How to Install the Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 in Windows Server 2008 R2

Transcription

1 How to Install the Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 in Windows Server 2008 R2 I am not responsible for your actions or their outcomes, in any way, while reading and/or implementing this tutorial. I will not provide support for the information herein. If you do not understand something, figure it out on your own. If you need help figuring it out, use Google to solve your problems. Introduction The Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 (WAIK for Windows 7) allows you to create customized, and silent if desired, deployments of Windows 7 to support Enterprise deployment needs. When combined with Windows Deployment Services (WDS), the WAIK for Windows 7 allows you to rapidly deploy a large number of customized Windows 7 installations to client PCS. At the heart of the WAIK for Windows 7 lies the unattend.xml file. This file is an XML file which holds all the settings for a Windows Deployment. You can make an installation, or mass-deployment, silent by providing answers to the questions asked during the Windows 7 installation sequence. Another name for the unattend.xml file is an answer file, as the above explanation defines. You can also customize a Windows 7 deployment, such as defining a custom partitioning scheme, by using the WAIK for Windows 7. For more information on the WAIK for Windows 7, see A good starting point would be (at the time of this writing): A good tutorial on how to create silent Windows 7 installations can be found in Brian Lee Jackson's tutorial, "How to Sysprep a Windows 7 Machine Start to Finish v2". The URL (at the time of this writing) is: Tutorials on how to use the WAIK for Windows 7 will not be provided at this time. When deploying Windows 7 images, I use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Update 1 (MDT 2010 U1). The WAIK for Windows 7 is a requirement for installing MDT 2010 U1, and is thus the requirement for writing this tutorial. MDT 2010 U1 is a set of scripts and wizards which create unattend.xml files, using the WAIK for Windows 7 files as a base, and prepares a network or group of clients for autocast deployment using PXE booting and other advanced deployment methods. For more information see the tutorials relating to MDT 2010 U1 on

2 Before You Begin 1. Install Virtual CloneDrive on your server. See the tutorial, "How to install Virtual CloneDrive", for more details. If you do not wish to download the Virtual CloneDrive installation file through the Remote Desktop session with your server, you can download the needed file on your technician PC and then copy/paste the file to your server through the Remote Desktop session. Virtual CloneDrive can be downloaded from the following link (at the time of this writing): 2. You will need to download the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) for Windows 7 ISO file and copy it to your server. You can download this file on your technician PC and upload it to the server through a Remote Desktop session with copy/paste, or you can download it directly to the server through a Remote Desktop session using Internet Explorer (on the server). You can download the WAIK for Windows 7 ISO at the following link (at the time of this writing): Steps 1. Right click the WAIK for Windows 7 file (I named it Windows7WAIK), and click Mount (Virtual CloneDrive E:). NOTES: In this example, Virtual CloneDrive has created a virtual BD-ROM drive and been assigned the letter 'E'. Your drive letter may be different, but you will always select Mount.

3 2. Open the File Explorer by clicking the file folder icon on the taskbar. NOTES:

4 3. Select Computer and double click the drive labeled BD-ROM Drive (E:). NOTES: The other drives are the drives you chose to share when creating the Remote Desktop connection. You could also burn the WAIK ISO to a physical DVD and insert it into the DVD-ROM drive of your technician PC. You would then access the shared drive corresponding to the DVD-ROM in your technician PC.

5 4. Click Windows AIK Setup. NOTES:

6 5. The WAIK installation program will launch. Click the Next button at the Welcome screen. NOTES:

7 6. Select the radio button next to, "I Agree", to accept the End User License Agreement (EULA) and click the Next button. NOTES:

8 7. Leave the installation directory at its default setting, ensure the radio button next to, "Everyone", is selected, and click the Next button. NOTES: If your environment requires different settings for any of these values, feel free to change them.

9 8. Confirm the installation by clicking the Next button. NOTES:

10 9. The Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 will be installed. Click the close button when the installation has finished. Close the Welcome to Windows Automated Installation Kit window. Close any other open screens you are not using, such as the file explorer. NOTES: This is the end of this tutorial.

11 Troubleshooting It is a common mistake to download the wrong version of the Windows Automated Installation Kit. Make sure you have downloaded the Windows 7 version. If you are having trouble completing the installation, ensure your ISO file is not corrupt and that you have mounted it correctly. I am not responsible for your actions or their outcomes, in any way, while reading and/or implementing this tutorial. I will not provide support for the information herein. If you do not understand something, figure it out on your own. If you need help figuring it out, use Google to solve your problems.