Tag: free tools

Top 10 – January 2010 Popular Tips

February 01, 2010 by Jason

1. Download Free Vista, XP and Windows 7 from Microsoft

2. Repair the MBR to restore Windows 7 to your Multiboot Options

3. MEGA TIPS – Last year popular tips 2009

4. Windows 7 RTM GodMode

5. Windows 7 SP1 Is Cooking

6. Windows 7 RTM Windows Biometric Framework Fix

7. VoIP Apps Can Hang on Windows 7

8. Windows 7 RTM Eats Desktop Shortcuts

9. Vista SP2 Upgrades on NVIDIA Chipset PCs Result in Crashes

10. 4 Free Tools that every Administrator should Know About

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Windows 7 Automatic Installation Kit

August 31, 2009 by Jason

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK or WAIK) is among the free tools of choice when it comes down to building custom Windows 7 images and deploying them in a specific environment. But as much as the Windows Automated Installation Kit is capable of streamlining the installation process of custom-built Windows 7 images, it does come with a few limitations that IT administrators should be aware of. For example, they could find that it is impossible to put together an unattend.xml file from within the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 for a custom Windows 7 x32 image.

The reason is related to the limitations of WAIK. Specifically, “if you run Windows 7 x32 and WAIK x32 you can create unattends for both x64 and x32 custom images. If you run Windows 7 x64 and WAIK x64 you can not create unattends for x32 custom images. Running x32 WAIK on Windows 7 x64 is not supported,†revealed Richard Trusson, a senior consultant with Microsoft Services, UK.

Essentially, admins that are running 64-bit computers will only be able to build catalogs for x64 WIM’s. This limitation dates back to the Windows Vista period. Microsoft explained that WAIK in Vista leveraged the servicing stack binaries in the image in order to create the catalog. In this context, Microsoft did not see it necessary to include the binaries in WAIK. But the decision ended up impacting WAIK. Read More»