Microsoft’s free Windows 7 deployment tools – Part 3: Installation

Microsoft's free Windows 7 deployment tools from the WAIK (partly) are essential for every Windows admin: Windows Deployment Services (WDS), Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), User State Migration Tool (USMT), Windows Easy Transfer, Key Management Service (KMS), Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT), Windows 7 Security Compliance Management Toolkit.

Once you have planned your Windows 7 deployment and prepared your Window 7 master images with their answer files, you are ready to deliver the images to your PCs. This article gives an overview of Microsoft’s free Windows 7 installation tools.

Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

WDS is one of the major enhancements in Windows Server 2008 and is also available for Windows Server 2003 SP2. This tool enables small and mid-sized organizations to deploy Windows. Its main limitations compared to more sophisticated commercial deployment tools are that you can only install Windows remotely within a subnet (see discussion below)and that it lacks scheduling features, and supervision capabilities. I reviewed the Windows Server 2008 a while back. The Windows Server 2008 R2 version comes with the following improvements: dynamic driver provisioning, Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) deployment additional multicast functionality, PXE provider for Transport Server , and additional EFI functionality.

FREE Active Directory auditing

• Real time monitoring of Active Direcory changes
• Monitors Group Policy Object (GPO) changes
• See "WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN" and originating IP
• Comply with regulations (HIPAA, SOX, PCI, GLBA and more)

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)

The MDT is a shell that can be used to tame Microsoft’s deployment tool zoo. You can integrate the WAIK tools, USMT (see below),Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit, and volume licensing tools. It is essentially a central GUI that gives you an overview of the whole deployment process. The toolkit offers two types of installations: Lite Touch Installation (LTI), where you can deploy Windows without a systems management tool, and Zero Touch Installation (ZTI), where you would integrate MDT with Microsoft’s Configuration Manager.

User State Migration Tool (USMT)

You might have heard that it is not possible to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7. You can, however, use USMT to transfer user files and settings to the Windows 7 installation. If you are lucky and you deployed Vista, you can upgrade directly to Windows 7, but you can also use USMT. USMT 3.0 was available as a separate download. The latest version is USMT 4.0 which is now part of the WindowAIK . You can find all the tools that belong to USMT in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT\. The documentation is in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Docs\CHMs. Transferring user settings with USMT is not trivial. In most cases a clean install is probably the best solution. If you work with roaming user profiles, then transferring user files shouldn’t be big problem anyway.

Windows Easy Transfer

Windows Easy Transfer basically does the same as USMT—that is, it allows you to transfer files and settings from one PC to another. However, whereas USMT is for large deployments, Windows Easy Transfer is for migrating computers one at a time.

Key Management Service (KMS)

If you are migrating your PCs from Windows XP to Windows 7, you will have to deal with the new activation “feature” that was introduced with Windows Vista. Entering the product key is not enough any more; every single PC now must be activated. Microsoft offers two free tools for corporate environments that help you manage Windows 7 activation: Key Management Service and Volume Activation Management Tool .

KMS is a central service that can activate all Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008, and Server 2008 R2 machines in your network. KMS is part of the operating system since Windows 2008. You can get help about the tool with the slmgr command. If you installed X64,X68 Windows Server 2008 R2 comes already with KMS 1.2.

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)

If you prefer to activate each machine separately using so-called MAKs, VAMT helps you centrally manage Windows 7 activation. VAMT 1.2 is now part of the Windows AIK.VAMT 1.1 is available as a separate download and VAMT 2.0 is still in beta. I will probably blog about VAMT 2.0 soon.

Windows 7 Security Compliance Management Toolkit

Once you have deployed Windows 7, you might want to tighten the security settings in your network. The Windows 7 Security Compliance Management Toolkit could be of help here. It enables you to plan, deploy, and monitor the security baselines of computers running Windows 7 and BitLocker. The security baselines are predefined settings that offer more security than the default Windows 7 settings. The toolkit comes with an Excel sheet that gives you an overview of the settings and documentation that explains how to deploy these settings network-wide. The GPOAccelerator allows you to create the corresponding Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and the DCM Configuration Packs help you monitor the security baselines with Microsoft Configuration Manager. Note that the Security Compliance Management Toolkit Series also support other operating system versions, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 8.

Did I forget any free Microsoft deployment tool? Please let me know!

Source:-4sysops.com

Gartner Outlines Windows 7 Deployment Strategy

IT departments should depart from the usual SP1 milestone when deciding when to deploy Windows 7, according to a Gartner analysis.



IT departments should depart from the usual Service Pack 1 (SP1) milestone when deciding when to deploy Windows 7, according to a Gartner Analysis published this month.

Many IT pros believe you should wait for the first service pack before organization-wide deployment of any new Windows operating system release. However, that conventional wisdom no longer applies to Microsoft's OSes, starting with Windows 7, according to Michael A. Silver, Gartner's vice president and distinguished analyst.

Silver described Windows 7 as an "incremental update to Windows Vista." He explained that while Wiindows 7 is not much of a leap from Vista, independent software vendors (ISVs) developing applications for Windows 7 may take "12 or more months" to get their applications ready for the new OS.

When those apps are ready for Windows 7, IT organizations should expect to spend about three to six months testing applications and building images before beginning widespread deployment of the OS, Silver recommended.

As a rule of thumb, Windows 7 deployment should happen "12 to 18 months from the time Windows 7 is released," Silver advised. Coincidentally, that's when SP1 may appear. Silver suggested that IT orgs could save time by deploying Windows 7 and SP1 at the same time.

Microsoft has not yet said when Windows 7, currently in beta, will be released to manufacturing. Rumors suggest it might be available as early as the third quarter of this year.

SP1 isn't the milestone it used to be for IT organizations because Microsoft has changed how it develops its software products. Bugs are tested early because Microsoft uses a security development lifecycle (SDL) procedure -- something not done with Windows XP and earlier Microsoft operating systems.

Silver also cited an improvement in Microsoft's beta testing program as a reason not to time OS deployments based on the SP1 release. Microsoft has "five times as many" Windows 7 beta testers compared with those who tested the Windows 95 beta, he explained. Moreover, Microsoft now uses automated tools to get user feedback, which wasn't the case with Windows 95.

Service packs are increasingly becoming "an artificial construct," Silver contended, mostly because Microsoft has a monthly automatic update cycle to fix things.

Source:-reddevnews.com

How to Enable Windows 7 GodMode

Here’s a neat Windows 7 trick that’s been doing the rounds on the Internet. It enables “GodMode,” a term devised by the Microsoft development team, which provides a single place to access all Windows settings without needing to browse options and folders in the Control Panel.

To use it:

1. Create a new folder.
2. 
3. Rename the folder to

   GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

   (note that you can change the “GodMode” text, but the following period and code number are essential).

4. The folder icon will change — double click it to show the GodMode window:

The window shows nearly 50 sections with quick links to configuration options. Strictly speaking, it’s not a God Mode since all the options are available elsewhere. It’s more akin to an “all tasks” list — but you may find it easier than stumbling through Windows numerous screens and panels.

Big Red Warning!

The trick appears to work on both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Vista 32-bit and Windows Server 2008 32-bit should also work. However, it is known to crash 64-bit versions of Vista — and you may need to boot in safe mode or to the command line to delete the folder.

Source:-http://blogs.sitepoint.com/

Microsoft Releases Updated Client-Side Virtualization Software

If you are a volume-license chump of Microsoft, you are now able to download several adapted versions of the company’s virtualization tools.

The Redmond software behemothic has fabricated accessible the aboriginal account backpack for Microsoft Appliance Virtualization 4.6 (App-V 4.6), which can be begin here. This is allotment of the MDOP 2011 release.

According to Microsoft, the absolution is mostly notable for its admittance of “Package Accelerators,” a affection that will “give IT pros and ISVs a way to buried acceptable applications anon into App-V.” In added believer terms, the Accelerators will access the acceleration of App-V deployment, something that Microsoft is acquisitive will accomplish “the move to Windows 7 all the added easier.”

In accession to the App-V 4.6 release, Microsoft has fabricated accessible Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization 2.0 (MED-V 2.0). This software had hit beta in October of 2010. The absolution of the final adaptation was greeted with abundant affectation by Microsoft.

You can download the software actuality if you are a volume-license customer.

According to aggregation addendum on the matter, MED-V 2.0 will break “the endure mile of appliance compatibility.” We abide arguable that it will break annihilation absolutely so large, but Microsoft intends to use MED-V 2.0 to advice run apps that crave Windows XP to action appropriately to run in a Windows 7 environment.

Why? Microsoft wants the absolute apple to advancement to Windows 7, because it’s both assisting and acceptable for the Windows ecosystem to accept humans on accepted software. The acceleration of Windows 7 acceptance is one of the affidavit for the abatement in Internet Explorer 6 bazaar share, for example.

To sum up, these new releases by Microsoft are congenital with a Windows 7 approaching in mind. Microsoft is alive as harder as it can to appearance out Windows XP, now that it has a aces OS to alter it.

Has your aggregation updated, or is it still XP all the way down? Sound off in the comments.

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