New Features in the Windows AIK
This topic describes some of the new features available in this release of the Windows® Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK).
Manage Images with the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM)
The Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM) is used to customize Windows images in a variety of ways. You can:
Add or remove 32-bit and 64-bit device drivers.
Add or remove language packs.
Enable or disable Windows features.
Add and configure updates.
The new DISM tools replace many of the tools in previous releases of the Windows AIK, including Package Manager (Pkgmgr.exe), the International Settings Configuration Tool (Intlcfg.exe), and the Windows PE command-line tool (PEimg.exe).
Migrate User Accounts with the User State Migration Tool
The Microsoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) is now installed as part of the Windows AIK. You can use USMT 4.0 to streamline and simplify user profile migration during large deployments of Windows Vista® and Windows® 7 operating systems. USMT captures user accounts, user files, operating system settings, and application settings, and then migrates them to a new Windows installation. You can use USMT for both side-by-side and wipe-and-load migrations.
New Windows Default Disk Partition Structure
The default Windows installation now includes support for a separate system partition. In clean, default installations, Windows Setup creates two partitions on a hard disk, one partition that can be used for Recovery tools, enable Windows® BitLocker™ Drive Encryption, or other features. The second partition is used to install the operating system. New information about the default disk-partition configuration and recommended disk-partition configurations are described in the Understanding Disk Partitions topic.
Change Windows Editions During Deployment
You can reduce the number of images you maintain in your environment by using the Image Upgrade tool in DISM. Instead of maintaining separate Windows images for each Windows edition you want to deploy, you can maintain a single Windows image that you customize. During deployment, you can use DISM to upgrade the Windows image to a more recent Windows edition. This feature enables you to reduce the number of Windows images you need to maintain in your organization.
Optimize Windows PE Image
Use the new DISM.exe /Apply-Profile option to reduce the contents in a Windows PE image to only those files necessary to support a given set of applications. For example, this can be used for deploying a Windows PE image to a USB flash drive (UFD). For more information, see Walkthrough: Create an Optimized Windows PE Image.
Deploy Virtual Hard Disks with Native Boot
In Windows® 7, a virtual hard disk (VHD) can be used as the running operating system on designated hardware without any other parent operating system, virtual computer, or hypervisor. Windows 7 disk management tools, the DiskPart tool, and the Disk Management MMC, can be used to create a bootable VHD file. A generalized image file (.wim) can then be deployed to the VHD, and the .vhd file can be copied to multiple computers. The Windows 7 boot manager can be configured to boot the .wim file from the VHD. For more information, see Understanding Virtual Hard Disks with Native Boot.
Important New Unattended Setup Settings
The following table describes some of the important new configurable settings for Windows 7. These settings are available in most Windows image and can be manipulated in Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM).
Setting Description
Microsoft-Windows-Deployment | Generalize
Enables you to automatically generalize a Windows image after installation is complete. When you generalize a Windows installation, hardware-specific information is removed, enabling you to capture and reuse that image throughout your environment. This new setting enables you to automatically generalize a Windows image during deployment. For example, you can configure Windows to boot to audit mode, automatically install applications or run scripts as RunSynchronous commands, and then configure the Generalize setting to generalize the Windows image and shut down the computer.
The following .xml code sample shows how to use the Generalize setting.
Code: Select all
<Generalize>
<ForceShutdownNow>true</ForceShutdownNow>
<Mode>Audit</Mode>
</Generalize>
Microsoft-Windows-Setup | TypeID
Assists in setting up partition types, including recovery partitions.
Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | NotificationArea
Enables you to configure the taskbar with a custom application and icon. In Windows 7, you can configure the taskbar to include custom applications and icons. The following xml code sample shows how to configure NotificationArea.
Code: Select all
<NotificationArea>
<PromotedIcon1>
<Path>%PROGRAMFILES%\Application1.exe</Path>
<GUID>{d8742dcb-3e6a-4b3c-b3fe-374623cdcf06}</GUID>
</PromotedIcon1>
<PromotedIcon2>
<Path>%PROGRAMFILES%\Application2.exe</Path>
<GUID>{a1bc23cb-3456-bcde-abcd-feb363cacc88}</GUID>
</PromotedIcon2>
</NotificationArea>
Deprecated Tools
The following tools are deprecated in this release. If you have an existing automated environment that uses these tools, you will need to modify the environment to support the new DISM command-line tool to deploy Windows 7.
Some of these tools are not available with this release of the Windows AIK. If you intend to deploy previous versions of Windows that require these tools, you must use the version of the Windows AIK that included these tools.
Intlcfg.exe. The International Settings Configuration Tool (Intlcfg.exe) is used to change the language and locale, fonts, and input settings to a Windows image. In Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the functionality of this tool is included as part of the DISM tools. This release of the Windows AIK includes the Intlcfg.exe tool to enable the configuration of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 installations only.
PEimg.exe.
The command-line tool for creating and modifying Windows PE images. The functionality of this tool is included as part of the DISM tools. This tool is not available with this release of the Windows AIK.
Pkgmgr.exe.
Package Manager is used offline to install, remove, or update Windows packages. The functionality of this tool is included as part of the DISM tools. Package Manager is included in all Windows installations and you can continue to use existing scripts that call Package Manager. However, we recommend for all Windows 7 installations that you update your environment to support DISM.
PostReflect.exe.
PostReflect.exe is used to reflect all boot-critical device drivers out of the driver store in an offline image. The functionality of this tool is built into the Sysprep command. This tool is not available with this release of the Windows AIK.
VSP1CLN.exe.
The Windows Vista® Service Pack 1 (SP1) Files Removal Tool (VSP1CLN.exe) is used to remove the files that are archived after Windows Vista SP1 is applied to a Windows Vista RTM image. This tool is no longer required. This tool is not available with this release of the Windows AIK.
