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capturing a working system image


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HI all

Since I am on learning, just a basic level question

For obtaining a customized installation image for win 7 x64

Can this be done ?

install a fresh copy on a specific hardware

install all drivers , set all customizations etc.

capture an image of this working system using IMAGEX or anything other

create an installation media using this image

burn to dvd

take this dvd to other systems of same hardware and install it so we get all settings and drivers already installed

actually I have tried rt7lite but I can't get it to install drivers like ATI and other small applications no success for me.

Trying DISM and other core utilites . windows updates are integrated OK with it. drivers are still not

I have got windows adk but do'nt have proper guides for it for above purpose.

please suggest

Edited by sunnyimran
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install a fresh copy on a specific hardware

install all drivers , set all customizations etc.

capture an image of this working system using IMAGEX or anything other

This worked for XP and older OSes, not so much Vista and newer. You should install Windows 7 using an answer file and set it to boot into Audit Mode. Then you do your drivers and customizations for all users. Then you sysprep /generalize, THEN you can capture it, but using DISM and not Imagex. Imagex is deprecated by now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello. First you have to customize your windows 7, in audit mode.

- Install new fresh OS.

- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /audit

- When restart delete the user you had done (Only Administrator User left)

- Install Updates, customize, install drivers, etc.

- Generate an unattend.xml file for unattend the sysprep process and ser copyprofile=true. (if you need help with this just ask)

- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /oobe /generalize /quit /unattend:unattend.xml

- Restart with WinPE

- Run Imagex /capture /compress fast c: c:\windows7.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate" (or whatever)

Then in other pc, run WinPE with the image you captured before

If you wanna clean all HDD and you have no data to keep.

Execute Diskpart

In diskpart type:

list disk (see what number of disk you wanna install)

sel disk 0 (if is 0)

clean

create part pri

sel part 1

assign letter C:

active

exit

when exit diskpart, execute:

format c: /q /y /fs:NTFS /v:Windows

Imagex /apply X:\windows7.wim 1 c: (X: is the drive you have the image. may be D, E, F etc)

When imagex ends:

C:\windows\system32\bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

exit

restart and wait for a full unattended and universal windows installation.

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In addition to the suggestions made above, you might want to consider using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). With MDT, you can have the ATI driver install after Windows is deployed as a 'post installation' task. In fact, there is no need to pre-load your image with drivers at all, since MDT can manage most driver installations automatically upon deployment by simply importing the drivers into MDT. If the ATI driver doesn't install properly in this manner, then the post installation task can be configured to install the driver.

MDT can also create installation media for DVD or USB installations, or the images can be used with Windows Deployment Services (WDS)or System Center Configuration Manager (Config Manager) to allow network deployments through PXE booting.

Disk partitioning and formatting can also be done within MDT, so a separate script is not needed.

These two videos will show you the power and flexibilityof MDT, and help you to setup your environment:

Deployment Day Session 1: Introduction to MDT 2012

Deployment Day Session 2: MDT 2012 Advanced

Lastly, more information about deploying Windows 7 with MDT, WDS, and Config Manager can be found on the Deliver and Deploy Windows 7 page of the Springboard Series on TechNet.

Hope this helps,

David

Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro

Edited by WinOutreach4
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Is there a specific reason why you don't use Diskpart to format the partition? :unsure:

Just because is the same. I have to enter in diskpart and exit anyway. At first i included format in diskpart script, and one day, when i made a menu, i just wrote the script in that way...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello. First you have to customize your windows 7, in audit mode.

- Install new fresh OS.

- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /audit

- When restart delete the user you had done (Only Administrator User left)

- Install Updates, customize, install drivers, etc.

- Generate an unattend.xml file for unattend the sysprep process and ser copyprofile=true. (if you need help with this just ask)

- Execute C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep /oobe /generalize /quit /unattend:unattend.xml

- Restart with WinPE

- Run Imagex /capture /compress fast c: c:\windows7.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate" (or whatever)

Worked for me. I had trouble before. Captured with GimageX on another windows install. Just had to get the description and wim name right so that ei.cfg would work as expected.

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