WAIK for Vista SP1 and Server 2008 and XP SP3 Dates

Posted on February 6th, 2008 by Anthony Clendenen.
Categories: BDD, ConfigMgr, Downloads, Group Policy, MD, Microsoft, News, OSD, OSD Plus Pack, SMS 2003, Server 2008, Vista, WAIK, Windows PE.

WAIK_setupHopefully you have heard by now that Vista SP1 and Server 2008 went RTM on Monday.  But can you use these with OSD or MD?  Well of course you can with the new version of WAIK.

 

Also it is being reported that Vista SP1 goes live on Feb 18th or 19th and Windows XP SP3 goes live on March 23rd or 24th. 

 

Download details here direct download here (1.1 GB).

Overview

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is designed to help corporate IT professionals customize and deploy the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 family of operation systems. By using Windows AIK, you can perform unattended Windows installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, and create Windows PE images.

This update is provided to you and licensed under the Windows Vista License Terms.

Related links:

Light bulbWindows Server 2008 Group Policy Settings Reference spreadsheet.

Windows Vista Group Policy Settings Reference spreadsheet.

Group policy administrative templates for Vista.

ADMX migrator for old group policies.

Notable Changes in Vista SP1.

Release Notes for Vista SP1.

 

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

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http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

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SMS 2003 Administrator’s Reference: Systems Management Server 2003 -  SMS 2003 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach  -  Microsoft SMS Installer (Book/CD-ROM package)  -  Pro SMS 2003  -  Professional MOM 2005, SMS 2003, and WSUS  -  Start to Finish Guide to Distributing Software With Systems Management Server 2003  -  Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 - Administrator’s Companion

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Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer

Posted on September 1st, 2007 by Anthony Clendenen.
Categories: Active Directory, ConfigMgr, Consulting, Downloads, Group Policy, KB Articles, Microsoft, Server 2003, Tools, Troubleshooting.

In larger environments this new tool to identify GP configuration and dependency problems should be a great time saver and Server_2003_SQ_small really help with the administration of GPO’s.  As a Solutions Engineer that works with customers who have workstations all over the globe and seats that number in the six figures I have seen some really complicated GP configurations.  Logon times that are calculated in minutes sometimes.  This is not exclusive to large environments however, the worst group policy settings I have helped to cleanup was only about 3,000 seats.

Links to download the tools are below.

Overview

The Microsoft Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer (GPDBPA) for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is designed to help you identify Group Policy configuration errors or other dependency failures that may prevent settings or features from functioning as expected.

 

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2003

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows XP

Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows XP x64 Edition

 

For my US readers enjoy your long weekend!

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E Inc.

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http://configmgr.com

© 2007 Anthony Clendenen

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Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Delayed

Posted on August 30th, 2007 by Anthony Clendenen.
Categories: Active Directory, Beta, Config Manager, ConfigMgr, Group Policy, Microsoft, NAP, News, SCCM, Server 2008, System Center, Vista.

What is the status?

Windows Server 2008, formerly Longhorn, will be delayed until Q1 of 2008 but will be available to SA and MSDN subscribers priorWindowsServer2008Box to RTM.  SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 are scheduled to be released with Server 2008 so I can only assume they will be delayed as well. 

Vista SP1 also suffers from the same fate, delayed until Q1 of 08.  The BETA of Vista SP1 will be  available to participants in about two weeks however.  And SP3 for XP is moving along with its BETA also being out in a couple weeks and should be released in the first half of next year, a little later than the other two thankfully. 

Why should I care?

Without Server 2008 you cannot make use of the NAP functionality built into ConfigMgr so this may delay some implementations of ConfigMgr, and will certainly delay the implementation of NAP.  You will also need XP SP3 for NAP to work with your XP clients, but Vista is set already.

What will be in Vista SP1?

Included in Vista SP1 is all the updates so far for Vista plus improvements in three areas, performance, security, and reliability. 

Under reliability there is:

  • Greater compatibility with a larger number of printer drivers VistaUltBox
  • Greater reliability AND performance when resuming and entering sleep
  • Improvements to the reliability in networking configuration scenarios
  • Greater reliability with connecting to external displays when you are using a laptop
  • Greater reliability and compatibility with newer graphics cards

Performance improvements:

  • Improved speed when you copy or extract files
  • Improved battery life by lowering the number of screen redraws on some computers
  • Improved performance when browsing network shares
  • Improved logon times by removing the 10 second delay after you hit crtl-alt-del sometimes
  • Faster JavaScript in IE7

Under security there are a number of things including improvements to BitLocker.

More on Vista SP1 here.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E Inc.

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http://configmgr.com

© 2007 Anthony Clendenen

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