 7 AIK but the documentation with it is very confusing.

Any help much appreciated

[peterdoherty]

its really the same process as vista so any any site with a guide to deploying vista will be 99% of the way to 7

[SYNACK]

This is probably the easiest free way:
Deploying Windows 7 - Part 1: Windows AIK 2.0 Enhancements
Using MDT 2010 Beta 2. It is still in beta but seems to work ok and you are probably still a little while away from a full scale deploy anyhow.

[Gatt]

I've found that Windows 7 Has stripped out the Graphics Drivers after sysprep even though they were the ones used during initial Installation!
Real pain in the danglies as now we have to go to each Pc and ensure the driver downloads via WSUS and then run WSAT to get Aero back and the resolution back up to 1280x1024

[SYNACK]

I've found that Windows 7 Has stripped out the Graphics Drivers after sysprep even though they were the ones used during initial Installation!
Real pain in the danglies as now we have to go to each Pc and ensure the driver downloads via WSUS and then run WSAT to get Aero back and the resolution back up to 1280x1024

I'm assuming that you generalized the image to make it span multiple types of pc, this behaviour is by design. If you are using MDT you just need to put the correct driver for the GPU in the driver store and it will insert it at install time. If not you will need to add it into a driver search path in your image and answer file manually or just have seporate images per PC type. Given the WIM image single instance storage this means you can have many no generalized images in the same file without increasing the size too much. Downside to that is that you have more than one image to remake each time you upgrade them.

[Gatt]

Yeah will be having a look at the new WDS when I get round to upgrading the Apps Server to R2!

[sted]

I've found that Windows 7 Has stripped out the Graphics Drivers after sysprep even though they were the ones used during initial Installation!
Real pain in the danglies as now we have to go to each Pc and ensure the driver downloads via WSUS and then run WSAT to get Aero back and the resolution back up to 1280x1024

i assume like with vista you can prepare a sysprep file in such a way that it dosent strip drivers out

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="generalize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <RegisteredOrganization>a n other school</RegisteredOrganization>
            <RegisteredOwner>a n other school</RegisteredOwner>
            <StartPanelOff>true</StartPanelOff>
            <DoNotCleanTaskBar>true</DoNotCleanTaskBar>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Home_Page>http://www.myhomepage.com</Home_Page>
            <IEWelcomeMsg>false</IEWelcomeMsg>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>en-gb</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-gb</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-gb</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-gb</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-gb</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Sidebar" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SidebarOnByDefault>false</SidebarOnByDefault>
            <SidebarVisible>false</SidebarVisible>
            <Gadget1 />
            <Gadget2 />
            <Gadget3 />
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim://server/windowscds$/vista%20x86%20sp1/sources/install.wim#Windows Vista BUSINESS" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

cant remember exactly which bit does it but i found every image i made with my old sysprep file killed the video driver (but none of the rest)

[TheCrust]

We've used exactly the same procedures to create our Windows 7 images as we did for our Vista ones with no problems.

Except (and there's always a "but"!)

We wanted to use our SCCM 2007 R2 infrastructure to deploy the images in a single hit - create the task sequence, advertise it to a collection (or collections!) and then watch the machines deploy 7 without having to visit them.

I've found that although my WDS image works fine for WDS, joins the domain happily etc.. it won't play properly via SCCM.

It's not a compatibility / Windows 7 support thing as SCCM will deploy a plain vanilla Windows 7 RTM image fine (as I discovered when I accidentally put it down to the entire network earlier this week...!) so it must be something I'm cocking up in the image creation process without realising it....

We've nearly done the whole school via WDS now - so SCCM can wait for the moment, but if anyone has any thoughts on that it would be appreciated!

[Gatt]

I've found a few probs with SCCM & windows 7 - cant connect to a Wiin7 PC with the remote tools..

[CyberNerd]

I noticed that FOG version 0.27 includes support for windows 7.

The FOG Project Team is proud to announce the release of version 0.27. This release includes support for Windows 7 (RC) and task scheduling, as well as many other small improvements. Please try it out and let us know what you think!

FOG :: A Computer Cloning Solution - Home