Slipstreamed and Unattended Windows Installations
(Page 1 of 4 )
Each of us has dealt with situations where Windows operating systems along with service packs, security updates, and other patches have needed to be deployed on computers with varying configurations (such as in small-to-medium-sized companies). In this article we’ll see how creating a slipstreamed Windows installation can help us, along with some useful unattended configurations to boost the setup process.
As a matter of fact, this article is the beginning segment of a two-part series. In this first part we will cover, as promised, the slipstreaming process, how to integrate service packs, security patches, and other extra drivers into the Windows installation. This does not help directly with the mass deployment, but it does eliminate the need to install the patches.
Additionally, not being there through the setup won't speed it up; it just eliminates user interaction. All in all, your presence won't be required (that much, anyway).
The upcoming segment of this series is going to provide a general overview and instructions concerning a powerful utility released by Microsoft called System Preparation Utility, abbreviated Sysprep. This tool is of great help because it aids us through the process of preparing an already-existing Windows installation for mass distribution. In short, SysPrep removes machine-specific information from the reference Windows OS.
Once that step is done, we can use third party disk-cloning utilities to prepare a disk (or partition) image. After that we can use mass-deploying tools that deploy the images throughout the network via multi-cast or just boot from CD/DVD media and launch the process by ourselves. Either way, our presence won't be required.
We're getting ahead of ourselves here-let's stick to this part for now. Click on the link below to get started.
Next: The Theory >>
More BrainDump Articles
More By Barzan "Tony" Antal
/ 6 
