Supporting Tools and Technologies in Windows 7

Windows 7 Virtualization

1. Windows XP Mode provides a virtual Windows XP environment in which you can run many Windows XP productivity applications on a Windows 7–based computer. Windows XP Mode is included in Windows 7 and is available as a pre-installed feature by your computer manufacturer or as a free download.
2. Windows Virtual PC allows multiple client operating systems to run at the same time on a Windows 7 desktop, and it offers the runtime engine for Windows XP Mode, which provides a virtual Windows XP environment on Windows 7. Windows 7 Virtual PC provides the virtualization technology for Windows 7.
3. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) is available through Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). MED-V is built on Windows Virtual PC and is designed to provide IT professionals with the capability to centrally manage and deploy virtual Windows environments to reduce complexity, maintain control, and keep costs low.

Application compatibility

1. Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.5 enables software developers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and IT professionals to determine the following:
2. How an update to a new version of the Windows 7 operating system will impact their softwares.
3. Whether their devices and softwares are compatible with a new version of the Windows 7 operating system.
4. The toolkit can also be used by developers to:
5. Test Web applications and Web sites for compatibility with new releases and security updates to Internet Explorer.
6. Create compatibility fixes for application compatibility issues.
7. Determine potential application installation and setup issues.
8. Determine potential compatibility issues due to the User Account Control (UAC) feature.
9. Application Compatibility Toolkit contains the following functionality:
10. Inventories applications, hardware and devices on user’s computers that run earlier versions of the operating system.
11. Provides test tools for Internet Explorer 8 compatibility testing.
12. Provides tools to build compatibility fixes (called “shims”) for incompatible applications.
13. Analyzes compatibility traits of applications and devices and synchronizes compatibility data with ISV, logo, and community assessment.

Dolby Digital Plus Support

Now a days PC users are focused on audio quality than the other features. Microsoft's next operating system Windows 7 will support Dolby Digital Plus multichannel audio. The feature will be available in Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions. Windows 7 will also support the Dolby Digital Plus features such as support upto 7.1 channels and bitstream mixing for secondary audio tracks. Dolby Digital Plus will give home theater-quality audio to the computer.

Windows Vista Ultimate and Home Premium editions supported Dolby Digital 5.1 the. Windows Vista was the OS of Microsoft to include Dolby Digital technology in Operating Systems.

Windows 7 will maintain the quality of Dolby Digital Plus at a lower data rate and also Windows is fully compatible with all current Dolby Digital A/V receivers. The format that is used to broadcast audio standard for HDTV services in many countries uses is an Blu-ray discs format. It is also used to drive up Internet content.

Windows 7 Deployment Scenarios

Four Types of Windows 7 Deployment Scenarios:

Upgrade Computer Scenario
In this you can upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 , this means that your applications, files and settings as they were in your previous version of Windows Vista by upgrading to Windows 7. You will need to use the Refresh Computer scenario if you want to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. But this will preserve only files and settings but not applications.

Although upgrading to Windows 7 might be the easiest way to deploy Windows 7, you run the risk of preserving misconfiguration and unauthorized software or settings. In most of the cases, change-control processes are more difficult to implement and the existing system configuration is difficult to evaluate. The computer's state is still unknown if you upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 because it does not change the computer’s status. New Computer scenario is a better scenario for managed environments with user state migration to preserve settings selectively.

New Computer Scenario
You install a clean copy of Windows 7 on a new or clean hard drive in the New Computer scenario. New Computer scenario has the most similar results, creating a configuration in a known state. You can use established change-control processes to manage any subsequent changes closely. Installing a known configuration on a clean computer is the foundation of good configuration management.

Refresh Computer Scenario
This scenario is similar to the New Computer scenario. The only difference is that this scenario preserves user's existing files and settings and the destination computer contains a Windows operating system. To migrate user's files and settings from the previous version of Windows to Windows 7, you can use migration technologies, such as USMT 4 0. By doing this no data is lost while still installing the best possible system configuration. New Computer scenario provides with the benefits of preserving files and settings and the Refresh Computer scenario combines the benefits of a new installation.

Replace Computer Scenario
You can migrate between an old computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista
and a new computer running Windows 7 using Windows migration technologies such as the Windows Easy Transfer tool and USMT 4 0. The Replace Computer scenario allows you to perform a clean installation of Windows 7 on the new computer and also allows you to simply migrate files and settings from the old computer.

Windows 7 Imaging & Answer Files

Windows 7 is spread in wim files which use the Windows Imaging files format. You can do wim file settings for the following.

Windows 7 Imaging files

Windows Imaging files are file-based image format that lets you store multiple images in one file. If you don’t want to deploy paging files using the image then you can perform partial volume captures by excluding files.

By using a compressed file format and single-instance storage techniques, this format reduces files sizes. To reduce the size of image files that contain multiple images, this image file contains one physical copy of a file for each instance of it in the image file.

To update files in images they contain, you can mount .wim files as folders.

You can apply an image to the destination computer's hard disk using Windows 7 Imaging file. Because .wim files don’t require the destination computer's hard disk to be the larger size or same than the source hard disk, so, you can also apply an image to different-sized destination drives.

You can use CD-ROMs to distribute large .wim files with Windows Imaging files.

You can start Windows PE from a .wim file because Windows PE .wim files are bootable. In fact, Windows Deployment Services and Windows Setup start Windows PE from the .wim file 'Boot.wim', which you can customize by adding items such as device drivers and scripts.

Windows 7 Answer Files:
It is a XML-based file that contains settings to use during a Windows 7 installation. An answer file can fully automate all or part of the installation process. In this file, you confer settings such as the product key to apply, how to partition disks and the location of the Windows 7 image to install. You can also change settings of the Windows 7 installation, changing display settings, adding user accounts and updating Windows Internet Explorer favorites. These files are commonly referred as Unattend.xml.

Wim file
To create an answer file and combine it with a particular Windows 7 image, you use Windows SIM. This combination lets you to validate the settings in the answer files against the settings available in the Windows 7 image. Windows setup ignores settings in the answer files for features that do not exist in the Windows image because you can use any answer file to install any Windows 7 image.

The answer file feature section contains all the feature settings that Windows Setup applies. Windows PE, offline Servicing, generalize, specialize, auditSystem, auditUser, and oobeSystem are the different configuration passes into which Answer files organize features. Each configuration pass describes a different installation phase and not all passes run during the normal Windows 7 setup process. You can also apply settings during one or more passes. You can choose the pass in which to apply the setting if a setting is available in more than one configuration pass.

Deployment Terminology in Windows 7

Understanding the deployment terminology will help you better understand deployment. The following terms are unique to Windows 7 deployment and MDT 2010:

Answer file:
It is an .XML file that scripts the Windows 7 installation settings and setup experience. The answer file for Windows 7 Setup is often Unattend xml or Auto unattend xml. To create and modify this answer file, you can use Windows SIM. You can customize the answer files which MDT 2010 builds automatically.

Catalog file:
Catalog file is a binary file which includes the state of all Windows 7 image settings and packages. It enumerates the Windows 7 image for a list of all settings in that image as well as the current list of features and their current states when you use Windows SIM to create a catalog file. This is because the contents of a Windows 7 image can change over time, it is important that whenever you update an image, you re-create the catalog file.

Feature:
It specifies the Windows 7 files, resources, and settings for a specific Windows 7 feature or part of a Windows 7 feature. Using Windows SIM, you can customize some features which include unattended installation settings.

Configuration pass:
It is a stage of Windows 7 installation. Windows Setup configures and installs different parts of the operating system in different configuration passes. You can also enforce Windows 7 unattended installation settings in one or more configuration passes.

Configuration set:
It is a file and folder structure that defines customizations for the Windows 7 installation. It also contains files that control the pre-installation process.
Destination computer:
It is the system or computer on which you install Windows 7 during deployment. You can either copy a master installation onto a destination computer or run Windows Setup on the destination computer. It is also referred as 'Target Computer'.

Deployment share:
The source files for Windows products that you install are stored in this folder. It may also include application files and additional device drivers. This folder can be created manually or by using Windows SIM. The deployment share is called distribution share in previous versions of MDT. It includes application, operating system, device driver and other source files that you configure with task sequences.

Image-based setup:
It is a setup process which is rooted on applying an image of an operating system to the computer.

Master computer:
The master installation of Windows 7 that you capture to a master image and deploy to destination computers is present in this fully assembled computer. It is also referred as the term 'Source Computer'.

Master image:
It is a set of folders and files captured from a master installation. Master image includes the base operating system as well as files, additional applications and configurations.

Master installation:
It is a Windows 7 installation on a Master computer that you can capture as a master image. To ensure a consistent and repeatable configuration You can create the master installation using automation.

Windows 7 Deployment Tools

Windows 7 introduces numerous changes to the technology you use for deployment compared to Windows XP. Windows 7 also enhances many of the Windows Vista deployment tools. The Windows 7 AIK 2 0 includes most of Vista deployment tools and some are built into the operating system.

Features for Windows 7 deployment:

Windows System Image Manager:
Windows 7 System Image Manager or Windows 7 SIM is a tool for creating distribution shares and editing answer file. It shows all configurable settings in Windows 7. It is used to save customizations in Unattend xml. The Windows 7 AIK 2.0 includes the Windows 7 System Image Manager.

Windows Setup:
Windows 7 setup installs the Windows image i.e .wim file and uses the new Unattend xml answer file to automate installation. Because image-based setup (IBS) is faster, you can use it in high-volume deployments and for automating image maintenance, thus, Unattend xml changes the set of answer files used in earlier versions of Windows 7. Microsoft has made several enhancements to Windows 7 Setup, such as use of a single answer file (Unattend xml) for configuration, a completely graphical user interface and support for configuration phases.

Sysprep:
This System Preparation tool prepares an installation of Windows 7 for auditing, imaging and deployment. You can use imaging feature to capture a customized Windows 7 image that you can deploy throughout your company. To add additional device drivers and applications to a Windows 7 installation and test the integrity of the installation before handing off the computer to the end user, you can use audit mode. To prepare an image for deployment, you can also use 'Sysprep'. Windows Welcome starts, when the end user starts Windows 7. You no longer have to download the current version of 'Sysprep' unlike earlier versions of Windows because Windows 7 includes Sysprep.

Windows Preinstallation Environment:
Windows Preinstallation Environment 3.0 i.e Windows PE 3.0 confers operating system features for installing, troubleshooting, and recovering Windows 7. It is the latest release of Windows PE based on Windows 7. You can start a computer from a network or removable media with Windows PE. Windows PE confers the network and other resources necessary to install and troubleshoot Windows 7. Windows 7 Setup, Windows Deployment Services, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 all use Windows PE to start computers. The Windows 7 AIK 2.0 includes Windows PE 3.0.

Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM):
DISM i.e Deployment Image Servicing and Management is a modern command-line tool that you can use to service a Windows 7 image. You can also use it to prepare a Windows PE image. DISM integrates the functionality of the Package Manager , PEImg and Intlcfg tools from Windows Vista. In Windows 7 images. you can use DISM to Windows 7 features, service packages, device drivers and inter-national settings. To determine the contents of Windows 7 images, you can also use the DISM rich enumeration features.