Print - What's the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)?

A. Microsoft has released WAIK, which you can download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7d4bc6d-15f3-4284-9123-679830d629f2&DisplayLang=en . The kit comprises all the elements needed for the automated installation of the Windows Vista OS, including:

Documentation consisting of whitepapers and compiled HTML that discusses the technologies
Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), which is the basis for the capture and deployment of Vista
The WAIK tools, which by default are installed to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\ and consist of the Windows System Image Manager to enable the management of answer files to be used for automating installations; tools to manage WinPE instances; and Imagex, which is used to mount and modify the content of Windows Image (WIM) files.

Using these tools you can

Build a CD-ROM that contains an in-memory WinPE instance with the imagex.exe tool.
Build a reference Vista PC with the applications required and then run Sysprep (which is now part of the OS in the c:\windows\system32\sysprep folder): c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /shutdown
Boot to the CD-ROM and capture the contents of the reference machine with the Imagex command, as the following example shows: d:\imagex.exe /compress fast /capture c: c:\vistawithoff2007.wim "Custom Vista Install with Office 2007" /verify
Copy the image to a network location.
Boot a new machine with the WinPE CD-ROM, copy the image, and extract it to the machine by using the Imagex command again, as in this example:
```
d:\imagex.exe /apply c:\vistawithoff2007.wim 1 c: 
```
where the 1 is the image number contained in the WIM file.

This is a very manual process, so the WAIK download also includes the Windows Deployment Services (which is another topic but essentially replaces Remote Installation Services for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1--SP1--servers). These services support the WIM format for automated Vista deployment over the network using the answer files created with the Windows System Image Manager tool.