The Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) provides a rich set of tools for both examining performance and deploying Windows. The assessment pieces help troubleshoot potential problems with hardware and drivers and measure things such as energy and battery usage. The deployment pieces of the ADK combine the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit and the Windows Automated Installation Kit as well as new tools related to deployment.
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Note:The Windows ADK creates customized images. Specifically, you should be familiar with the Windows System Image Manager (SIM), the primary tool used by deployment administrators.Windows SIM works with answer files and creates Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) images. It’s these Windows PE images that contain vital information necessary for executing the initial environment for deployment.
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Deployments with the ADK involve the following general steps:
1. Create a customized Windows PE.
2. Customize the environment, installing applications and settings for the environment, and then using sysprep to generalize the operating system.
3. Keep the environment up to date.
4. Use the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) to identify application issues.
5. Migrate user data using the User State Migration Tool (USMT).
6. Activate licenses using the Volume Activation Management Toolkit (VAMT).
The sysprep utility takes a computer or image and generalizes it so that it can be reinstalled. Sysprep ensures that the computer uses a unique Security Identifier (SID), thus enabling proper licensing and domain functionality. One of the most common problems for deployment and imaging is that sysprep wasn’t run on the reference image.
Designing a server implementation with the ADK involves creating an answer file using the Windows SIM. The basic workflow for the SIM is to select a Windows PE image, select a Distribution Share, and then create an answer file.
You select a .wim file by selecting Select Image from the File menu in the Windows SIM.The Windows image shows its contents in the Windows Image pane of the Windows SIM application. If a catalog doesn’t yet exist for the image, Windows SIM creates one.
Distribution shares are selected by choosing Select Distribution Share from the File menu. Distribution shares must contain one of the following folders: $OEM$, Packages, or Out-of-Box Drivers.
After you select the Windows image and distribution share, you can create a basic answer file by using the New Answer File option from the File menu in Windows SIM.
Figure 1-3 shows the Windows SIM interface with a Windows PE image selected, a distribution share selected, and a basic answer file created.
FIGURE 1-3 The Windows System Image Manager.
Packages, in the form of .cab files, can be added to an answer file so that those packages are installed with the image.
