In the first blog post on unattended setup, I showed you how Windows Vista setup can be ‘scripted’ with unattend answer files to suppress UI prompts and perform common deployment tasks. Unattend setup lets you easily deploy Windows Vista on thousands and even millions of PCs. Today, I will give you a walkthrough of creating an unattend setup file yourself using the Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) tool in the Windows Administrative Installation Kit (WAIK). Here’s what you need to do:

1.       Download and install WAIK from Microsoft Connect

2.       Locate the install.wim or *.clg (catalog) files in the sources directory of your Windows Vista DVD

3.       Start WSIM and right-click inside the ‘Windows Image’ area and select the install.wim file or the appropriate catalog file. If you choose the install.wim file, WSIM will generate a catalog of all the unattend settings for the edition of Windows Vista you select. This catalog can be loaded and parsed much faster than a 2 GB .wim file.

4.       Use the File … New command to create a new unattend answer file

5.       Notice that the ‘Answer File’ area now shows the seven different phase of setup. Think of each phase of setup as a phase of an assembly line – some actions (in this case, unattend settings) should logically be performed only in one phase, but others can be performed equally well in any phase of the assembly line. Selecting the right phase to apply an unattend setting in is not a black art – it should correspond to your deployment scenario. We will make a decision now that illustrates this point.

6.       In the ‘Windows Image’ area, expand Windows Vista ULTIMATE (catalog) > Components > x86_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.0.5600.16384_neutral (the exact path will vary based on your build and processor architecture). Notice that there are several unattend settings here. Select ‘OEMInformation’ and press F1 to get help.

7.       Right-click on ‘OEMInformation’ and notice that this setting is valid in multiple phases of setup. The different phases of setup are discussed in the WAIK User’s Guide, but for now I know that since I want this setting to apply to all PCs in my deployment, go ahead and select the generalize phase. In the next blog post, I will show you how to capture a generalized image using ImageX (another tool in WAIK’s excellent gallery of rogues!).

8.       Go ahead and add as many settings as you like. When you are done, save the unattend answer file and use the Tools … Validate command to check your unattend file for errors. The ‘Messages’ area should not show any errors. Make sure you correct these errors before using this file for unattended setup.

Your unattend file is ready to rock and roll!!  In the next blog post, I will show you how to use sysprep and ImageX to create a generalized image which has the OEMInformation unattend settings applied to it. A generalized image has machine-specific information removed from it, so it can be applied to any PC. As you might guess, a generalized image will boot into the specialize phase of setup, but that’s another story. The fun is just beginning!