Deploying Windows with WIM Images

The Windows installation files can be distributed within a Windows Imaging Format (WIM) file. WIM is the file-based imaging format that Windows Server uses for rapid installation on a new computer. WIM files store copies (known as images) of the operating systems, such as Windows PE, Windows

7, or Windows Server 2008. Maintaining an operating system in a WIM file is easy because you can add and remove drivers, updates, and Windows compo- nents offline without ever starting the operating system.

Deploying Windows 7

The following are the benefits of using a file-based image format over the typical sector-based image format:

A single WIM file deals with different hardware configurations. . WIM can store multiple images within a single file. . WIM enables compression and single instancing of files. Single instanc-

ing enables multiple images to share a single copy of a file. . WIM allows images to be serviced offline. You can add or remove driv-

ers, files, and patches. .

A WIM image can be installed on partitions of any size, unlike sector- based image formats.

. WIM enables you to boot Windows PE from a WIM file. You can do the following with WIM files:

. When installing Windows 7 using Windows Deployment Server (WDS), you first boot the system with Windows PE. You then install Windows 7 from a WIM file that contains the Windows image.

. You can mount the WIM image as a new volume under Windows with a drive letter associated to facilitate easier extraction.

. You can mount the WIM image as a new volume and convert the WIM image to an ISO image.

. WIM images can be made bootable, as is the case with the setup DVD for Windows 7. In this case, BOOT.WIM contains a bootable version of Windows PE from which the installation is performed. Other setup files are contained in the file INSTALL.WIM .

. Because Windows PE can be contained within a WIM file, you can start Windows PE directly from a WIM file without copying it to a hard disk.

The image-based installation process consists of five high-level steps. These steps include the following:

1. Build an answer file, which is used to configure Windows settings dur- ing installation.

2. Build a reference installation with a customized/configured installation of Windows that you plan to duplicate onto one or more destination

computers.

CHAPTER 2: Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7

3. Create a bootable Windows PE media by using the copype.cmd script so that you can start a computer for the purposes of deployment and

recovery.

4. Capture the Installation Image of the reference computer by using Windows PE and the ImageX tool. You can store the captured image on

a network share.

5. Deploy the image from a network share onto a destination computer by using Windows PE and ImageX technologies. Follow these steps to

deploy the image from a network share:

a. Start the computer by using Windows PE media.

b. Format that hard drive.

c. Connect to your network share and copy the custom image down to the destination computer’s local hard drive.

d. Apply the image by using ImageX. For high-volume deployments, you can store the image of the new installation

to your distribution share and deploy the image to destination computers by using deployment tools, such as Windows Deployment Services (WDS) or Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).

To create and manage a WIM file, you use the ImageX command-line tool, which is available in several of Microsoft’s deployment tools, such as in the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK), or in Business Desktop Deployment 2007. By using the ImageX command-line tool, you can do the following:

. View the contents of a WIM file . Capture desktop images . Mount images for offline image editing . Store multiple images in a single file . Compress image files . Implement scripts for image creation

The imagex command uses the following syntax:

imagex [ flags] {/append | /apply | /capture | /delete | /dir |

/export

| /info | /mount | /mountrw | /split | /unmount} [ parameters]

Deploying Windows 7

. /append : Used to add a volume image to an existing WIM file and create a single instance of the file.

. /apply : Used to apply a volume image to a specified drive. . /capture : Used to capture a volume image from a drive to a new

.wim file. . /delete : Used to remove the specified volume image from a .wim file. . /dir : Displays a list of the files and folders within a specified volume

image. . /export : Exports a copy of the specified .wim to another .wim file. If

you use the /ref splitwim.swm option, it enables you to reference a split .wim file ( *.swm ).

. /info : Returns information about the WIM file. . /mount : Used to mount a WIM file with read-only permission. . /mountw : Used to mount a WIM file with read/write permission, there-

by allowing the contents of the file to be modified. . /split : Splits an existing .wim file into multiple read-only split .wim

files ( *.swm ). . /unmount : Used to unmount an image from a specified directory.

The parameters options vary based on the options that you select. For example, you can use several parameters when you use the /append option; you can use the /boot parameter to mark the volume image as bootable; and use the /check parameter to check the integrity of the WIM file.

For more information about the imagex command, visit the following website:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff794852.aspx

Deploying Windows with WIM Images