cluberti

This happens now with content being removed from the Zune marketplace after being available. Assuming you've purchased it, the content does stay on your disk and is perfectly usable. However, you cannot re-download it anymore at a later date, which means it's still best to have a backup copy of your user data when migrating machines just in case.

wbemtest still exists and works too, although not as easy to use as some of the others.

The shell isn't (technically isn't designed to) elevate, although I cannot easily explain the first behavior. The second behavior is expected and you can repro it in Windows 7, but I can't easily explain why the first behavior occurs. What kind of permission errors are you getting, and does a procmon show anything?

This is querying the same APIs that the inbox Windows Update uses, so assuming it's not showing everything that you've installed, the only thing that would make sense would be that you installed the patches manually (outside of WU). Otherwise, I'm not sure why this would be so. If you go to Windows Update and click the "view update history" link, does the output from my script match the output there? It should....

LOL - love that pic

Consider IE Tools > Options > Advanced > make sure "Use software rendering...." is checked, then click OK and close all IE instances open. Retry at that point.

I usually don't recommend audit mode for corporate images, and MDT is free if SCCM is not an option. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Ghost as an option anymore as it *really* limits a lot of the functionality that the Windows Image format gives you (basically you lose all of it), but I can understand sometimes business decisions (good or bad) dictate IT policy. If you can at least move to MDT though, it will solve the problems you're having without having to resort to Audit mode.

For an enterprise image, neither a "thin" (windows/patches and nothing else) nor a "thick" (every last thing under the sun installed) image really make sense, as each has pretty significant drawbacks. A mixture "hybrid" image, with all of the long-term and not frequently changed or updated software that everyone will use (and is licensed) for should be in the image, and anything else should really be installed post install. Audit mode can be used for software distribution, but if it's really an enterprise deployment it's better to do this with a tool designed for this purpose post-install (but pre-user delivery, perhaps) with tools like SCCM or MDT, or any of the 3rd party alternatives like Marimba or LanDesk. ...and welcome to MSFN .

It depends on what settings - not everything copies over, as certain settings get regenerated via Active Setup and other mechanisms. What specifically are you losing, and what is sticking around when using CopyProfile?

Is there a particular reason you wish to install Office 2010 64bit? Microsoft recommends using the 32bit version unless you need a specific 64bit extension (there aren't many), are developing one, or need to open files larger than 2GB.

You can also run without the /unattend switch - as long as unattend.xml is there in Windowssystem32sysprep when the image comes up next, it'll be used. Make sure the answer file validates without errors in WSIM first though, of curse, before using it . Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

sysprep is stored in %windir%\system32\sysprep - you must be in that folder to run sysprep to begin with. If you're doing this in a domain for multiple PCs, though, it might make some sense for you to invest some time in learning / setting up MDT in your environment. It handles deployment, applications, drivers, etc.

The MS representative was then giving you inaccurate information. WinPE is designed for deployment and recovery only, and the EULA explicitly forbids you from using it as a general purpose OS, thin client, or RDP connection point. The license for the WAIK explicitly states this in the WinPE section: That's pretty descriptive.

Yes, I'd be very curious what WSIM has to say about the validity of this file. Also, I've had issues with Altiris and unattend files in the past with multiple customers, for what it's worth, so I can't say I'm totally shocked you're having issues. First things first, is to see what a WSIM validation of that answer file says.

Indeed. There's also this, this, and even this if you want to have options .

I've come across some other issues that the Win7 version of DISM has against a Vista or 2008 source - it's worth noting though, that DISM is just acting as a frontend for pkgmgr in this instance (you can see it in the logs), whereas on Win7 DISM does what pkgmgr did on Vista/2008. You'll notice in the log that the pkgmgr command line that is being passed contains /ip and /m, which means servicing a Vista or 2008 image via Win7's DISM cannot be pointed to a directory that doesn't already contain the requisite CAB and catalog files - ergo, the package you're trying to pass in cannot be an MSU package . That's the issue - you must manually expand the MSU file into it's CAB format before DISM on Win7 will be able to use those packages to service 2008 or Vista images (because of the options it chooses to pass to pkgmgr, which is actually doing the work). Your script handles this already, so it's probably a better option in the meantime .

Also be aware that if you need support from these systems from either Dell or Microsoft in the future, making images (for deployment) of original OEM images is strictly unsupported - you can make a backup, of course, to be used on the same machine that the installation came from (and that machine only), but any issues with that OEM re-image if it's redeployed will not be supported by Microsoft or the OEM. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828287 From the KB article: If this is for a business, you really don't want to mess with supportability issues at all. For home use, go for it, but for a business, stick to the rules.

Easy transfer uses the same sort of methods as USMT to copy user settings and data, but it doesn't copy profile settings - app-specific yes, data yes, but configuration options (other than things like wallpaper/backgrounds, of course) no.

You should really be using Group Policy Preferences and Group Policy to manage system-wide settings like that (a mapped drive for all users), not just the profile. Again, you *can* copy the profile, but you *must* do it in one of the supported ways. It's not because Microsoft doesn't want you doing it that the other methods are unsupported - they actually *break* now. A little known fact that Microsoft didn't support copying profiles under XP like that either (either manually or with the control panel), but left it in for backwards/appcompat reasons. It was broken then with Vista, where the profile structure totally changed (Vista and higher profiles are actually v2.0 profiles, XP and older are still the older v1.0 profile structure - they are not compatible).

Do you mind sharing your unattend.xml file and telling us which version of Windows you're pushing down? Perhaps we can start there.

First, copying profiles manually isn't supported (and as you've found, doesn't work). You *CAN* copy the profile before you create your image, sort of - you set up the Administrator profile the way you want before you run sysprep (using the Administrator account, of course), and then in the answer file that applies the image to new machines, you set CopyProfile to true (which copies the administrator's profile to the Default User's profile before clearing it). Otherwise, you only have a few other options: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973289

OK - next question - is this connected to a domain? If so, are these settings actually managed via Group Policy? (Easy to tell - rsop.msc will show you what settings are being set by all group policies applied to you).

If you can, please create a new thread so we can help (and track) this there. Altiris adds a whole different layer of fun on imaging, so while the symptoms are the same it's hard to know if the problem is similar or not.

Yes, there are scripts (and WMI objects) that can be used together to automate Windows Update. If you have access to an MDT deployment share, you could take a look at the file ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf in the \Scripts folder for an example of how it can be done. Otherwise there are samples out there for both vbscript and powershell .

I see that the image is likely Windows 7 Professional, but your screenshot shows only 1 catalog file (for Windows 7 Professional). Most Windows DVDs have Professional on them mixed with the other flavors (Ultimate, Professional, Home Premium, Home Basic, and even Starter) - has this DVD been modified by chance? That doesn't look right.