Deploying and Administering Windows Vista® Bible

Deploying and Administering Windows Vista® Bible

Released September 2008
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470180211

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Book description

Although analysts expect the majority of enterprises to tread slowly into migration, there certainly will be early adopters, as there are with any system or device. Because Microsoft has announced that it will support Windows 2000 only until the year 2010, enterprises using older versions of Windows will not have much time for leisurely testing and pilot projects before they need to seriously consider migrating to and deploying Windows Vista. Deploying Windows Vista will require an entirely new set of skills for IT departments called on to migrate from older versions of Windows. Any IT professional looking to the future of their enterprise network deployment will benefit from the advice, tips, and reliable information contained in this resource. The book covers all the important security issues that are top of mind in today's IT world, as well as troubleshooting practices to help get issues resolved in less time. A valuable CD ROM contains tools and utilities to help IT professionals as they deploy Windows Vista for the first time.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Authors
  3. About the Technical Editors
  4. Credits
  5. Foreword
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
    1. How to Get the Most out of This Book
    2. Icons: What Do They Mean?
    3. How This Book Is Organized
    4. Part I: Developing the Deployment Strategy
    5. Part II: Customizing the Deployment Process
    6. Part III: Administering Windows Vista
    7. Part IV: Protecting and Maintaining the System
    8. Getting in Touch with Us
  8. I. Developing the Deployment Strategy
    1. 1. Planning the Deployment
      1. 1.1. Selecting Windows Vista Editions
        1. 1.1.1. Vista Home Basic
        2. 1.1.2. Vista Home Premium
        3. 1.1.3. Vista Business
        4. 1.1.4. Vista Enterprise
        5. 1.1.5. Vista Ultimate
        6. 1.1.6. Other options
      2. 1.2. Choosing a Deployment Type
        1. 1.2.1. Replacing computers
        2. 1.2.2. Upgrading computers
        3. 1.2.3. Refreshing computers
        4. 1.2.4. Deploying new computers
      3. 1.3. Understanding Windows Vista Installation
        1. 1.3.1. Investigating the Windows Imaging format
        2. 1.3.2. Leveraging Windows PE
        3. 1.3.3. Automating the installation of Windows Vista
      4. 1.4. Automating Application Installations
        1. 1.4.1. Customizing application installation commands
        2. 1.4.2. Creating transform files
        3. 1.4.3. Repackaging applications
      5. 1.5. Selecting a Distribution Media
        1. 1.5.1. DVD
        2. 1.5.2. USB drives
        3. 1.5.3. Network
      6. 1.6. Evaluating Hardware Requirements
      7. 1.7. Ensuring Application Compatibility
        1. 1.7.1. Understanding broken applications
        2. 1.7.2. Identifying application incompatibilities
        3. 1.7.3. Addressing application incompatibilities
      8. 1.8. Documenting the Deployment Plan
      9. 1.9. Summary
    2. 2. Creating Basic Windows Images
      1. 2.1. Building a Deployment Server
      2. 2.2. Introducing the Windows Automated Installation Kit
      3. 2.3. Creating Unattended Answer Files
        1. 2.3.1. Getting familiar with configuration passes
        2. 2.3.2. Navigating the Windows System Image Manager
      4. 2.4. Building a Reference Computer
        1. 2.4.1. Implementing an answer file
        2. 2.4.2. Walkthrough: Automating Windows Vista installation
        3. 2.4.3. Customizing the reference computer
        4. 2.4.4. Preparing the reference computer for imaging
        5. 2.4.5. Walkthrough: Preparing the computer for imaging
      5. 2.5. Capturing Custom Images
        1. 2.5.1. Windows PE
        2. 2.5.2. Walkthrough: Creating Windows PE boot media
        3. 2.5.3. ImageX
        4. 2.5.4. Walkthrough: Capturing a WIM file with ImageX
      6. 2.6. Deploying Custom Images
        1. 2.6.1. Preparing the hard disk
        2. 2.6.2. Walkthrough: Preparing a hard disk for an image
        3. 2.6.3. Applying the image
        4. 2.6.4. Walkthrough: Applying an image with ImageX
        5. 2.6.5. Automating the deployment
      7. 2.7. Summary
    3. 3. Managing Windows Licensing and Activation
      1. 3.1. Licensing Windows
        1. 3.1.1. Understanding retail licensing
        2. 3.1.2. Understanding OEM licensing
        3. 3.1.3. Understanding volume licensing
        4. 3.1.4. Understanding virtual machine licensing
      2. 3.2. Managing Volume License Activation
        1. 3.2.1. Centralizing activation with KMS
        2. 3.2.2. Leveraging MAK activation
        3. 3.2.3. Comparing KMS and MAK activation
        4. 3.2.4. Managing licensing and activation
        5. 3.2.5. Implementing KMS activation
        6. 3.2.6. Implementing MAK independent activation
        7. 3.2.7. Implementing MAK proxy activation
      3. 3.3. Notification Experience and Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM)
        1. 3.3.1. Introducing the notifications-based experience
        2. 3.3.2. Experiencing Reduced Functionality Mode
        3. 3.3.3. Resolving the notification experience and Reduced Functionality Mode
      4. 3.4. Summary
  9. II. Customizing the Deployment Process
    1. 4. Working with Windows Installer
      1. 4.1. Introducing Windows Installer
        1. 4.1.1. Integrating installations with the Windows Installer service
        2. 4.1.2. Examining the Windows Installer service
        3. 4.1.3. Windows security and software installations
      2. 4.2. Understanding the Capabilities of Windows Installer
        1. 4.2.1. Understanding the Windows Installer architecture
        2. 4.2.2. Managing the Windows Installer service
        3. 4.2.3. Changes to Windows Installer 4.0
        4. 4.2.4. Changes to Windows Installer 4.5
      3. 4.3. The MSI Package Lifecycle
      4. 4.4. Best Practices for Using Windows Installer
      5. 4.5. Summary
    2. 5. Migrating User Data
      1. 5.1. Understanding User Data
        1. 5.1.1. Identifying the migration scenario
        2. 5.1.2. Determining the data and settings to be managed
        3. 5.1.3. Determining where to store data during the migration process
        4. 5.1.4. Choosing migration tools
      2. 5.2. Windows Easy Transfer
        1. 5.2.1. Running Easy Transfer from DVD
        2. 5.2.2. Downloading Easy Transfer from Microsoft
        3. 5.2.3. Understanding the capabilities of Easy Transfer
        4. 5.2.4. Using Windows Easy Transfer
      3. 5.3. Working with the User State Migration Tool (USMT)
        1. 5.3.1. Requirements
        2. 5.3.2. Understanding USMT limitations
        3. 5.3.3. Customizing migration with USMT
        4. 5.3.4. Collecting files and settings with ScanState
        5. 5.3.5. Restoring files and settings with LoadState
        6. 5.3.6. Reviewing best practices
      4. 5.4. Investigating Third-Party Alternatives
        1. 5.4.1. CA Desktop Migration Manager
        2. 5.4.2. Tranxition Migration Studio
        3. 5.4.3. PC Mover
      5. 5.5. Summary
    3. 6. Managing Windows Images
      1. 6.1. Introducing Windows Image File (WIM)
        1. 6.1.1. Exploring the benefits of WIM
        2. 6.1.2. Exploring the limitations of WIM
      2. 6.2. Introducing Windows PE
        1. 6.2.1. Understanding the benefits of Windows PE
        2. 6.2.2. Understanding the limitations of Windows PE
        3. 6.2.3. Meeting minimum requirements
        4. 6.2.4. Using the provided Windows PE image
      3. 6.3. Customizing Windows PE Boot Images
        1. 6.3.1. Working with ImageX
        2. 6.3.2. Working with an ImageX GUI
        3. 6.3.3. Working with PEImg
        4. 6.3.4. Working with OSCDImg
        5. 6.3.5. Working with vLite
      4. 6.4. Executing Common Tasks
        1. 6.4.1. Adding packages to a Windows PE image
        2. 6.4.2. Adding hotfixes to a Windows PE image
        3. 6.4.3. Adding drivers to a Windows PE image
        4. 6.4.4. Incorporating service packs
        5. 6.4.5. Editing the registry of a Windows PE image
        6. 6.4.6. Incorporating scripts in a Windows PE image
        7. 6.4.7. Create a bootable ISO from WIM image
        8. 6.4.8. Configure a UFD to boot to Windows PE
      5. 6.5. Developing Custom Solutions
        1. 6.5.1. Leveraging scripts for automation
        2. 6.5.2. Developing solutions with SmartDeploy Imaging Component
      6. 6.6. Investigating Third-Party Alternatives
        1. 6.6.1. BartPE
        2. 6.6.2. VistaPE
        3. 6.6.3. Symantec Ghost
        4. 6.6.4. KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance
      7. 6.7. Summary
    4. 7. Using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008
      1. 7.1. Introducing the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
        1. 7.1.1. Going over documentation
        2. 7.1.2. Getting familiar with the tools of MDT
      2. 7.2. Installing and Configuring MDT
        1. 7.2.1. Installing components
        2. 7.2.2. Establishing a distribution share
      3. 7.3. Imaging with MDT
        1. 7.3.1. Creating task sequences
        2. 7.3.2. Investigating Task Sequencer options
        3. 7.3.3. Creating a deployment point
        4. 7.3.4. Preparing a reference computer
        5. 7.3.5. Adding the custom image to the distribution share
        6. 7.3.6. Creating a deployment build for a custom image
        7. 7.3.7. Creating the MDT database
        8. 7.3.8. Configuring the MDT database
        9. 7.3.9. Populating the Microsoft Management database
        10. 7.3.10. Understanding deployment rules
        11. 7.3.11. Configuring LTI deployment for full automation
        12. 7.3.12. Deploying the custom image
      4. 7.4. Investigating MDT Alternatives
        1. 7.4.1. Client Management Suite
        2. 7.4.2. ZENworks Suite
        3. 7.4.3. KBOX Systems Management Appliances
        4. 7.4.4. LANDesk Management Suite
      5. 7.5. Summary
    5. 8. Windows Deployment Services
      1. 8.1. Introducing Windows Deployment Services
        1. 8.1.1. Replacing Remote Installation Services
        2. 8.1.2. Reviewing components of Windows Deployment Services
      2. 8.2. Installing Windows Deployment Services
        1. 8.2.1. Satisfying prerequisites
        2. 8.2.2. Setting up Windows Deployment Services for Server 2003
        3. 8.2.3. Setting up Windows Deployment Services for Server 2008
        4. 8.2.4. Configuring Windows Deployment Services
      3. 8.3. Working with Windows Deployment Services
        1. 8.3.1. Creating a Capture image
        2. 8.3.2. Creating a Custom Install image
        3. 8.3.3. Creating a Discover image
        4. 8.3.4. Preparing media for a Discover image
        5. 8.3.5. Deploying an Install image
        6. 8.3.6. Automating the installation of an Install image
        7. 8.3.7. Leveraging the Windows Deployment Services API
      4. 8.4. Summary
  10. III. Administering Windows Vista
    1. 9. Managing Change in Vista
      1. 9.1. Managing Change through Group Policy
        1. 9.1.1. Working with Local Policies
        2. 9.1.2. Working with central policies
        3. 9.1.3. Working with GPO tools
        4. 9.1.4. Working with ADMX/ADML files
        5. 9.1.5. Assigning PC-Related GPOs
        6. 9.1.6. Troubleshooting and monitoring Group Policy
      2. 9.2. Tracking Change in Vista
        1. 9.2.1. Turning on the audit policy
        2. 9.2.2. Exploring the Vista Event Log
      3. 9.3. Exploring the Vista Task Scheduler
      4. 9.4. Automating Vista Events
      5. 9.5. Collecting Vista Events
      6. 9.6. Summary
    2. 10. Administering Workstations
      1. 10.1. Performing Local PC Administration
        1. 10.1.1. Working with workstation administration tools
        2. 10.1.2. Performing common workstation administration tasks
      2. 10.2. Performing Remote PC Administration
        1. 10.2.1. Working with the Remote Shell
        2. 10.2.2. Relying on Telnet
      3. 10.3. Automating Recurrent Tasks
        1. 10.3.1. Working with the Command Prompt
        2. 10.3.2. Working with Windows PowerShell
        3. 10.3.3. Scheduling automated tasks
      4. 10.4. Supporting Users
        1. 10.4.1. Helping users with Remote Assistance
        2. 10.4.2. Relying on the Remote Desktop
      5. 10.5. Summary
  11. IV. Protecting and Maintaining the System
    1. 11. Securing the Workstation
      1. 11.1. Beginning with Basic Security
        1. 11.1.1. Designing a security policy
        2. 11.1.2. Using the Castle Defense System
        3. 11.1.3. Building a security plan
        4. 11.1.4. Using the Windows Vista Security Guide
        5. 11.1.5. Learning Windows Vista security features
      2. 11.2. Applying the Castle Defense System
        1. 11.2.1. Layer 1: Protecting information
        2. 11.2.2. Layer 2: Working with protection
        3. 11.2.3. Layer 3: Hardening the system
        4. 11.2.4. Layer 4: Managing information access
        5. 11.2.5. Layer 5: Working with external access
      3. 11.3. Summary
    2. 12. Protecting User Data
      1. 12.1. Protecting User Profiles
      2. 12.2. Providing User Data Protection
        1. 12.2.1. Completing a data protection strategy
        2. 12.2.2. Putting data protection in place
      3. 12.3. Using the Encrypting File System
        1. 12.3.1. Understanding EFS
        2. 12.3.2. Interacting with EFS and PKI
        3. 12.3.3. Working with EFS
      4. 12.4. Running BitLocker Full Drive Encryption
        1. 12.4.1. Understanding BitLocker requirements
        2. 12.4.2. Integrating BitLocker with Active Directory
        3. 12.4.3. Relying on Group Policy to manage BitLocker
        4. 12.4.4. Supporting BitLocker
      5. 12.5. Summary
    3. 13. Recovering Damaged Systems and Lost Data
      1. 13.1. Recovering Systems
        1. 13.1.1. Level 1: Dealing with system instability
        2. 13.1.2. Level 2: Dealing with startup instability
        3. 13.1.3. Level 3: Dealing with total system instability
      2. 13.2. Recovering Data
        1. 13.2.1. Level 1: Dealing with minor data loss
        2. 13.2.2. Level 2: Automating data protection
        3. 13.2.3. Level 3: Protecting a complete PC
      3. 13.3. Summary
    4. A. Appendix: What's on the CD-ROM
      1. A.1. System Requirements
      2. A.2. Using the CD
      3. A.3. What's on the CD
        1. A.3.1. Author-created materials
        2. A.3.2. Applications
        3. A.3.3. eBook version of Windows Vista Deployment and Administration Bible
      4. A.4. Troubleshooting

Product information

  • Title: Deploying and Administering Windows Vista® Bible
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: September 2008
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470180211