minasi mania & LTI March 4, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, deployment
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I’ve been a fan of Mark Minasi since I started in this industry about 12 years ago. One of my first books was an A+ book and Win2000 Server book. His sense of humor and ease of language made it actually fun to read about disk quotas, defrag, and other not-so-compelling material.
His latest newsletter is a tribute to LTI migration from XP to Windows 7. If you have no idea what LTI is, then you definitely should read it! It comes with pictures! Enjoy!
PS. Thanks Mark for elevating the dull-and-boring to new heights and enlightening the masses!
whitepaper express March 4, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, deployment, USMT, WET, whitepapers
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Oh, the joy of deployment whitepapers, fresh from a laser-write! All those letters chained together like a steam-train pounding toward my cerebellum! Oh, the power of Windows 7 deployment technologies– if the WAIK had a smell it would smell of metal and diesel and raw horsepower. I feel light headed and giddy!
Enjoy the trip:
- Building a Standard Image of Windows 7 Step-by-Step Guide
- Automated Installation of Windows 7 Overview
- Windows XP to Windows 7 Hard-Link Migration of User Files and Settings
- Configuring Windows 7 for a Limited User Account
- Automated Installation To Upgrade Windows 7 Step-by-Step Guide
- Windows Easy Transfer for transferring from Windows XP (32 bit) to Windows 7
- Windows Easy Transfer for transferring from Windows Vista (32 bit) to Windows 7
- Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 documentation (October 2009 Update)
MDT support for VHD deployment February 27, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, deployment, MDT, virtualization
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Two posts on editing the MDT task sequencer to deploy VHDs:
HERE- deploymentguys
HERE-deployment guy named Todd
deploy VHD walkthrough for W7 February 27, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, deployment, virtualization
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A great walkthrough to get you started with deploying Windows 7 using VHDs. Here’s an excerpt to get you started:
This walkthrough describes how to create and configure a virtual hard disk (VHD) running Windows® 7 for native boot. A native-boot VHD is a virtual hard disk that can be used as the running operating system on designated hardware without any other parent operating system. This is in contrast to a scenario where a VHD is connected to a virtual machine on a computer with a parent operating system.
In this release, VHDs can be applied to computers that have no other installations of Windows, for usage as a native-boot VHD, without a virtual machine or hypervisor. (A hypervisor is a layer of software below the operating system that runs virtual computers.) This allows for greater flexibility in workload distribution in that a single set of tools can be used to manage images for virtual machines and designated hardware.
youtube channel on deployment February 24, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, deployment, windowsPE
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watch and learn
Here’s a youtube channel from a Microsoft guy named Jay Paloma. I haven’t viewed each and every one of these videos – only a few minutes- but considering who this guy appears to be, I’m sure it’s rock solid (plus it has a pretty groovy soundtrack). Let me know what you think! It could be a good help for the 70-686 deployment studies as well as your own deployment projects.
deployment god blog February 24, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, blogs, deployment, MDT
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Michael Niehaus from Microsoft has a blog that covers deployment technologies– most of which are required to know for the 70-686. Because some of you can’t get enough of MDT here’s the link.
AND, here’s a technet forum for MDT! BONUS!
ROARed passed 70-686! February 23, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, Certification, Windows 7
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I passed 70-686 last week! Now I’m ROARing!
For those of you who might be be thinking it’s just another Windows 7 exam, it’s much more! It’s NOT about “super user” skills nor is it just a deployment test– you need to be aware of the technologies and procedures surrounding the FULL life-cycle of a Windows client — in the enterprise! This means you’ll need to thoroughly understand the Microsoft technologies that enable and support this life-cycle. The best place to start is, of course, Microsoft’s website which states the objectives. Then I’d suggest investing in the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. Learn the imaging technologies and practice but don’t neglect the other aspects of a client’s life-cycle. Have Fun!
Now if you’re confused about this test and aren’t sure why there’s so many Windows 7 exams, visit the born2learn blogs. Here’s a couple of posts here and here that might give some insight.
program compatibility assistant February 18, 2010
Posted by examROAR in Configuring Hardware and Applications, MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686), MCTS: Windows 7, Configuring (70-680).Tags: 70-680, 70-682, 70-685, 70-686, appcompat, program compatibility assistant
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The PCA is an appcompat feature built into Windows 7 and Server 2008. It’ll spring up on you, alerting you of known compatibility issues, and even suggest a course of action.
PCA on Server 2008 R2
Thin, Thick, or Hybrid Chart February 18, 2010
Posted by examROAR in Installing, Upgrading, Migrating to Windows 7, MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686), MCTS: Windows 7, Configuring (70-680).Tags: 70-680, 70-686, deployment, images
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Here’s a chart I created based on information in the Windows 7 Resource Kit. It identifies the differences between Thin, Thick, & Hybrid images as it relates to application deployments.
Image Types for Application Deployment
running the OCT February 18, 2010
Posted by examROAR in MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 (70-686).Tags: 70-686, OCT, Office 2007
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The Office Customization Tool is used to customize the deployment of Office 2007. You launch the tool with the office setup.exe command and /admin. Like this:
e:\office2007\setup.exe /admin
Once you run it, you’ll be able to define how you want Office 2007 installed on your Windows 7 machines.
Office Customization Tool
When you’re finished, save the file in a folder named Updates within the Office 2007 distribution point. The save operation in the OCT will create an update package (MSP file) that Setup.exe will detect and apply.
Saving the MSP file
For more information, check out technet!
