I'm confused on what direction to go with deploying windows 7

[lodoss900]

long time fan.. old time user.

With all the new tools, I'm confused on what direction to go concerng deploying windows 7 machines to work users? Is everyone pushing out windows 7 OS, and then installing the apps after the fact?

With XP I used sysprep, mass storage drivers, PXE and cloning software to get what I needed done.

For me instaling the engineering software or the accounting software takes the longest time, which is why I liked some sort of imaging based software in the overall solution.

When I read about deployment took kit, and automated tool kit I don't see anything that says about all those custom softwares, settings, etc.. but then I read about capturing images.

I'm not sure if people are using MSI, batch files to install tird party apps, or a manual way.

I don't reinvent the wheel, so i'm looking to try and copy someones genius

Justin

[Tripredacus]

MDT seems pretty popular. SCCM is a good tool for the Enterprise as well. Take a look at these threads:

I use a heavily modified version of the GimageX HTA for PE 3.x.