Windows Vista : Deployment Platform - Basic Deployment Process, BDD 2007 Deployment Process

1. Basic Deployment Process

Figure 1 illustrates the basic deployment process using only the Windows Vista deployment tools to build images for high-volume deployments.

• Technician Computer You build a distribution share on a technician computer. The distribution share includes the Windows Vista source files, applications, device drivers, and packages. You use Windows SIM to configure the distribution share by adding source files to it. You also use Windows SIM to create and customize the Windows Vista answer files to use for installation.

• Master Computer On a master computer, you create a master installation by running Windows Setup from the distribution share using an answer file you created with Windows SIM. The installation should be fully automated to ensure a consistent, repeatable process from one build to the next. After creating the master installation, run Sysprep to prepare it for duplication. In low-volume deployments, you can skip this step and deploy directly from the Windows Vista image that Microsoft provides, and then customize the installation during deployment.

• Network Share You use ImageX to capture an image of the master installation from the master computer. Then you store the image on a network share accessible to the destination computers to which you’re deploying the image. Alternatives to deploying from a network share include deploying the image from a DVD or deploying the image from Windows DS.

• Destination Computers On the destination computers, run Windows Setup to install Windows Vista. Windows Setup accepts the image file and answer file to use as command-line options. Using Windows Setup to apply an image to destination computers is preferable to using ImageX to apply the image. Windows Setup includes logic that ImageX does not include, such as properly preparing the BCD.

How It Works: Configuration Passes

Like earlier versions of Windows, Windows Vista Setup runs in phases. These phases are called configuration passes. The following list describes each configuration pass that Windows Setup runs:

• windowsPE Configures Windows PE options as well as basic Windows Setup options. These options can include setting the product key and configuring a disk.

• offlineServicing Applies updates to a Windows Vista image. Also applies packages, including software fixes, language packs, and other security updates.

• generalize The generalize pass runs only if you run sysprep /generalize. In this pass, you can minimally configure Windows Vista, as well as configure other settings that must persist on your master image. The sysprep /generalize command removes system-specific information. For example, the unique SID and other hardware-specific settings are removed from the image.

• specialize Creates and applies system-specific information. For example, you can configure network settings, international settings, and domain information.

• auditSystem Processes unattended Setup settings while Windows Vista is running in system context, before a user logs on to the computer in audit mode. The auditSystem pass runs only if you boot in audit mode.

• auditUser Processes unattended Setup settings after a user logs onto the computer in audit mode. The auditUser pass runs only if you boot in audit mode.

• oobeSystem Applies settings to Windows Vista before Windows Welcome starts.

2. BDD 2007 Deployment Process

BDD 2007 is a holistic approach to desktop deployment, bringing together the people, processes, and technology required to perform highly successful, repeatable, and consistent deployment projects. Because of its strong focus on methodology and best practices, BDD 2007 is much more valuable than the sum of its parts. Not only does BDD have the benefit of decreasing the time required to develop a desktop-deployment project, but it also reduces errors and helps you create a higher-quality desktop-deployment project.

Microsoft recommends that you use BDD 2007 to deploy Windows Vista instead of using the basic deployment tools directly. All of the deployment tools in Windows Vista and the Windows AIK are huge improvements over the deployment tools for earlier versions of Windows. However, they are simply tools without a framework and without any business logic. They have no “glue” to bind them into an end-to-end process. BDD 2007 provides this glue in the form of a complete technology framework. Internally, BDD 2007 is an extremely complex solution. BDD 2007 provides solutions for the problems facing most customers during deployment, including preinstallation phases (disk partitioning, formatting, and so on), installation (disk imaging), and postinstallation phases (user state migration, application installation, customization, and so on). Even though BDD 2007 is complex internally, the solution makes building, customizing, and deploying Windows Vista images very easy by masking most of the details.

Figure 2 describes the typical process for using BDD 2007 to deploy Windows Vista. The process is the same whether you’re capturing an image in the lab or deploying images in a production environment. Additionally, BDD 2007 provides a user interface to configure all of its processes. Behind the scenes, thousands of lines of code work to implement your choices during deployment.

The following list describes each part of the BDD 2007 deployment process. 

• Distribution share After installing BDD 2007 on a build server in a lab environment, you first use the BDD 2007 Deployment Workbench to stock the distribution share with source files. Source files include Windows Vista images, applications, device drivers, and packages. The Deployment Workbench provides a user interface for adding all source files to the distribution share. The user interface also provides intelligence, such as error checking and building a device driver database for device driver injection during deployment.

  

• Build After the distribution share is fully stocked, you use the Deployment Workbench to create a build. A build associates source files from the distribution share with a configuration. The configuration includes a setup answer file and a task sequence. A task sequence is a list of steps to take during installation. The task sequence specifies when to take each step and when to skip it. The task sequence supports reboots during installation and data collected during the task sequencer persists between reboots. The task sequence represents one of the primary customization points for BDD 2007.

• Deployment point After creating a build, you create deployment points for installing it. A deployment point is a subset of the BDD 2007 distribution share in much the same way that configuration sets are subsets of Windows SIM distribution shares.

  A deployment point specifies which source files and builds from the distribution share to distribute and how to distribute them. Deployment points also provide a way to connect to the deployment point and begin installation. For example, a network deployment point copies a subset of the distribution share to another network location and generates a Windows PE boot image that automatically connects to the distribution share and begins installation. An OSD deployment point creates a subset of the distribution share that you can deploy by using an SMS 2003 OSD deployment program. A special deployment point, called a Lab deployment point, always points to the ful distribution share on the build server.

  Deployment points are customizable. The primary customization points for deployment points are rules, which are stored in a file called CustomSettings.ini. This file contains rules for installing Windows Vista on destination computers and configuring it. You can configure the BDD 2007 Windows Deployment Wizard user interface, for example, by hiding certain screens and automating others. You can also target specific Windows Vista settings at different groups of computers based on MAC address, location, and so on.

• Destination computer With a fully stocked distribution share, a defined build, and a defined deployment point, you can use BDD 2007 to deploy Windows Vista to destination computers. You can use LTI to deploy Windows Vista. To use LTI, you start the destination computer using the deployment point’s Windows PE boot image. You can put the boot image on removable media (DVD, UFD, and so on) or add it to a Windows DS server. Either way, you start the destination computer using the Windows PE boot image provided by the deployment point to begin the Windows Deployment Wizard. The wizard displays several screens to collect data from you (computer name, domain membership, applications to install, and so on), and then installs the operating system without any further interaction.

  You can also use ZTI to deploy Windows Vista. To deploy Windows Vista using ZTI, you must create an OSD deployment point. Then you create the program in SMS 2003 OSD.
  

Note that Figure 3-4 makes no reference to creating a master installation and capturing an image. In BDD 2007, creating and capturing an image is an LTI process. You can configure any deployment point to automatically capture an image of an installation and store the image in the distribution share. After you make this choice, the imaging process is fully automated. You don’t have to run Sysprep. You don’t have to run ImageX. The Windows Deployment Wizard automatically runs Sysprep and then runs ImageX to capture the image and store it in the distribution share. Then you can simply add the image to the distribution share using Deployment Workbench.

The process for OSD images is just a bit more complicated, however. The Windows Deployment Wizard will fully prepare the computer for imaging, but you must use the OSD Image Capture Wizard to capture the image and store it in the BDD 2007 distribution share. 

New Features for BDD 2007

The following list summarizes the changes between BDD 2.5 and BDD 2007:

• BDD 2007 adds support for deploying Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system. Office 2003 deployment guidance is now available separately.

• This release of BDD introduces the Deployment Workbench for creating and customizing computer images. The Deployment Workbench is an MMC console that replaces the Computer Imaging System Wizard (Config.hta) in earlier versions of BDD. The Deployment Workbench is a significant improvement that you can use to create a distribution point (operating systems, device drivers, applications, and packages). You then create builds and deployment points based on source files in the distribution point.

• The Deployment Workbench provides far more advanced handling of applications, device drivers, and so on than Config.hta in earlier versions of BDD. For example, you can specify dependencies between applications. In fact, the Deployment Workbench includes native support for the 2007 Office system. Another example is device drivers, which the Deployment Workbench catalogs; the Deployment Wizard then uses the catalog to inject device drivers into the image during deployment to a destination computer.

• BDD 2007 merges the lite-touch and zero-touch code. Customizing both lite-touch and zero-touch solutions is now a similar process, and the guidance contains updated information about both solutions, which coexist in the same environment and provide broader scenario coverage with common tools. Additionally, the Windows Deployment Wizard (LTI) is new and significantly improved in this release of BDD. Both solutions now use a stand-alone task sequencer derived from Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to simplify the scripting complexity of earlier versions of BDD.

• BDD 2007 makes complete use of the tools in the Windows AIK, including ImageX, Windows SIM, Windows PE 2.0, and Windows DS.

• The documentation has been reorganized and updated so that each guide separates step-by-step instructional guidance from process and background guidance. This organization makes focusing on one or the other easier, and it makes customizing the guidance simpler for partners developing solutions based on BDD 2007.