In order to capture a deploy a system image in Windows 7 you will need:
- A Technician Computer - This is the computer you will install the AIK onto.
- A Reference Computer -This is the computer that you will be capturing the image of.You build this installation using the Autounattend.xml file that you will be creating later in this tutorial.
- A Destination Computer - This is the computer you will be deploying the image onto.
- Windows Automated Installation Kit
- A Network Connection
- UFD Drive (USB Flash Drive)
- CD-Burning Software
- Windows 7 Installation Disk.
Before you can capture an image of Windows 7 you will need to download the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) and the Microsoft Download Manager. You can get the AIK from here.
Once you have downloaded the AIK you will need to burn it to a disc. (You can download the AIK on any computer that you are using, it doesn't have to be the one you are capturing an image of). You then need to put this disc into your technician computer and run the program.
When the program starts up click Windows AIK Setup.
The Windows Installer will then start up.
You will need to agree to the terms and conditions, and then select where you would like the AIK to be installed, and then the installation will start.
Once the AIK has installed you will need to put the Windows 7 Installation disk into the PC. You will need to navigate to My Computer, right click on the Windows 7 Installation disk and select Open,
You then need to open the Sources folder.
Then you need to locate the Install.wim file and copy it somewhere locally onto the technician computer, (I'm just going to drag it onto the desktop so it copies there.)
Now you need to create an answer file. To do this you need to open the Windows SIM, which you do by opening the start menu, selecting Windows AIK from the All Programs list and the selecting the Windows System Image Manager.
In the file menu of the Windows SIM, select Select Windows Image
You then need to select the Install.wim file that you copied from the Windows 7 installation disk.
You will be prompted to create a catalogue file associated with the version of windows that you have the install.wim file for. You need to click yes here.
You may need to give administrator privileges using the Windows UAC.
The catalogue file will then be created.
Once the catalogue file has been generated, you then need to select File and New Answer File.
In the windows image window you will see a list of folders appear. You can now add and configure windows settings. If it isn't already expanded, you will need to expand the Components folder to see all of the available settings.
There are a number of settings you need to add to your answer file. The first is Microsoft-Windows-Deployment (it's a much longer name as you can see below), you then need to select Reseal.
You need to right-click on Reseal and select to add the setting to pass 7 oobeSystem (oobe means out of box experience).
You will need to right click and select the setting for all of the following (The highlighted options are the ones you need to select, for example in the first one it is Add Setting to Pass 1 windowsPE):
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE\SetupUILanguage
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk\CreatePartitions\CreatePartition. You will need to do this twice.
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk\ModifyPartitions\ModifyPartition. You will need to do this twice.
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\ImageInstall\OSImage\InstallTo
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\UserData
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup\OOBE
Microsoft-Windows-IE-Internet-Explorer
In the answer file panel you need to select Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE, and enter the information into the boxes below (all of these boxes will be blank before you enter anything so it should be fairly easy to work out which boxes you're putting information in). If you are in the US you will need to enter en-us. *I made a mistake here and it should be en-gb not en-uk*
You need to follow the same process for the following:
Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE\SetupUILanguage
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk\CreatePartitions\CreatePartition. (This is for the first create partition option you added)
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk\CreatePartitions\CreatePartition. (This is for the second create partition option you added)
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk\ModifyPartitions\ModifyPartition (This is for the first modify partition option you added)
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\DiskConfiguration\Disk\ModifyPartitions\ModifyPartition (This is for the second modify partition option you added)
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\ImageInstall\OSImage\InstallTo
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\UserData
Microsoft-Windows-Setup\UserData\ProductKey (you need to put your own product key in here. Ideally this would be a volume licensing key)
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup\OOBE
You can also choose to customise the internet explorer settings with the homepage that you would like the users who have this deployed image of Windows 7 to have. Its handy to do this because you can use this setting to ensure the autounattend file has worked by opening Internet Explorer once the installation of Windows is complete and checking the home page.
Now that you have created your answer file you need to validate the settings. To do this, select tools and then Validate Answer File at the top of the SIM window.
Once the file has validated, click file and then save answer file, and save the file as Autounattend.xml. This file should be saved onto a USB flash drive, as you will need to insert it into your reference computer when you build the installation.
You have now created a custom answer file, and you are ready to move onto step two, which is building the reference machine.
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