Starting with Windows Vista and continuing into Windows 7. Is the ability to image a machine and to have the Windows installer use that image to install Windows. This negates the need for an image for each hardware configuration. Or the use of any third party software

This guide will show you how to create and image from scratch then prepare it for your domain using sysprep. Then how to install Windows 7 from this image.

Index

Getting Ready
Create WINPE Disk
SYSPREP your machine (For Domains)
Capture the Image
Create new Install Media

Getting Ready

• Install Windows 7 from scratch on to your test machine. DO NOT upgrade from Windows XP, this needs to be a fresh install.
• Customise Windows 7 with any software, security settings or general settings you wish. When you install from this image all the settings as well as user accounts will be installed by default.
• Install WAIK for 7/2008 on the test PC. Download from here (1.7GB).

 

Create WINPE Disk

• Right click command prompt run as admin

• Change to directory “C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools”
• run command “copype x86 c:\winpe”

• run command “imagex /mountrw c:\winpe\winpe.wim 1 c:\winpe\mount”

• copy imagex.exe from “C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\imagex.exe” to “c:\winpe\mount\windows\system32″

• Create wimscript.ini in “c:\winpe\mount\windows\system32″ with following inside

[ExclusionList]

ntfs.log

hiberfil.sys

pagefile.sys

"System Volume Information"

RECYCLER

Windows\CSC

[CompressionExclusionList]

*.mp3

*.zip

*.cab

\WINDOWS\inf\*.pnf

• Run Command “imagex.exe /unmount /commit c:\winpe\mount”

• Run Command “copy c:\winpe\winpe.wim c:\winpe\iso\sources\boot.wim /y”
• Run Command “oscdimg -n -h -bc:\winpe\etfsboot.com c:\winpe\iso c:\winpe\winpe.iso”

• This will create an ISO in c:\winpe\winpe.iso.
  Burn this and keep. Now we need to sysprep our machine. 
  (You can remove WAIK and any files you don’t need, test your iso first!)

 

Sysprep Your Machine

• change to the folder “c:\windows\system32\sysprep\”

• run command “sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown”
• If you want to use run an unattended installation you can run the following command sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml (The unattend.xml will need to be in the sysprep folder). Check out the unattend.xml generator
• Sysprep will remove any unique information and reseal the OS. Then the system will shutdown

• Now boot the ISO we created previously and load into WinPE

 

Capture Image

• Once WinPE is booted you will be in a Command Prompt window
• Run Command “diskpart”
• Run Command “select disk 0″
• Run Command “list volume”
• Note the letter of the drive you are imaging. C:\ in WinPE is set as the running OS not as the internal HDD
• Run Command “exit”
• Run Command “imagex /capture d:\ d:\install.wim “My Windows partition”" where d:\ is the drive you are copying
• This will create a file called install.wim in the root of your HDD. This is the custom image and will need to be added to the Windows 7 Install DVD

 

Create Installation Media

• You will probably need to install from USB as the image will probably be to large for a DVD. Here is a guide for Windows 7 USB Install
• overwrite install.wim to \sources on the windows 7 install source
• If you didn’t use the sysprep to include unattend.xml you can also add it directly to the root of the install media. You can easily Generate an unattend.xml here

Install Windows 7 as normal. Your changes will be installed along with Windows 7