We’re taking our inital tentative steps towards Windows Vista at work. One of the neatest tools (that is a free download, mind you) available is Microsoft’s Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) which includes a number of utilites to aid in desktop deployment, including ImageX and the Windows System Image Manager.
With ImageX, Microsoft has moved away from sector-based imaging, like you’ll find with Symantec Ghost, and their ilk. Instead, ImageX uses a file-based image, which gathers the filesystem off of a machine instead of scraping disk sectors.
With some impetus from these articles, PC Deployement with Windows PE and PC Deployment with ImageX, I’ve managed to download the WAIK, build a bootable CD-ROM, and begin capturing images.
One great aspects of ImageX is that it isn’t only for Vista, but can be utilized for previous versions of Windows, such as XP. As such, organizations may be able to stop relying on sector-based tools and utilize the WAIK tools. I previously mentioned my own issues with my home system, and am looking forward to using the WAIK and a bootable Windows PE disc to create my own recovery partition to avoid the headaches I had with rebuilding.
Another feature is the ability to build a single image for a multitude of hardware. At my work, we have an eclectic assortment of end-user hardware platforms, desktops and laptops, that we’ve collected from a number of vendors over the years. My group is the lead in creating images for all the currently supported hardware, and maintaining the library of CDs and DVDs of images. With the WAIK it is possible to create a single image that covers multiple platforms and manage through the Windows System Image Manager.
Current sector-based images grab an entire disk, thus for each hardware platform you have, the entire contents is stuffed into the image file. With ImageX, the additional “image” only grabs the differences, thus saving space. Additionally, if a file system has duplicate files in various locations, only one copy of the file is stored on the image, and a reference to the additional locations is stored on the image.
In the next few weeks & months, we’ll be experimenting with the WAIK. I’ll post what findings I can, any troubleshooting I had to do, or links to articles that were of particular assistance.
