Welcome back to IT Free training course on Windows 7. So far we have looked at a lot
of different ways to customize your Windows 7 install to stream line the deployment of
Windows 7. Microsoft have also created a number of tools to assist you with deployment and
customization of your Windows 7 installs. Some of these are free and some of these are
available for purchase. One of the free tools is Microsoft Deployment
Toolkit or MDT 2010. There is a lot to MDT 2010 and I could create a complete training
series just on this tool. In this video I will just cover the basics since that is all
you need for the Windows 7 exam. MDT is a solution accelerator. Using it there
are two main methods for deploying Windows. The first is light touch installation. This
method requires only a small degree of user interaction. When you use this method your
are given a series of menus to select what you want to install.
If you want a completely automated install, you can use the zero touch installation method.
This method however does require Microsoft's system configuration manager which is a commercial
product. Let's have a look at how to use the Microsoft solution accelerator on a Windows
7 computer. On my Windows 7 it is quiet an easy task to
install the Microsoft Deployment toolkit. I have already download the executable from
the Microsoft web site and place it on the desktop. If I double click it, all I need
to do is run the setup and accept all the defaults.
The install itself does not take too long complete. Once complete, all I need to do
is run deployment workbench from the start menu. Once I launch deployment workbench,
you can see at the top there is an information centre.
The information centre includes information like getting starting, documentation and news.
In the components section you can add additional components to MDT 2010. For example, MDT can
use Windows Automated Installation Kit and Application compatibility Toolkit. You can
also add support for the user state migration tool.
Before I can get started, I need to create a new deployment share. Using this share,
other computers on the network can connect up to this share and access files from my
deployment solution. This share will be created on my local Windows
7 computer, however in the real world you would most likely install MDT 2010 and thus
create the share on a windows server 2008. In the wizard, I need to set the standard
things that I would normally set for a share, firstly the path of the share, next the share
name and finally the descriptive name. In this case I have accept all the defaults,
but feel free to change them to anything that you like.
If you leave the next option ticked, ask if an image should be captured, when deploying
a new image you will receive a prompt asking you if you want to capture the image. The
next option, gives the user the option to set an administrator password. If you do not
select this option, the password will be blank. You can also set the password using a different
method, for example using an answer file. The last option allows you to ask the user
for a product key. In a large enterprise environment you may want to use a different method to
deploy product keys. If you have a separate product key for each install of Windows 7
and a tech is deploying each operating system you may to enable this option.
That's it for the wizard, once I press finish the share will be created. If I now select
the share, you can see a number of different folders which contain options for my deployment
solution. For example, if I want to add an application to the deployment solution I would
select applications and then select the option new application.
The first option in the wizard relates to whether this will be a thick or thin image.
If you select the first option the application along with its source files will be copied
to the deployment share. This essentially creates a think image. The second option will
store the source files on another location on the network. When this application is needed
to be installed the source files will be read from this location.
The last option, application bundle, only installs the dependencies for the application.
In this particular case I will accept the default and copy the source files to the deployment
share. On the next screen I can set the details of the application for example the publisher,
the application name, version and language. On the next screen I need to browse to where
my source media is located in this particular case my DVD. Once this is done I can enter
in a directory name in which the files will be copied to the local computer. This directory
will be created under the applications directory. On the next screen I need to enter in the
command that will be used to install M S office 2010. That's it for the options in the wizard,
once I next my way through to the end the source files will be copied from my DVD to
the local computer. Once the application files have been copied
from the DVD the next thing I need to do is to add an operating system to my deployment
share. To do this, right click operating systems and select import operating system. You have
a number of different options of where the source files will be copied from.
The first option copies the source files from a DVD. if you have created a custom install
and captured it to a WIM file, you can use the second option to uses this file. The last
option allows you to use Windows deployment services. Windows deployment services is a
free role in Windows server 2008 that allows you to deploy Windows on the network. Using
Windows Deployment Services you can boot a client from the network and install Windows
7 without the need for installation media like a DVD.
Once again, I will copy the source files from the DVD. Once I have selected the location
of the source files from my DVD I need to enter in a folder to store the source files
on my local computer. The source files will now be copied to the local computer. On a
final screen of the wizard, you will notice that two operating systems were imported.
The first is Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit and the second is Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit.
One of the frustrating things when performing a lot of installs of Windows 7 is having to
install additional drivers after the installation is completed. If I go to out-of-the-box drivers
right-click it and select import drivers, I can add additional drivers to my deployment
share. The wizard is quite a simple one, simply browse
to the location of your driver and next next your way through the wizard and the driver
will be added to your deployment share. If you have any software that is in cab or MSU
file. You can add these files to the packages area. Simply right-click packages and select
import OS packages. In this particular case, I have found a copy
of Internet Explorer which is in cab format. Of course Internet Explorer does come with
the operating system, but by adding this package means that I can upgrade Internet Explorer
when I install the operating system. Again it is a simple matter to finish the wizard
and the cab file will be added. Before you can install your operating system,
you need to create a sequence of tasks. Once I right-click on task sequences and select
new task sequence, I will be to create a new sequence of tasks that I can use to install
Windows 7. Later on I will select this sequence and use it to install Windows 7.
Firstly I need to enter in a sequence ID and a sequence name. On the next screen you can
select the template will be used to configure your sequence. You will notice that there
are a number of templates to choose from, but in this case I will select standard client
task sequence. Once selected, I now need to select which
operating system I am going to install. I only added one DVD to the deployment share,
but on it had two different editions of Windows 7. In this case I will select the 64-bit edition.
On the next screen I can enter in a product key, in this case I won't worry about it and
I will skip past to the next screen. On the OS settings screen, I can configure the name,
organization and homepage that will be used with this installation. On the next screen
I can configure the default administrator password. Once done I only need to next next
my way to the finish. Once I press finish the task sequence will
be created. Now that my deployment share is set up, I will switch to a computer running
XP. To install Windows 7 on this computer, first
I need to open the deployment share. Once open you can see all the folders containing
all the data was configured in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. If I open the directory scripts,
I can run the script lite touch. This will launch a wizard which I can use to install
Windows 7 with. The script needs to access to the network
share, so the first thing I need to enter in is a username and password that has permission
to the share. On the first screen you can see a list of all the sequences that I have
created. So far there is only the one. Once I select it I get the option to either
install a fresh clean install of Windows 7 or perform an upgrade. In this case I will
select a clean install, next you can enter in a computer name for the new computer. On
the next screen you can add the newly installed computer to a domain or leave it in a workgroup.
Since this is an clean install and everything will be erased, you have the choice to save
user data and settings. This will save the profile and user documents. In some cases
you may want to save more than just the user profile and documents. On the next screen
you can perform a complete backup. From here on in, you can have a lot of the
same options you have when performing a clean install using the DVD. For example, the language
you want to install, time currency and keyboard layout. Next you can see the time zone.
On the next screen, you get to decide which application you want to install. In this case
I have only added M S office to the deployment share. Once I select this I will get the option
to enable bit locker. Bit locker enables you to encrypt the contents of the hard disk.
On the next screen I can select the option begin to start installing Windows 7.
Once I select this, the Windows 7 install will begin. You can see that there is a lot
of customization can be performed to the Windows 7 install and a lot of tools can be used to
perform this customization. Using the WIM format contains the files used by windows,
but it can't be used to boot into a live windows environment. In the next video, I will look
at the virtual hard disk format. With Windows 7, not only does it support the virtual hard
disk format, but using the right edition, you can boot windows using a virtual hard
disk.