Tag: ACT

Windows 8 Deployment Resources

These resources apply to Windows 8 but you could also use them in a Windows Server 2012 deployment or cloud.

Windows XP Support ends on 8th April 2014 AND THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS no matter what the penguin-hugging activation-fearing “genius” you know at the bar says.  This means no more security patches or hotfixes for XP after that date, and also means that the support statements of 3rd parties will become meaningless.  It’s time to start planning an upgrade or become a breeding ground for malware.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit

A free tool that is an important first step in discovering what it is that you have on the network.  Honestly, it’s a good tool.  But, if your XP network is as shagged as many I’ve encountered, then remote admin will be broken on half the PCs and MAP won’t work.  I have found that the push capability of the System Center Configuration Manager agent will get you the same information via hardware audits and Asset Intelligence.

Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK)

This is a single free download that contains most of the tools you might use to plan, facilitate, and implement a Windows 8 deployment:

  • Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT): The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) helps IT Professionals understand potential application compatibility issues by identifying which applications are or are not compatible with the new versions of the Windows operating system. ACT helps to lower costs for application compatibility evaluation by providing an accurate inventory of the applications in your organization. ACT helps you to deploy Windows more quickly by helping to prioritize, test, and detect compatibility issues with your apps. By using ACT, you can become involved in the ACT Community and share your risk assessment with other ACT users. You can also test your web applications and web sites for compatibility with new releases of Internet Explorer.
    • Deployment Tools: Deployment tools enable you to customize, manage, and deploy Windows images. Deployment tools can be used to automate Windows deployments, removing the need for user interaction during Windows setup. Tools included with this feature are Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management (DISM) command line tool, DISM PowerShell cmdlets, DISM API, Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM), and OSCDIMG.
    • User State Migration Tool (USMT): USMT is a scriptable command line tool that IT Professionals can use to migrate user data from a previous Windows installation to a new Windows installation. By using USMT, you can create a customized migration framework that copies the user data you select and excludes any data that does not need to be migrated. Tools included with the feature are ScanState, Loadstate, and USMTUtils command line tools.
  • Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT): The Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) enables IT professionals to automate and centrally manage the activation of Windows, Windows Server, Windows ThinPC, Windows POSReady 7, select add-on product keys, and Office for computers in their organization. VAMT can manage volume activation using retail keys (or single activation keys), multiple activation keys (MAKs), or Windows Key Management Service (KMS) keys.
    • Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT): Windows Performance Toolkit includes tools to record system events and analyze performance data in a graphical user interface. Tools available in this toolkit include Windows Performance Recorder, Windows Performance Analyzer, and Xperf.
    • Windows Assessment Toolkit: Tools to discover and run assessments on a single computer. Assessments are tasks that simulate user activity and examine the state of the computer. Assessments produce metrics for various aspects of the system, and provide recommendations for making improvements.
    • Windows Assessment Services: Tools to remotely manage settings, computers, images, and assessments in a lab environment where Windows Assessment Services is installed. This application can run on any computer with access to the server that is running Windows Assessment Services.
    • Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE): Minimal operating system designed to prepare a computer for installation and servicing of Windows.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)

MDT is a free download.  Think Ghost .. but with MUCH more functionality, e.g. capture user settings & files, blast the machine with a new image, install some software, patch it, and restore the user settings & files … all while you drink your coffee.  MDT is so good that it’s considered an essential extension to Microsoft’s corporate solution: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1.

Free: who can argue with free!?!?!  Who needs Ghost!?!?!

Deploying Windows 8 with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1

ConfigMgr + MDT gives you the best OS image deployment solution available.  It simply blows people away when they see it in action.

BTW, Microsoft has the driver thing sorted so you can do the single-image deployment that a sector-based image, such as Ghost, hasn’t a hope of matching.

Deliver and Deploy Windows 8

This is an aggregation of content from all across Microsoft.

Johan Arwidmark

The Deployment God of the North is a must-see if he’s presenting at an event near you.  This guy has forgotten more deployment wizardry than we mere mortals will ever learn.  He’s also the author of Deployment Fundamentals, Vol. 4 “Deploying Windows 8 and Office 2013 Using MDT 2012 Update 1” available on:

In fact, for just $9.99, I thought it was such good value that I’ve just bought the e-book myself Smile

Group Policy: Fundamentals, Security, and the Managed Desktop

You’ll want to manage and control those new deployments using GPO.  Jeremy Moskowitz writes the book on the subject:

That should be enough to get you started!

Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 8 Release Preview

With Windows 7, Microsoft release a bunch of individual tools and toolkits, each as individual downloads, to aid in our assessment, deployment, and application compatibility testing/reconciliation.  With Windows 8, Microsoft are continuing with the free support tools, but it appears that they will be released in a single kit called the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK).

The tools in the Windows ADK include:

Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT): The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) helps IT Professionals understand potential application compatibility issues by identifying which applications are or are not compatible with the new versions of the Windows operating system. ACT helps to lower costs for application compatibility evaluation by providing an accurate inventory of the applications in your organization. ACT helps you to deploy Windows more quickly by helping to prioritize, test, and detect compatibility issues with your apps. By using ACT, you can become involved in the ACT Community and share your risk assessment with other ACT users. You can also test your web applications and web sites for compatibility with new releases of Internet Explorer. For more information, see Application Compatibility Toolkit.

Deployment Tools: Deployment tools enable you to customize, manage, and deploy Windows images. Deployment tools can be used to automate Windows deployments, removing the need for user interaction during Windows setup. Tools included with this feature are Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management (DISM) command line tool, DISM PowerShell cmdlets, DISM API, Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM), and OSCDIMG. For more information, see Deployment Tools.

User State Migration Tool (USMT): USMT is a scriptable command line tool that IT Professionals can use to migrate user data from a previous Windows installation to a new Windows installation. By using USMT, you can create a customized migration framework that copies the user data you select and excludes any data that does not need to be migrated. Tools included with the feature are ScanState, Loadstate, and USMTUtils command line tools. For more information, see User State Migration Tool.

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT): The Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) enables IT professionals to automate and centrally manage the activation of Windows, Windows Server, Windows ThinPC, Windows POSReady 7, select add-on product keys, and Office for computers in their organization. VAMT can manage volume activation using retail keys (or single activation keys), multiple activation keys (MAKs), or Windows Key Management Service (KMS) keys. For more information, see Volume Activation Management Tool.

Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT): Windows Performance Toolkit includes tools to record system events and analyze performance data in a graphical user interface. Tools available in this toolkit include Windows Performance Recorder, Windows Performance Analyzer, and Xperf. For more information, see Windows Performance Toolkit.

Windows Assessment Toolkit: Tools to discover and run assessments on a single computer. Assessments are tasks that simulate user activity and examine the state of the computer. Assessments produce metrics for various aspects of the system, and provide recommendations for making improvements. For more information, see Windows Assessment Toolkit.
Windows Assessment Services: Tools to remotely manage settings, computers, images, and assessments in a lab environment where Windows Assessment Services is installed. This application can run on any computer with access to the server that is running Windows Assessment Services. For more information, see Windows Assessment Services.

Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE): Minimal operating system designed to prepare a computer for installation and servicing of Windows. For more information, see Windows PE Technical Reference.

If OS deployment is your thing or in your future then this kit and you are going to be close friends.

It’s Official: Hyper-V on Windows 8 Desktop

Steven Sinofsky just posted this:

“… we will support virtualization on the Windows client OS”

Now we’re cookin’ with diesel … as some rednecks say around here.

There is the first mention of .VHDX files (an alternative to VHD) and “Live Storage Move”.  On the latter he says:

“With this, you could move the VM’s storage from one local drive to another, to a USB stick, or to a remote file share without needing to stop your VM”.

And “you can also create large VMs with 32 processors and 512GB RAM”.

There is a video on the post about Hyper-V on Windows 8.

Windows 8 will natively support wifi NICs in the host machine by building in a bridging process similar to what we do manually now.

This is bloody great news for those of us who choose to use Hyper-V to demo, and for IT admins, devs, testers, and those thinking about app-compat via VMs.

78.68% of those surveyed will be very happy about this announcement.

EDIT#1:

Ben Armstrong later confirmed that Windows 8 Hyper-V would support sleep/hibernate.  Excellent!

70-681 (Windows 7/Office 2010 Deployment) Exam Preparation

I’ve been asked several times during the last week about how to prepare for 70-681, the exam on deploying Windows 7 and Office 2010, so I thought it was worthy of a blog post.  The issue is that there is no guidance from Microsoft on how to prepare for it in terms of materials.  And that is because it pulls in information from all over the place.  Think about it; Windows 7 deployment can include:

  • MAP
  • ACT
  • WAIK/ImageX
  • WDS
  • MDT
  • ConfigMgr OSD/Zero Touch

That’s 6 different products.  By the way, we cover all that in Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  And that’s just Windows.  This exam also covers Office 2010.  They typically go hand in hand, which is why the exam includes both topics.  And this certification will be mandatory from May 2012 for the Microsoft partner Desktop competency (new and renewing partners).

If you want blogs/websites to read for preparation then check out:

From time to time, Microsoft is known to run classes for partners on training.  Your registered partner contacts in your company should be getting email announcements from the local MSFT partner team with any such information.  These courses are usually anywhere from free to very economic.  This is just a starting point to get the attendees on the ladder.  A course cannot be a complete exam prep.  And folks like Rhonda Layfield (USA) and Johan Arwidmark (in Europe but also USA) are known to run their own deployment training classes which can be attended by the public (for a fee).

In the end, most of the OS deployment stuff centres on a few things like WinPE, WSIM, SysPrep, and drivers.  I did the Vista/O2007 exam and Office deployment questions asked about evaluation/migration stuff.  To be honest, nothing prepares you for this exam like doing a lot of work in a lab.  That’s where your MSDN/TechNet licensing and a virtualisation host come in really handy.  You can get a little prep work done also in the TechNet Labs for Windows 7.

RemoteApp for Hyper-V

I’ve either completely forgotten this application compatibility solution or it escaped by my attention.  RemoteApp for Hyper-V is a VDI solution that allows you to publish apps from the following VDI VM guest operating systems to end users via RDP:

  • Windows XP SP3: Professional
  • Windows Vista SP1 and above: Enterprise and Ultimate
  • Windows 7: Enterprise and Ultimate

You can set it up in a “standalone” format where you manually create VMs, RDP files, and configure end user machines.  Alternatively you can create a full RDS VDI farm, using the RD Connection Broker. 

This product isn’t as manageable as a normal RDSH (session host) RemoteApp solution but it sure seems like a better (manageable) way to do appcompat than XP Mode (which is cheaper), thanks to the centralisation of VMs that can be easily deployed via SCVMM/SCE/or Hyper-V import/copy.

Mastering Windows 7 Deployment is Published

I’ve just recived an email from Sybex to say that the third book that I’ve been involved with, Mastering Windows 7 Deployment, has just started shipping from their warehouse(s).  Right now, Amazon.com is still on preorder but that will likely change in the coming hours or days.  The Wiley (Sybex is part of the Wiley group) site is live right now.

Who contributed?  Me, Darril Gibson (trainer/consultant, also of Mastering Windows Server), Kenneth van Surksum (Dutch MVP and well known blogger), Rhonda Layfield (deployment MVP, author, speaker, trainer), not to mention deployment MVPs/gurus Johan Arwidmark and Mikael Nystrom.  It was quite a cast to work with!  Big thanks to anyone I worked with on the project, especially those in Sybex who worked on the project.

The book takes a very practical look at how to do a Windows 7 deployment project.  It starts out by doing the assessment using MAP.  From there, issues with application compatibility are dealt with.  You learn about WAIK, using WDS, MDT, user state transfer, and even how to do zero touch installations using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (including R2/R3).  I’d buy it if I wasn’t one of the contributors 🙂

Sample Chapter: Mastering Windows 7 Deployment

Last year was pretty busy.  Not only did I write Mastering Hyper-V Deployment (with MVP Patrick Lownds helping), but that project was sandwiched by me writing a number of chapters for Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  That Windows 7 book is due out somethime this month.

If you browse onto the Sybex website you can get a sneak peak into what the book is like.  There is a sample exceprt from the book, along with the TOC.

The book aims to cover all the essential steps in a Windows 7 deployment … from the assessment, solving application compatibility issues, understanding WAIK (and digging deeper), learnign about WDS for the first time (and digging deeper), more of that on MDT, and even doing zero touch deployments using Configuration Manager 2007.  A good team of people contributed on the book from all over the place … and the tech reviewers were some of the biggest names around (I wet myself with fear when I saw who they were).

Give it a look, and don’t be shy of placing an order if you like what you see 🙂

Newest Book: Mastering Windows 7 Deployment

No sooner than Mastering Hyper-V Deployment is done, I’m working on Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  I’m contributing 6 chapters to this one and I’m half way through writing the draft editions.  This book is providing all the steps and all the methods to do a Windows 7 deployment project using the MS product set.  I don’t know what the schedule is at the moment.  I’d suspect early next year will be the RTM.

 

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Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.6

Microsoft released a new version of ACT, 5.6, last week.  ACT will provide you with the tools to help “fool” incompatible applications into working on Windows Vista or Windows 7.

When doing an upgrade, you’ll identify those applications that won’t work on your new OS.  You would try to either fix the application or get a new version that won’t work. Maybe you’ll try to find an alternative application.  If that’s not possible (no budget, vendor is gone, developer is gone, etc) then you would try to get the application working.  ACT works by providing shims that sit between the OS and the application.  For example, an application may not be UAC aware and you make it aware via a shim.  It might explicitly check for Windows XP so you use a shim to lie to the application about the version of the OS.  It is pretty cool stuff.

Irish Windows 7 and W2008 R2 Community Launch Videos

Microsoft Ireland has posted the video of the Dublin community launch of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010.  I was lucky enough to be a part of the presentations, talking about the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit for Windows 7, the Application Compatibility Toolkit and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010.  This was a demo intensive session and well worth checking out if you couldn’t make it on the day.  I’m in the “Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 Story Part I” video.