• Understanding and Using Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Snapshots. http://snurl.com/34dkc Good article.
• With DNS flaw now public, attack code imminent. What about your DNS server?
• SaaS vendor quits browser to boost sales http://snurl.com/34dfv In my view, the hype of browser-based apps will be over soon.
• Price for Microsoft’s Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM 2008): $1,100. Release date could be Sept. 1. http://snurl.com/33rmh
• Update for the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) User’s Guide for Windows Vista. http://snurl.com/33rnv
• Hyper-V RAM Calculator. This is an Excel sheet that helps you to plan the Hyper-V deployment. http://snurl.com/33rq6
• VMware is doing fine: http://snurl.com/33rqy even though their shares fall. ESXi embedded hypervisor will be free. http://snurl.com/33rs5

Microsoft released an update rollup for the “Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment 2007“. What a product name! BDD 2007 comes with a collection of documentations about Windows deployment. It is also a kind of workbench allowing you to use the most important Microsoft deployment tools and tool sets such as the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) with one central GUI.

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Since yesterday, Microsoft offers a documentation update for the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). The title of this page at the Microsoft Download Center is: “Windows Automated Installation Kit Documentation (Windows Server code named “Longhorn” & Windows Vista SP1 Beta 3)” It seems I missed Beta 1 and Beta 2 of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista, somehow.

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It seems that Microsoft fixed the bug in the setup program of the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) now. I blogged about it sometime ago. It is again available as a separate download. The WAIK deployment guide can be found here.

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On Tuesday, I downloaded the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). I am not sure since when it became already available, but it was not before Monday. Now, it seems that Microsoft removed it from the Web. The reason probably is that its setup program contains a bug.

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Update: Microsoft removed the WAIK download.
The Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) is now available for download. It contains all important tools for deploying Windows Vista: ImageX, Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM), Windows PE, and many more. The DVD image also contains the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and the WinPE Language Packs.

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The Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 includes many important tools for Windows Vista deployment. Most important is the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) which contains ImageX, Microsoft’s new imaging tool, and Windows Deployment Services (WDS), the successor of Remote Installation Services (RIS). Please check out my summary about Windows Vista’s deployment tools for more information. BDD 2007 Beta 2 extends Beta 1 with a couple of new features.

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For every installation of Windows Vista, you need an image in the WIM format. One great feature of WIM images is that you can mount and inject them with device drivers or other files. In this post, I will be explaining how to mount an image in a WIM file with ImageX. ImageX is the tool for capturing and applying images. But it can also be used to modify an image. This article is based on Windows Vista Beta 2.

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I am preparing an article for a German magazine about Windows Vista’s new features from a system administrator’s point of view. I would like to share some of the results of my research here. In this post, you will find a list of Microsoft’s free deployment tools for Windows Vista with short descriptions.

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