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Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK)

Wednesday, 07 February 2007 by Michel Roth

Microsoft has made the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) available fr download. The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is designed to help corporate IT professionals customize and deploy the Microsoft Windows Vista family of operation systems. By using Windows AIK, you can perform unattended Windows installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, and create Windows PE images. Microsoft has completely redesigned the installation technologies for Windows Vista to enable corporate deployment. Changes to the Windows AIK Tools are:

Imaging
To minimize the network traffic generated when replicating or deploying an image, Windows Vista is delivered on the product media in the highly compressed Windows image (.wim) file-based format. You can install the Windows Vista .wim file from the Windows product DVD or create customized images for automated deployment. Because .wim images are file-based, you can edit your deployment images in a non-destructive manner, making image maintenance easier. You can also store multiple volume images in a single .wim file.

Setup
Setup for Windows Vista installs the .wim file and uses the new Unattend.xml answer file, which replaces the set of answer files used in earlier versions of Windows. Because image-based Setup is faster, you can use it in high-volume deployments and for automating image maintenance.

Windows System Image Manager
Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) is the recommended tool for creating your distribution shares, configuration sets, and the Unattend.xml answer file. It exposes all configurable settings in Windows Vista and enables you to make and save your customizations in Unattend.xml.

Sysprep
The System Preparation (Sysprep) tool prepares an installation of Windows for duplication, auditing, and customer delivery. Duplication, also called imaging, enables you to capture a customized Windows image that you can reuse throughout an organization. Audit mode enables you to add additional device drivers or applications to a Windows installation. After you install the additional drivers and applications, you can test the integrity of the Windows installation. Sysprep also enables you to prepare an image to be delivered to a customer. When the customer boots Windows, Windows Welcome starts.

ImageX
ImageX is a new command-line tool that enables corporations to capture, modify, and apply file-based disk images for rapid deployment. ImageX works with Windows imaging (.wim) files for copying to a network, or it can work with other technologies that use the .wim files, such as Setup for Windows Vista, Windows Deployment Services (Windows DS), and the SMS Operating System Feature Deployment Pack.

Windows Preinstallation Environment
Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 2.0 is a bootable tool from Microsoft that provides operating system features for installation, troubleshooting, and recovery. Windows PE 2.0 is the latest release of Windows PE based on Windows Vista. With Windows PE, you can start a computer from a network or removable medium, which provides network resources and other resources necessary to install and to troubleshoot Windows Vista.

Windows Recovery Environment
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) is a new recovery environment built into Windows Vista and based on Windows PE 2.0. Windows RE is a complete diagnostic and recovery solution as well as a platform for building your own recovery solutions.

Read more and download here.