Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Windows PE tools, LiveCD, Deployment Tools

Tools that help with Windows Deployment (Imaging, mass deployment, PXE, multicast, LiveCDs, bare metal recovery, disk cloning, "JumpStart" technology, automation tools, etc).

Cool Windows PE Tools:

  • Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD - Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.
  • UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem.
  • WinBuilder - Build customized Windows boot disks like LiveXP, VIstaPE, etc.
  • Windows PE 2.0 is the core deployment foundation for Windows Vista.
  • WAIK - Windows Automated Installation Kit - Customize and deploy Vista. Here's a guide.

Unattended tools, deployment tools:

  • nLite - Deployment Tool for the Bootable Unattended Windows
  • vLite - Deployment Tool for the Bootable Unattended Windows Vista. Remove Windows Vista components, integrate drivers, tweak, bootable ISO...
  • Windows PE is a tool based on Microsoft Windows XP Professional that allows IT staff to build custom solutions, and can run Windows setup, scripts, etc. Provides automation tools, deployment tools, etc.
  • WAIK - Microsoft Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) lets you install, customize, and deploy the Microsoft Windows Vista. It lets you perform unattended installations of Windows, create Windows Images with ImageX and create Windows PE images.
  • Sysprep is a tool designed for corporate system administrators, OEMs, and others who need to deploy the Windows operating system on multiple computers.
  • NewSID from Sysinternals changes the computer's Security Identifier to help with disk image cloning to perform mass roullouts of Windows. Alternative to using Sysprep.
  • drbl-winRoll is a tool that enables MS-Windows client to accept commands from DRBL server, and it resolve windows hostname, SID duplication problem via using image clone tool at single local LAN.It can also change "workgroup" name via IP/netmask automatically.

Mass deployment, PXE:
  • Remote Installation Service (RIS) in Windows Server allows deployment of Windows images via PXE boot.
  • Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS is the next version of Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS). Windows Deployment Services is included in the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) and in Windows Server 2003 SP2. It supports advanced features such as customized images and has Vista support.
  • Unattended is an open source Windows 2000, XP and 2003 automation tool (similar to RIS) that also works on Linux and such.
  • Symantec Ghost Solution Suite provides a corporate imaging, deployment and system management solution.
  • Clonezilla is a free partition or disk clone software similar to Ghost.
  • Acronis Snap Deploy - Complete PC system deployment solution using disk imaging technology
  • RIS For Linux - deploy Windows from a *NIX system via PXE boot.

Other tools:
  • WUD - Windows Updates Downloader

0 comments: