Windows Vista is very different from its
predecessors. These differences present a special challenge when you
are planning to deploy and use Windows Vista in the enterprise,
especially if you want to maximize your return on investment (ROI) and
reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO). To help you get the most
from Windows Vista, the sections that follow examine the operating
system and its key features.
Understanding Modularization and Windows Imaging
Windows Vista features a revolutionary
architecture that is both language-independent and
hardware-independent. Windows Vista achieves language-independence from
its new modular component design and hardware-independence from its new
imaging format. In a modular component design, each component is
designed as a smaller, independent unit that performs a particular task
or function. Thanks to modularization, every component of the operating
system, from device drivers to language packs and service packs, can be
created as a module that can be selectively swapped in or out to
customize the operating system environment.
When you update Windows Vista by adding or removing
features, applying hotfixes, or installing service packs, you are
simply modifying the set of modules available. And because these
modules are independent, you can make these changes without impacting
the system as a whole. Because language packs are separate modules as
well, you can easily implement different language configurations and
don't need separate installations for each language.
Microsoft distributes Windows Vista on media with
Windows Imaging Format (WIM) disk images. WIM uses compression and
single-instance storage to dramatically reduce the
size of image files. Compression reduces the size of the image in much
the same way that Zip compression reduces the size of files. Using
single-instance storage reduces the size of the image because only one
physical copy of a file is stored for each instance of that file in the
disk image. Because WIM is hardware-independent, Microsoft can ship a
single binary to all its customers around the world: one binary for
32-bit architectures and one binary for 64-bit architectures.
Windows Vista can be installed using either automated
or interactive setup. You can automate the installation of Windows
Vista in several ways. You can:
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Create an unattended installation answer file
Requires creating an unattended installation answer file. Windows Vista
uses a standards-based single-format answer file. This file, called
Unattend.xml, is written in the Extensible Markup Language (XML),
making it easier to process using standard tools. By creating a custom
answer file and then running Setup using this answer file, you can
perform unattended installations of computers running Windows Vista.
Setup can then install the operating system from a distribution share
or from media.
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Use Sysprep Image-Based Installation Requires
running the System Preparation command-line tool (Sysprep.exe) on a
computer that you want to act as the master deployment computer, and
then creating a disk image of this computer's configuration. Sysprep is
stored in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Sysprep
folder. The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) includes
Windows System Image Manager and XImage to help you use Sysprep for
deployments. You use Windows System Image Manager to create answer
files for unattended installations. You use XImage to create and manage
disk images.
By using WIM as its disk imaging format and taking
advantage of the modular design of Windows Vista, XImage significantly
reduces the number of disk images that must be maintained. You no
longer need to maintain multiple hardware-dependent disk images or
multiple language-dependent disk images. Instead, you typically will
need only a single disk image for each chip architecture used in your
organization. You can then use different installation scripts to
customize the operating system installation as necessary.
WIM has other advantages over earlier disk image
formats as well. WIM enables you to modify and maintain disk images
offline, which means you can add or remove optional components and
drivers or perform updates without having to create a new disk image.
To do this, you mount the disk image as a folder and then use Windows
Explorer or other tools to update, manage, or remove files as necessary.
Windows System Image Manager, XImage, and Sysprep provide several different ways to automate deployment. The basic steps follow:
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Set up and configure Windows Vista on a computer
not being used for normal operations, and then install and configure
any necessary components and applications.
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Run Sysprep to prepare the computer for capture.
Sysprep removes unique identifiers from the computer and designates it
as a master deployment computer. At the end of this process, the
computer no longer has identifying information that allows it to be
logged onto and used within a domain or workgroup setting.
-
Use the XImage/Capture option to capture a disk
image and store this image on media or in a distribution share. The
image can be maintained offline by using the XImage/Mountrw option to
mount the image in read/write mode so you can make any necessary
changes. Use the XImage/Unmount command to unmount the image when you
are finished making changes.
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Use Windows System Image Manager to create your
unattended installation answer files. You can then create deployment
scripts that configure the computer, run Setup using the answer file,
and apply the disk image you've previously created.
-
Run your deployment script to configure the computer and install the operating system.
Understanding the Windows Preinstallation Environment
With Windows Vista, Windows Preinstallation
Environment 2.0 (Windows PE 2.0) replaces MS-DOS as the preinstallation
environment. Windows PE 2.0 is a bootable startup environment that
provides operating system features for:
-
Installation When you install Windows Vista, the
graphical tools that collect system information during the setup phase
are running within Windows PE.
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Deployment When a new computer performs a network
boot, the built-in Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) client can
connect to a Windows Deployment Service server, download a Windows PE
image across the network, and then run deployment scripts from within
this environment.
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Recovery Windows PE enables you to access and run
the Startup Repair Tool if Windows Vista fails to start because of a
corrupted system file.
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Troubleshooting You can manually start Windows PE
to perform troubleshooting or diagnostics testing if Windows Vista is
experiencing problems that can't otherwise be diagnosed.
Windows PE is modular, extensible, and provides full
access to partitions formatted using file allocation table (FAT) and NT
file system (NTFS). Because Windows PE is built from Windows Vista
components, you can run many Windows Vista applications, work with
hardware devices, and communicate across Internet Protocol (IP)
networks. Several command-line tools are available in Windows PE,
including:
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DiskPart A management tool for creating and working with disks, partitions, and volumes
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Drvload A support tool for adding device drivers and dynamically loading a driver after Windows PE has started
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Net A set of support commands that enables you to manage local users, start and stop services, and connect to shared folders
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Netcfg A management tool that configures network access
For deployment, you can execute these tools from within configuration scripts to perform key configuration tasks. You can:
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Use Netcfg to configure network access.
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Use Drvload to install a driver and use the hardware without restarting the computer.
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Run DiskPart to partition and format the computer's hard disk.
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Use NET SHARE to connect to a shared folder containing the Windows Vista Setup files.
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Run the Windows Vista Setup program to install the operating system.
As with Windows Vista itself, Windows PE can be
contained within a WIM disk image. When you store a Windows Vista image
in a WIM disk image, the only way to start Windows Vista is to copy the
full image to the computer's hard disk. When you store Windows PE in a
disk image, however, you can start it directly from the image without
having to copy it to the computer's hard disk. This enables you to
store Windows PE disk images on bootable media, such as a DVD or USB
flash drive, and then start Windows PE directly from that media. The
Windows Vista distribution media uses this technique to load Windows PE
into RAM during setup of the operating system.
You can load Windows PE into RAM as well, which might
be necessary for troubleshooting. When you do this, the Windows PE boot
loader creates a virtual RAM disk in memory and then copies a
compressed version of Windows PE to the RAM disk. Afterward, the boot
loader mounts the RAM disk as if it were a disk drive and starts
Windows PE. Running Windows PE from RAM enables you to write temporary
files to the virtual RAM disk, which isn't possible when running from
read-only media such as a CD. It also enables you to remove the Windows
PE media after Windows PE has started, and then insert different media
into the computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
When working with Windows PE, keep the following in mind:
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Windows PE requires a computer with a
VESA-compatible display and a minimum of 256 MB of RAM. During startup,
if Windows PE can't detect the video settings, it uses a screen
resolution of 640 � 480 pixels. Otherwise, it uses the highest
resolution possible.
-
Windows PE supports both IPv4 and IPv6. Although
you can access shared folders on other computers from Windows PE, other
computers cannot access files or folders on a computer running Windows
PE.
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Windows PE always starts with the default drive
letter assignments. This means drive letter assignments aren't
persistent between sessions.
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Windows PE doesn't support the Microsoft .NET
Framework or Windows On Windows (WOW). This means you cannot use .NET
applications on any versions of Windows PE, 16-bit applications on
32-bit versions of Windows PE, or 32-bit applications on 64-bit
versions of Windows PE.
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Windows PE automatically restarts after running
for 24 hours. This is meant as a safeguard to prevent Windows PE from
being used as a general-purpose operating system.
Understanding the Windows Pre-Boot Environment
Although earlier versions of the Windows operating system use Ntldr, http://www.Ntdetect.com,
and Boot.ini to start up the operating system, Windows Vista has an
extensible pre-operating system boot environment that can be customized
to meet the needs of various firmware interfaces. This boot environment
has two key components:
At startup, computers running Windows Vista enter the
pre-boot environment prior to the loading of the operating system. The
pre-boot environment uses Windows Boot Manager to control the boot
experience and determine which boot applications are run. The standard
boot application for Windows Vista is the Windows Boot Loader. Windows
Boot Loader is responsible for accessing entries in the Boot
Configuration Data (BCD) store. Entries in the BCD store contain boot
configuration parameters and control how the operating system is
started.
The BCD store is used to abstract the underlying
firmware, thereby making it easier for Windows Vista to work with new
firmware models such as the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). BCD
also provides the foundation for a variety of new features in Windows
Vista, including the Startup Repair Tool and Multi-User Install
shortcuts, which can be launched in the pre-boot environment.
The BCD store is contained in a file called the BCD
registry file. The BCD registry file is located in the \Boot\Bcd
directory of the active partition on BIOS-based computers and in the
EFI system partition on EFI-based computers. The BCD store contains
multiple entries on most computers. These entries include:
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One Windows Boot Manager entry. Because there is only one boot manager, there is only one boot manager entry in the BCD store.
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One Windows Boot Loader application entry for each Windows Vista operating system installed on the computer.
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One legacy operating system entry.
The legacy operating system entry is not for a boot
application. Instead, this entry uses Ntldr and Boot.ini to start up a
Windows operating system earlier than Windows Vista. You will use this
entry to start up Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and
earlier operating systems if they are installed on a computer.
Several administrator utilities are provided to help manage BCD entries, including:
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Startup And Recovery Used to configure basic startup options
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System Configuration Used to configure advanced startup options
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BCDEdit Used to display and manage BCD entries
Startup And Recovery, shown in Figure 1,
enables you to select the default operating system to start if you have
multiple operating systems installed on your computer. You can also
specify time-out values for operating system selection lists and
recovery options. To access Startup And Recovery, follow these steps:
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Click Start and then click Control Panel.
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In Control Panel, click the System And Maintenance category heading link and then click System.
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In the System utility, click Advanced System Settings in the left pane.
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On the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog box, click Settings under Startup And Recovery.
The System Configuration utility, enables you to control boot options. You can use the boot options to:
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Set the default operating system and start the operating system in safe mode
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Boot to the Windows prompt without loading the graphical components of the operating system
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Force the computer to use standard video graphics adaptor (VGA) display settings
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Perform other advanced configuration options
To open the System Configuration utility, follow these steps:
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Click Start.
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Type msconfig.exe in the Search box.
-
Press Enter.
BCDEdit is an administrative
command-line utility that enables you to display and manage BCD
entries. You can use BCDEdit to display the contents of the BCD store
by completing these steps:
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Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Accessories.
-
Right-click Command Prompt and then select Run As Administrator.
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Type bcdedit at the command prompt.
| Note |
Because of changes to the operating system due to
User Account Controls, you must run the command prompt with
administrator credentials to perform administrative tasks at the
command line. If you don't start the command prompt as an
administrator, you will be denied permission to run BCDEdit and perform
tasks that require administrator credentials.
|
Example output from BCDEdit is shown as Listing 1.
This example output includes three entries: one for Windows Boot
Manager, one for the Windows legacy operating system loader, and one
for Windows Boot Loader. You can type bcdedit /? at a command prompt to display all the options for using this utility.
Listing 1: BCD store entries displayed using BCDEdit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
bootdebug No
default {current}
resumeobject {0c848f2d-e023-123a-c23b-23435353de20}
displayorder {ntldr}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder{memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device partition=C:
path \ntldr
description Legacy (pre-Longhorn) Microsoft Windows Operating System
bootdebug No
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
bootdebug Yes
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {0c32432d-d232-1def-d23a-2342a35432a0}
nx OptIn
debug No
ems No
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