Vista RTM, Virtual Server, Sysprep... is there an easier way?

[Shepp]

Hello,

I manage an R&D lab and we are moving into supporting Vista. The way
our Virtual Lab is setup I have done the following:


Each OS we support (incl. languages) I have built out (over time) one
base VHD image and used sysprep to seal the VM and of course for it to
generate a new SID upon bootup. I have users go through the
mini-setup, and use an answer file to populate things like the License
Key (Volume Licenses from MSDN), admin password, etc. This has worked
wonderfully for our needs. We don't need user state migration,
packages, any of that. We just need base OS images and we then install
updates and any SW we need after (like SQL Server, IIS). Now MS drops
Vista and it's BDD/WAIK 'tools'...


I've been working (I guess more like struggling) with the BDD and WAIK
(along with my Vista 'technician' computer/VM) going on 12 hours this
week with not much to show for it. Before I continue to pull my hair
out and waste way too much time on this I wanted to ask the community
if anyone else is in a similar position, and if anyone knows if there
is an easier way for someone like me who does not care to use BDD,
WAIK, SIM, all that stuff. I'd just like to be able to build out this
Vista VM image, run the 'new' sysprep 3.0 (/generalize /oobe I
believe), commit the undo disk (or just run without one until after
sysprep) and then just be able to copy this VHD/VMC to our SAN an then
copy it from Virtual Server host to host to host as we do now w/2000,
XP, 2003?'


Thanks,


Joel

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You will get much better replies in the microsoft.public.windows.vista.setup
newsgroup. That's where the deployment gurus hang out.

 

[MICHAEL]

You will get much better replies in the microsoft.public.windows.vista.setup newsgroup.
That's where the deployment gurus hang out.
microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Thanks for the catch, Michael.

microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup

 

[MICHAEL]

You're welcome, Colin.

Thanks for the catch, Michael.

 

[Shepp]

Hello,

I've cross posted this to this and the NG you mentioned... hoping to catch a
deployment guru from MS at either place.

Still no answer though...

Thanks,

Joel

 

[Shepp]

Bump...

 

[Shepp]

Since no one knows, or perhaps no one cared to try have the answer to my
own question.

Today I did the following:
Installed Vista Business on a VM (MS Virtual Server)
Completed the basic OS install
Opened command prompt
CD to C:\Windows\System32\sysprep
Run: sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe
When the popup window opens, tell it you want to 'Shutdown'
After VM shuts down Merge your undo disk (if that is how you use Virtual
Hard disks, we do)
Copy the two files (.VHD and .VMC) to another system
Add the VM to your VServer
Verify configuration (VM)
Start Vista VM
Watch as you go through the 'mini-setup' (Woo-hoo)
You do have to enter your License Key (This is mainly because of the new
Volume Licensing 2.0 stuff, but hey you can't have everything)
We wull not be activating our VMs right away as we need to save (hoard) our
activations for Vms that will live on for a long time.

So folks that is it! You can use sysprep without using BDD & WAIK for
Virtual Macnines

I would imagine that if you are deploying to a physical system that the BDD
and WAIK tools are neccisary...

Hope this helps others!

Enjoy!

Joel Sheppard
Sr. Lead QA Engineer