What is this course about?

An effective deployment and administration strategy is essential to the successful integration of Windows Vista in your environment. This course teaches you to build and effectively deploy Windows Vista in an automated fashion. You learn to develop customized Windows Imaging Format (WIM) files, manage licensing and continuous client reactivation, streamline migration and security updates, and troubleshoot and manage Windows Vista with built-in tools and utilities.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is beneficial for desktop administrators, helpdesk support, deployment groups, managers and anyone responsible for deploying or maintaining Windows Vista.

What background knowledge do I need?

Knowledge at the level of Course 950, Windows Vista^®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, or previous experience administering Windows systems is assumed. Experience with command line utilities is helpful.

What is ImageX?

ImageX is a new file-based imaging tool from Microsoft. While it provides some of the features of typical third-party cloning utilities, it extends those features to allow single instance stores and in-place updates; however, it does not provide partitioning or multicasting capabilities found in many third-party imaging tools. This tool is discussed in the course and used in the hands-on exercises.

Will I learn to manage the Windows Vista environment with SMS?

No. While SMS is discussed briefly in the course as a deployment tool, you will not set up or use Microsoft SMS as a part of this course.

Am I going to implement WDS?

Yes. You install, configure and customize Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS replaces Remote Installation Services (RIS). The primary advantage to WDS over RIS is the ability to use Windows PE based boot images, instead of the OS Chooser alone.

Is this course appropriate for small to medium sized businesses?

Yes, this course provides information and experience useful to those deploying or administering Windows Vista in any size environment. The more workstations you are responsible for, the more benefit this class will have for you and your organization.

How much time is spent on each topic?

What kinds of hands-on exercises are in the course?

Approximately 45 percent of this course is spent in extensive hands-on exercises. These exercises provide you with practical experience deploying and managing Windows Vista and include:

• Building Windows PE boot media
• Creating answer files with SIM
• Customising the reference computer
• Capturing and applying images
• Deploying Windows Vista with ImageX
• Updating image files with drivers and security updates
• Adding applications and packages with the Windows Deployment Toolkit
• Installing and configuring Windows Deployment Services

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

This course builds upon the knowledge obtained from Course 950, Windows Vista^®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction. Other courses that are logical follow-ups include:

• 595, Windows Server® 2003: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction 
• 596, Windows Server® 2003 Active Directory®: Hands-On 
• 597, Deploying and Managing a Windows Server® 2003 Environment: Hands-On 

Those interested in using virtualization to test deployments will find the necessary information in Course 170, Virtualisation Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction.