Automating Windows Installs: SlipStream vs Image

[lumien]

Good Evening Everyone,

I am in the process of setting up my process flow for repairing computers, and I am looking into automating windows installs.

I have read a lot of threads on this board about this topic, and usually the answers seem to be either slipstreamed iso's or universal images.

I was wondering if anyone would like to chime in with which one they choose to do.

From my own experience in the past, imaging is great - but when i created universal images they were for corporate use and all of them were dell desktops which helped out alot as far as hardware goes. I also used a driverpack added to the image for driver installation. I am not sure how well this would transition over to all the different makes and models that residential customers would present me with.

I have never created a slipstream iso but from reading on here they can be quite large (which doesn't really matter as I plan on pxebooting to get to the installer), and it seems like it could be quite slow since you would be doing an actual install with all the updates, rather than "slapping" an image on the machine.

Thanks,

Lumien

 

[PCX]

Same concept. Slipstream or reverse integrate all the updates and service packs and applications, then add the appropriate scripts for SAD2 and any applications you want to update or install. Thats it. Well, in a nutshell.

 

[dbdawn]

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit works quite well for Windows 7. It can also work with Windows XP, just more of a pain.

 

[freythman]

In an environment where you are not sure what hardware you'll be working with, I've found slipstreaming to be easier and a little more efficient. We use imaging at work, but like you said, we have all Dell machines and there are only a few models that we use, so it's easier to build driver packs.

 

[Omnikillz]

Ive found that the amount of time gather the files and slipstream them into the ISO and then install onto the user system it is easier to do a generic install from an iso mounted on a USB and then add the necesary driver files to the root of the USB stick. Once completed take an image of the finished product and keep on hand in the event you get the machine back so you have the completed setup ready to reimaged the drive when the customer brings it back with a catastrophic failure. In this instance, short of the motherboard failing and having to change the bulk of the hardware, the repair job is quick and painless.

 

[PCX]

Ive found that the amount of time gather the files and slipstream them into the ISO and then install onto the user system it is easier to do a generic install from an iso mounted on a USB and then add the necesary driver files to the root of the USB stick. Once completed take an image of the finished product and keep on hand in the event you get the machine back so you have the completed setup ready to reimaged the drive when the customer brings it back with a catastrophic failure. In this instance, short of the motherboard failing and having to change the bulk of the hardware, the repair job is quick and painless.

No offense, but you do not do a whole lot of reinstalls do you . . . ? You can make 1 image that will work for all computers running that version of Windows. For instance, I have 1 image for Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit with SP2 and all the latest updates, drivers, and applications that I normally install on every computer. It works for every single computer that runs Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit, and trust me, the time that it took to make the image is not even remotely close to the time I saved deploying that image on hundreds of computers.

 

[NETWizz]

I work in business and we do Scripted Installs with various Task Sequences.

Basically, everything is like a modular block... Pick your OS... Pick what tasks you want after it... Done.

It will automatically work with any of our hardware.


Right now I am using Windows Deployment Services and my own custom Universal Image that gets the "BASE Install" on the system I created myself without Drive Packs.

Instead, I took all 27 types of computers and installed Windows and ALL the updates and base software that won't be updated/changed on the Image. Before I made an image of it I copied a Sysprep Folder and also had ALL my drivers in a drivers folder.

I then ran Sysprep Driver Scanner, a Reg Patch, and a ultimately Sysprep... then captured with ImageX. I did this two more times for the other two HALs and put all the WIM files together into one. There is a little patch, but WDS works great after you install it in your PXE environment.

I also inject the sysprep file dynamically after imaging