fizban2

as long as the network card is recoginzed by vista it should, i have had it work across intel pro and dell wireless cards

hmmm, seeing as i haven't closed the post yet i think you might be wrong, but spooky is correct, this isn't an RC build this isn't RTM, why aren't you trying to figure this out with a MS release build? to anwser you inital question, you won't be able to get the same MD5 as the original ISO. what reason would you have for doing this? if you can provide a valid reason i can keep the post open but using warez builds as reference provides no valid reason to keep this post alive.

depending on how long they have been working on vista you might be better off sending them to a class or 2 before trying the exams, i have been working with it for the last year plus and the exams still had a couple things i didn't know, they are making them pretty hard this time around. oh and if you too find out more of what is covered on each test check it out here TS: Deploying and Maintaining Vista Client and Office System 2007 Desktops http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-624.mspx Pro: Microsoft Desktop Support - ENTERPRISE http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-622.mspx Pro: Upgrading your MCDST Certification to MCITP Enterprise Support http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-621.mspx TS: Microsoft Windows Vista, Configuring http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/71-620.mspx

ok here is what i can say, MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist) is the single Cert standard now (71-620) Windows Vista: Configuration certification 2 paths form there MCITP: Consumer Support Technician MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) consists of the base MCTS test and 2 MCITP tests. If you are a MCDST there will be an upgrade test (71-621) so to anwser your question Stoic is no, there is no direct path from the old certs, nothing really lines up evenly you can find more info here on upcoming tests and certs. http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/ Betas for Vista tests and office tests have started and those of you who are MCPs should be able to sign up for those beta tests (still costs money though!!!) and get ahead of the curve. if you pass the beta test you gain the certification

71-620 is the first MS test for vista, this entails installation and configuration of Vista. there will be 2 seperate tracks for vista that point, enterprise and consumer/home. those tests are still being finalized. 71-620 you should see publicaly available probably around Januaury, there are lots of classes out on it already. took the beta Test in November we will see how i did later this month!

MS isn't deciding the requirements, the hardware that is out at the time decides that. we have what, 2,8 ghz quad core CPUs ok today, i don't see vista requiring quad or dual core CPU's, only a single CPU. Vista has to be built to work with todays tech and scale well with the technology of years to come, when XP came out people freaked that it required so much ram, to use that much ram was unthinkable, now a days my video card has more ram then what XP needed to run with. MS had to build an OS that could take advantage of todays tech and what wil come out till the next OS hits the market, Something that XP didn't do so well with, as tech got fast so did it but not enough for the jumps in speed that were seen throughout XPs lifespan. I think you are talking about the Network and Sharing Center. For a large amount of home users this screen will be user friendly. In a corporate environment, most of these settings are managed at a domain level so you never have to worry about it, i do miss double clicking and getting the properties of the connection. but overall from a home users perspective, it is friendly, easy on the eyes and doesn't contain any threatingly large amounts of numbers or cryptic computer information that scare most home users.

Consumer Release of office 2007 will be end of January with Vista,

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) Release Candidate (RC) is a cumulative service pack that provides the latest updates, security and stability enhancements, in addition to new features, feature updates and utility updates to the Windows Server 2003 operating system. SP2 helps secure your server and improve system reliability, security, and stability thereby ensuring the highest level of readiness to meet the ever increasing demands of today’s server operating systems. Windows Server 2003 SP2 can be installed directly on the following operating systems: Windows Server 2003 Editions (All 32-bit x86) Windows Server 2003 Itanium-based Editions Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions Windows Server 2003 R2 Editions Windows Server 2003 Storage Server R2 Edition Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition It is possible that there is something on the computer that the setup doesn't like, is there a log of the installation created? can you tell us anymore about the server and what is happening during the installation?

make sure the version that you have is actually RTM, if so there will be no water mark on the desktop, if there is a water mark it is 1 of 2 things, 1. an older version with the water mark changed, 2. a cracked version and if they added a water mark it would beg the question what else did they add to the image???

C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\<architecuture>\wimfltr.inf you need to install this wim filter so that you can mount the wims and access them, if you have an older filter installed (pre RTM) reinstall the new filter from RTM and that should fix it

the autounattend is build specific, you would be better off downloading the WAIk from MS and building your own

ok now we are slicing bread :-D to anwser the question without getting to fine grained, @davidyeap, your sata HD will be picked up by vista, but you will likely need drivers for what ever controller is being used by your motherboard manufactuer if that controller has RAID or is specific to your board. only way to know if to try it and see how it goes!

first issues even though you are an Admin, it does not mean that you have full permissions to the Box, if you need to edit something System wise, go ahead and enable and password the Administrator account. with this you can edit what you need. second issue, what VPN client are you using? cisco? att? built in windows? have you verified that the software is compatiable with Vista. Most VPN clients will need an update before they will work with vista.

rebelo, have you checked out the power features in vista? even setting them up like you had in XP you don't get the same preformance? vista should do considerably better then Xp power wise, i get an extra 45 min to 1:30 hr of battery time with Vista over XP

ahh sorry, i didn't read your question correctly, each each sections objects are relevant to that architecture, say for Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE_x.xxxxx, the only difference for these parts is what architechture you use, each section should have the same parts, or the ones that pertain to that archtecture type. i know if you try and add a x86 piece to a 64bit file it will fail

glad to help!!

correct, both products ran with the "longhorn" code name, i am sure once it is release it will be called Server 2007 or some such thing

So far in LH you can have pictures, we will see if it stays or not

correct, not called runonce anymore but synchronous commands, can be added in passes 1,4,6,7 these are like runonce commands as you can launch applicatopns or scripts or bat files to continue installation. from within the WAIK, on the menu bar at the top, choose insert => Synchromous Command=> Pass then enter the command you want to run <FirstLogonCommands> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Order>1</Order> <CommandLine>\\servername\path\file.exe</CommandLine> </SynchronousCommand> </FirstLogonCommands> this can launch anything you need, somethings may have to launched from msiexec or something else but you can do alot from here

find X86_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup in the WAIK, find the User Accounts Object under Shell Setup make sure it has been added to the OOBE pass under the UserAccounts Section Make sure you set a value to the AdministratoPassword object,this will enable the administrator account that is disabled by default in Vista, here you can also create accounts for the machine i believe this is what you were looking for

if you ever had a question on any of the component objects in the WAIK just right click on it and choose help, the help is quite detailed

you will need to load drivers for your SATA controller is they are not natively found by vista, this could be done from a floppy or a USB device

the file will not analyze itself either you will have to post it here or we can show you how to analyze it. this should tell us what is causing the delay in your system

i believe if you do a full backup of Vista throught the vista backup software that activation is saved. this does not change the fact thought that every so often that vista will have to connect to a key server and reauthenticate

you can't always just go by how many users/computers you have to work with, it also involves what shape your environment is in also. Do you have a standard images for all your machines? do you have all your applications packaged and pushed/pulled to the machines remotely or does a tech have to walk up to a machine to install software manually. many companies will just go on "ticket Count" or Hours billed to justify the # of technicians they have or want. some metrics might help you justify how many techs can be needed for the work available. The other Question that comes to mind is how much of a Technicians time should be spent fixing (band-aiding) problems and how much is spent actually finding a solution to the problems you and and preparing to roll out new software or hardware so that it can be properly tested and implemented. there can be quite a few factors depending on how you look at the situation