DID YOU KNOW… Microsoft has our own drive imaging tools?
For those that aren’t aware of how to use our workstation/server imaging tools…
MICROSOFT’S DRIVE IMAGING HISTORY 101:
- ADS Release: Microsoft has had its own commercially available drive imaging software since 2003 when we introduced "Automated Deployment Services" as an OOB release to Windows Server 2003, designed to automate the hardware provisioning & building of Windows Servers from bare metal to complete application service install. ADS was special because it enabled multicast imaging to multiple servers at the same time while also automating processes like configuring drive partitions and processor affinity.
- OSD Release: Microsoft leveraged the same tools, albeit different versions, for the "OS Deployment Services Feature Pack" for SMS2003, allowing customers to remotely image workstations over the network by backing up configurations and PXE booting to full. OSD is still in use today and is a key component of the "Business Desktop Deployment 2007 Zero Touch Deployment".
- Vista Release: Microsoft made Windows Vista’s installation "image-based", configurable using yet another version of the ImageX tools. This is the secret sauce that enables Windows Vista to be installed in an average of 20 minutes as opposed to the average 1 hour+ that’s required for Windows XP. It is configurable using a set of deployment tools available for Windows Vista.
(It should be noted that for the most part, none of the image files from any of these releases are compatible with each other. Recently, OSD was updated using a Service Pack for it to support Windows Vista’s version of the imaging tools, but that’s about it.)
WHY A NEW IMAGE FORMAT?
- Image mounting & editing
ImageX creates files with the .WIM extension and unlike other imaging tools, you can mount .WIM and link them to directory structures. You can even make edits to the images and "commit them". - Compression
WIM files are automatically compressed using .ZIP technology. - Injectable Hotfixes
WIM files can be patched of hotfixed without "imaging a test workstation, hotfixing, & recreating the image file" saving customers a lot of time. - Free
Customers like free and our imaging tools are free…. err… I mean value-added technologies that come as part of Windows Vista licensing.
WHERE DO I GET IT?
- DOWNLOAD: ImageX.exe, the primary tool used in imaging systems, is a component of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) which is downloadable here: (It is 829MB in size and is a .IMG/.ISO file that needs to be burned to disc)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7d4bc6d-15f3-4284-9123-679830d629f2&DisplayLang=en - DOCS: The WAIK User’s Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=993C567D-F12C-4676-917F-05D9DE73ADA4&displaylang=en - DOCS: The WAIK Readme
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=EBA01479-BA0F-49B5-BD7F-62080B0231E2&displaylang=en - TRAINING: If you’d like some training on how to use it, why not try our virtual lab for Imaging?
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5247639
For more infomation, visit our Image Web site at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/imaging/default.mspx
Kurt Shintaku's Blog 