Archive for February, 2010

Creating a Windows PE boot disk

Windows PE enables you to boot a computer directly into memory (RAM Drive) and run various tools such as, deployment and recovery ones! To create a bootable Windows PE CD or DVD media and install the ImageX Windows WAIK tools perform the following steps:

1. Install Windows AIK tools on your computer
2. From ALL Programs\Windows AIK open the Deployment Tools Command Prompt
3. Create a local Windows PE build directory as follows:
   copype.cmd <architecture> <destination>
   where <architecture> can be x86 for Windows 32-bit environment, amd64 for 64-bit (including Intel 64-bit processors) and ia64 for Intel Itanium architecture
   while <destination> is the path to a local directory
   copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86   –> for the 32bit env or copype.cmd amd64 c:\winpe_amd64   –> for the 64bit env
4. Read more…

Creating an answer file

An answer file gives you the control to perform an unattended installation, that is, the installation process is provided with the answers in a script file instead of having someone attending to it! You can for example, configure passwords, set default Internet Explorer settings, accepting a EULA, etc… The answer file should contain all the settings (answers) required during an installation.

To create an answer file, you use the Windows SIM utility found in Windows AIK by following these steps: Read more…

Problems with Windows SIM

Windows SIM fails to create a catalog for a 32-bit Windows image from a 64-bit version of Windows SIM. To workaround this issue, use the 32-bit version of Windows SIM to create 
catalogs for your Windows images.

Different binary versions of Windows SIM cannot create catalog files for some Windows images of different architecture types. MS recommends using the 32-bit version of Windows SIM to create catalog files because this version can create catalogs for all Windows image architecture types. The following list describes the Windows SIM architecture types and 
catalogs that can be created for each Windows image architecture type:- Read more…

Windows Automated Installation Toolkit (Windows AIK or WAIK)

The Windows Automated Installation Toolkit (Windows AIK or WAIK) is a collection of tools that help you deploy operating system images to target computers or to a VHD. With Windows AIK you can automate systems installations with up-to-date images and use various deployment options. For the experienced users, with Windows AIK you can create the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE version 3) which is a 32-bit or 64-bit replacement for the good old MS-DOS client.

Windows AIK tools include: Read more…