You will need the following to proceed:
- WAIK RTM : KB3AIK_EN.iso Version 3.0.
- Supplement for WAIK SP1 : waik_supplement_en-us.iso.
- Bootable Flash drive (500MB or larger)

Once you have installed WAIK then you will need to browse to your start menu and click on “Deployment Tools Command Prompt”. I have provided a picture below.

DISM

Once you have launched DTCP you will need to follow through the commands I have compiled below. The first one I have provided a screenshot.

DISM – Step #1 – Prep/Cleanup

DISM /Cleanup-Wim

The DISM cleanup command simply cleans up any previous wims/mounts you have been working with. If you do this a lot, you will need to use this command otherwise you will start receiving errors from previous wims possibly still left on the system.

DISM Step #1

DISM – Step #2 – Copy WinPE 3.1 to your local C Drive

copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86
copy c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim c:\winpe_x86\ISO\sources\boot.wim

This creates a winpe_x86 folder on your C: drive and then copies the contents of the WinPE folder from the WAIK installation to your folder.

DISM – Step #3 – Mounting .Wim File on your local C Drive

Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_x86\mount

This command mounts the wim file that was copied over in step #2 so that you can browse the system32 folder and insert your custom scripts, etc.

DISM – Step #4 – Adding Packages to your WIM

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:”C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wmi.cab”
Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:”C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-wmi_en-us.cab”

There are many packages you can add to your WINPE boot environment, these are two I always add to mine.

DISM – Step #5 – Adding Drivers to WinPE

DISM /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Driver /driver:C:\YOUR_FOLDER_OF_INF_DRIVERS\ /recurse

A nice addition to DISM over the previous peimg command in WINPE 2.0 is the ability to add drivers with the /recurse command. The /recurse command now allows us to simply have all of our drivers in their own directory and tell DISM to scan the root folder and everything beneath it. The number of sub directories won’t matter. I have a huge library of drivers, for example, you will want to have the network and vga drivers for anything that you boot up to in the WinPE environment. By adding the network driver to your WinPE boot environment, it allows you to access network shares for capturing and deploying .wim images.

DISM – Step #6 – Adding Custom Scripts, Batch Files, Etc.

xcopy /e /y “C:\YOUR_FOLDER_OF_SCRIPTS” C:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows\System32\

Without adding anything to your WinPE boot environment you will simply be left with a command prompt window when booting to it on a computer. I have added over 15 different batch scripts with different functions. Click here to download my WinPE discs. One thing I highly suggest adding is GImageX. GImageX is a very small GUI program that you can add to be able to capture, deploy, and mount images within the WinPE boot environment. I have provided a picture of GImageX GUI below.

For WinPE 3.0 Boot Environment - Mount, Deploy, Capture Images

DISM – Step #7 – Unmounting your finished .WIM

Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_x86\mount\ /Commit

This commits the final changes to your .WIM file and anything you added to it. It is very important to unmount your .WIM file when you have finished.

DISM – Step #8 – Copies your .WIM to Boot ISO

copy c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim c:\winpe_x86\ISO\sources\boot.wim /Y

DISM – Step #9 – Creates bootable .ISO of WinPE 3.1

oscdimg -n -bc:\winpe_x86\etfsboot.com c:\winpe_x86\ISO c:\winpe_x86\winpe_x86.iso

Now, if you are wanting to use a flash stick you will need to format a flash stick in a certain way, and then simply copy the contents of the c:\winpe_x86\ISO\ to your flash drive. And thats it! Stick it in a computer, restart, and boot to it. The .ISO made in step #9 can simply be burned to a CD with Nero or other program capable of making bootable CD and then you can boot to it in the same way.

DISM – Step #10 – Optional Backup

xcopy /e /y “C:\winpe_x86″ E:\BACKUP_FOLDER_FOR_LATEST_BOOT_BUILD\

This step is optional, but I always like to keep a backup for the future. Also, if you ever need to create another bootable flash stick or CD you can simply go to your backup and grab the files.

“A media usage rights error has occurred. For help fixing this problem, click Web Help. Error Code C00D12F5″

I have received this message a few times after reformatting or moving things around.
Here are the instructions to fix it.

Step 1

Download the DRM reset exe from Microsoft: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=105000.

Step 2

Run the exe.

Step 3

Restart your Zune Software. That should fix your issue.

Deleted items folder is unavailable

Below are the steps to fix this problem.

Step 1

Launch Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Step 2

Go up to File, click on Account Settings, and the select “Account Settings”.

Step 3

Make sure your IMAP account is selected if you have multiple email accounts and click “Change.”

Step 4

Click on “More Settings.”

Step 5

Click on the “Deleted Items” tab, click on your Inbox, and make a new folder called “Deleted.”

Step 6

Click “OK”, cancel, and close. Your finished. You can also do the same thing with the “Sent Items” folder.

I have been using the new Internet Explorer 9 in beta and have actually been enjoying it. Looks like Microsoft is finally getting the ball rolling. However, being beta it definitley still has some issues.
A big error I have come across has become a big nuisance. Whenever I go to download something I get this error. (file and website have been removed)

IE9 download error

The one way I have found to fix this is to press CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE and then select delete ‘download history’.

IE9 - Clear Download History

Once you do that, you have to close IE9 and restart it. This works about 80% of the time.

Also, another problem I have had is that Flash will just stop working and I have to reinstall the latest version of Adobe Flash from here.

If anyone else has fixes for the downloading problem, please post! Thank you.

The vbs script is a little nicer than version one (CMD) because it runs without any windows and in my opinion vbs scripts just run smoother . Also, it is a single file and the tutorial has less steps.

So for all of you who grabbed version one, lol, grab version 2!!! And if you are using WIM images, you can simply mount your image, replace the script, and unmount/commit.

Repeat instructions are below:

When running sysprep in Windows 7 with the unattend.xml file, you will probably notice that the taskbar icons are something that don’t copy over. Well that is because the icons are not part of the users profile. So the copyprofile=true command does work for almost everything, but it doesn’t copy over your taskbar icons. So here is a script that will do it for you.

Step #1

Download the vbs script (11kb). Click Here to Download or Right Click and Save Target As….
You might have to remove the .txt extension when you are downloading the script. You are going to drop this script into the correct place during audit mode.

Step #2

Copy the vbs script into the startup folder in the start menu.

Step #3

The vbs script unpins WMP, IE, and Windows Explorer and then repins the icons in the order you want. My file has this order:

Windows Explorer, IE, Firefox, Word, Excel, Outlook, WMP

Step #4

Now run sysprep as you normally would and the script is copied into the default profile. That means for every new user, the script pins the icons in the order you want, the script then deletes itself and never runs again. For the correct procedure on sysprepping your machine, read my Windows 7 Sysprep Tutorial.

Sorry for not posting this earlier but I have had a rough last couple months. Just now getting back into the swing of things.

When running sysprep in Windows 7 with the unattend.xml file, you will probably notice that the taskbar icons are something that don’t copy over. Well that is because the icons are not part of the users profile. So the copyprofile=true command does work for almost everything, but it doesn’t copy over your taskbar icons.

Thankfully the “Deployment Guys” already have a VBS script that will pin and unpin icons. I have edited this script and done most of the hard work for you. Basically we are going to dump a few scripts into the “startup folder” (and yes I said startup folder, it is messy but it works and finishes clean) which will run only the first time every new user logs in. It will pin the icons you want, in any order you want, both to the taskbar and the startmenu and then the script is deleted from the startup folder and never runs again for that user. It does work perfectly and I currently am using this in a corporate environment with around 400-500 computers.

Step #1

Download the scripts that I have packaged together. Click here to download. Again, most of these scripts were written by The Deployment Guys, I have just tweaked them and added a few. It is a 35mb zip file.

The zip file contains the following files:

- taskbar.bat
- taskbar_operations.cmd
- pin.wsf
- unpin.wsf
- pinitem.vbs
- listverbs.vbs
- zti-specialfolderlib.vbs
- ztiutility.vbs

You are going to drop these scripts into the correct places during audit mode.

Step #2

Copy the taskbar.bat file into the startup folder in the start menu.

Below is an explanation of what that taskbar.bat file is doing:

cd C:\Windows\Scripts\
This changes the directory to the scripts folders.

call taskbar_operations.cmd
Calls the cmd file which unpins and pins the taskbar icons.

cd C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup”
This changes the directory to the startup folder.

DEL taskbar.bat
This deletes the taskbar.bat after it is done, so it won’t run again for that user.

Step #3

The taskbar_operations.cmd file is the file that has all the custom icon paths in it that are pinned or unpinned.
My file has the following in this order:

Windows Explorer, IE, Firefox, Word, Excel, Outlook, WMP

If you want to change these, simply look in the cmd file and you will figure out what you need to change, it is pretty simple. Also, the default order when running sysprep is WMP, IE, and Windows Explorer, so the script is actually unpinning WMP, unpinning IE, (windows explorer is now bumped over to the left side) and then it pins the rest of the icons in order.

Step #4

Create a “scripts” folder in the C:\Windows directory and drop all of the files into it, except for the taskbar.bat file which you should already have in your startup folder.

Step #5

Now run sysprep as you normally would and the scripts are copied into the default profile. That means for every new user, the scripts pin the icons in the order you want, the script then deletes itself and never runs again. For the correct procedure on sysprepping your machine, read my Windows 7 Sysprep Tutorial.

I am definitely not a programmer, but this works, and I don’t see Microsoft giving us a better solution .

SPREAD THE WORD, TOGETHER WE HAVE CONQUERED SYSPREP

This is version 2 of a step by step guide on Sysprepping a Windows 7 machine from start to finish. I cannot take full credit on this because my first article had so many helpful comments and discussions that this is simply a combination of all the good advice written into a working guide. (I would especially like to thank George for his input on Cscript for auto activation and Nathan for input on Sysprep Audit Mode). This will guide you through the following:

- Audit Mode
- Building the unattend.xml file in WSIM
- copyprofile=true command to copy the default profile (no manual copy)
- Prompt for a computer name
- Enable Administrator account
- Administrator account logs in first time automatically
- Activate windows automatically with Cscript;
- Successfully copy over taskbar icons;
- Delete unattend.xml file automatically upon completion of re-image.

Here is a list of what you will need:

- Latest version of WAIK : KB3AIK_EN.iso Version 1.0
- Windows Vista or Windows 7 Machine to build the XML file on
- ISO or DVD of Windows 7 Installation (x32 or x64)
- WinPE Boot Environment : BrianLeeJackson WinPE 3.0 BootLoader

First we are going to walk through building the unattend.xml file (answer file) and then we will walk through the actual Windows 7 imaging process.

PART 1 – XML FILE CREATION

Step #1

If you have a Windows 7 installation DVD, insert it now. Or if you have an ISO of 7, go ahead and extract it to a folder on your desktop. (I recommend 7-zip).

Step #2

Launch Windows System Image Manager. Your start menu should look like the image below:

Windows 7 WAIK Version 1

Step #3

Under the “Windows Image” header, right click and select new image.

Windows System Image Manager

Step #4

You will now want to browse to the .CLG file in your Windows 7 installation (I am using Windows 7 Enterprise x64 in my example). It is located in the sources folder. See Image below. You can select either the .clg file or the install.wim. Both will have the same result.

Selecting CLG File - WSIM

Step #5

Now we need to create a new answer file. Go to the file menu and select “Create New Answer File.” Right after creating one, go ahead and simply go to file menu and select “Save Answer File.” This will give your XML file a name and save location. I chose to name mine unattend.xml. Now you see we have two category folders, Components and Packages. Under the Components folder you see that we have 7 options:

-1 windowsPE
-2 offlineServicing
-3 generalize
-4 specialize
-5 auditSystem
-6 auditUser
-7 oobeSystem

Step #6

These are very important as these are the steps in which the unattend.xml file is sequenced.
The next part is a little confusing. You are going to add components, from under the “Windows Image” section on the bottom left hand side to the passes on your Answer File. To add a component, you can right click on them and select “add to # pass”. There are many different options you can add, but they have to be done in a certain order and pass otherwise your sysprep might fail. I am simply going to use the one I created as the example.

Answer File - Unattend.xml

Here is more information about adding options under the passes:

1 windowsPE

Nothing required in my example.

2 offlineServicing

Nothing required in my example.

3 generalize

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

Set 1 for SkipRearm to allow up to 8 rearms

4 specialize

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Deployment_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

1. 1. Order: 1
      path: net user administrator /active:yes
      WillReboot: Never

   RunSynchronousCommand[Order="1"]

RunSynchronous

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP-UX_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

SkipAutoActivation: true

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

Computer Name: Leave blank (we will deal with this at the end)
CopyProfile: true
Registered Organization: Microsoft (you must leave this in this section)
Registered Owner: AutoBVT (you must leave this in this section)
ShowWindowsLive: false
TimeZone: Pacific Standard Time

(Please view TimeZone settings here -> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749073%28WS.10%29.aspx)

You can delete other sub-header components if you don’t need them.

5 auditSystem

Nothing required in my example.

6 auditUser

Nothing required in my example.

7 oobeSystem

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-International-Core_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

InputLocale: en-us
SystemLocale: en-us
UILanguage: en-us
UserLocale: en-us

amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral

RegisteredOrganization: Your Company Name
RegisteredOwner: Your Name

AutoLogon

1. Password: Administrator Password

Enabled: true
LogonCount: 5
Username: administrator

FirstLogonCommands

1. CommandLine: cscript //b c:\\windows\\system32\\slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (windows 7 license key)
   Order 1
   RequiresUserInput: false
   CommandLine: cscript //b c:\\windows\\system32\\slmgr.vbs /ato
   Order 2
   RequiresUserInput: false

SynchronousCommand[Order="1"]

SynchronousCommand[Order="2"]

OOBE

HideEULAPage: true
NetworkLocation: Home
ProtectYourPC: 1

UserAccounts

1. 1. 1. Password: Administrator Password

      Action: AddListItem
      Description: Local Administrator
      DisplayName: Administrator
      Group: Administrators
      Name: Administrator

   LocalAccount[Name="Administrator"]

AdministratorPassword: Administrator Password
LocalAccounts

If you have questions, look at my image above to see full layout of components, it should help.

Step #7

K, now go ahead and save your answer file as unattend.xml.

Step #8

If you want the sysprep to prompt for a computer name you need to remove a line from your XML file. Open up your XML file you saved with notepad and remove the following line:

Unattend.xml Computer Name

PART 2 – IMAGING PROCESS / RUNNING SYSPREP

Step #9

Install Windows 7 (Enterprise) from CD or USB flash drive, when you arrive at the welcome screen and it asks you to create a username, hit ctrl+shift+f3.
This will reboot your machine and put your windows build in ‘audit’ mode.

Step #10

On reboot, you’ll automatically be logged in under the built-in Administrator account. A sysprep GUI box will appear, but you can close it and NOW begin to customize your profile.

Step #11

Install any software/drivers, make any profile customizations, etc.
If you need to reboot, the computer will boot you back into the Administrator account. You will be stuck in this audit mode until you run sysprep with the /oobe parameter. After doing so, sysprep will delete/clean up the Administrator account, but if you have copyprofile=true in your unattended answer file, it will copy the customized Admin account to the default profile before deleting it.

Step #12

On the PC you are going to be running sysprep on, you need to create a folder called scripts in this directory: %WINDIR%\Setup\. Now you are going to create a CMD file within the %WINDIR%\\Setup\\Scripts directory. Right click and make a new text file called SetupComplete.txt. Remove the .txt extension and replace that with .cmd. You now have a SetupComplete.cmd file which windows will read the first time it boots up from the sysprep. We need to place a script inside the CMD file. Edit the cmd file with notepad and insert this line: del /Q /F c:\\windows\\system32\\sysprep\\unattend.xml. This script will delete your unattend.xml file after it has been used. The unattend.xml file is also copied to the C:\\Windows\\Panther directory, so you will want to add a second line to the CMD file, del /Q /F c:\\windows\\panther\\unattend.xml. If you have passwords or cd keys stored in that xml file you don’t have to worry about it being left on the computer.

UPDATE AS OF JUNE 16TH: Read my Taskbar Icons Tutorial before continuing.

Step #13

Once you have everything configured correctly, Copy or move your unattend.xml file to : C:\windows\system32\sysprep. Now to run sysprep, navigate to that sysprep folder, hold SHIFT and right click and select “Open New Command Windows Here”. Next, input the following commands:

sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml

Step #14

Turn the computer back on and boot to WinPE 3.0 environment (USB stick or CD/DVD). You can use my BrianLeeJackson WinPE3.0 BootLoader to boot up from USB or CD and capture your image. Capture image and save image to network location.
A Dell 960 or GX755 is a good standard for capturing when you want a generic image for use with multiple systems. Might require injecting additional drivers for 3rd party brands, HP, etc. Most should work though right out of the box.

Step #15

On reboot, Windows will run out of the box, as the /oobe is intended. As long as you put your cd key into the unattend.xml file, windows will be activated automatically in the background, you will be automatically logged into the administrator account, and the unattend.xml file is deleted. You are now ready to use the computer or join it to the domain. Enjoy!

Anti-Virus Applications with Known Issues

• Norton 2009
• McAfee
• AVG
• Avira
• ESET NOD32 4.0 (User reported issues)

Anti-Virus Applications 100% Compatible with Sysprep

• Microsoft Forefront
• Microsoft Security Essentials

And yes, you probably noticed that both applications are made by Microsoft, go figure. If anyone notices any other anti-virus programs that are causing issues with sysprep please comment on here. Or if you have workaround for these anti-virus apps and sysprep working together please comment.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Alternative

Windows 7 Resource Kit

Here is the layout of the book:

Chapter 1: Overview of Windows 7 Improvements
Chapter 2: Security in Windows 7
Chapter 3: Deployment Platform
Chapter 4: Planning Deployment
Chapter 5: Testing Application Compatibility
Chapter 6: Developing Disk Images
Chapter 7: Migrating User State Data
Chapter 8: Deploying Applications
Chapter 9: Preparing Windows PE
Chapter 10: Configuring Windows Deployment Services
Chapter 11: Using Volume Activation
Chapter 12: Deploying with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
Chapter 13: Overview of Management Tools
Chapter 14: Managing the Desktop Environment
Chapter 15: Managing Users and User Data
Chapter 16: Managing Disks and File Systems
Chapter 17: Managing Devices and Services
Chapter 18: Managing Printing
Chapter 19: Managing Search
Chapter 20: Managing Windows Internet Explorer
Chapter 21: Maintaining Desktop Health
Chapter 22: Supporting Users with Remote Assistance
Chapter 23: Managing Software Updates
Chapter 24: Managing Client Protection
Chapter 25: Configuring Windows Networking
Chapter 26: Configuring Windows Firewall and IPsec
Chapter 27: Connecting Remote Users and Networks
Chapter 28: Deploying IPv6
Chapter 29: Configuring Startup and Troubleshooting Startup Issues
Chapter 30: Troubleshooting Hardware, Driver, and Disk Issues
Chapter 31: Troubleshooting Network Issues
Chapter 32: Troubleshooting Stop Messages

In my opinion this book could be priced a lot higher for all the information it has in it. If you are nerdy enough this would make a great stocking stuffer

If you are like me you have probably run into the following error when trying to run powershell scripts. This becomes very annoying and tedious if you are running different scripts on a regular basis.

“Security Warning – Run only scripts that you trust. While scripts from the Internet can be useful, this script can potentially harm your computer. Do you want to run –.ps1? [D] Do not run [R] Run once [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is “D”):

Step #1

The first thing you need to do is launch Windows Powershell.

Step #2

Then enter the following commands:

get-executionpolicy

set-executionpolicy bypass

Powershell Trust Scripts

Now launch your script and enjoy not seeing that annoying message come up.