After you've prepared your system with
Sysprep, you can capture the system image using ImageX. You should have
a bootable disc that includes the ImageX file.
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You may be tempted to use ImageX to capture images
of systems and use them as a system backup. However, it's not intended
to be used this way and will result in inconsistent results.
Microsoft's Knowledge Base article KB 935467 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935467)
discusses some of the negative consequences of doing this on Windows
Vista and the same issues apply with Windows 7. Additionally, using
ImageX to back up systems may violate your software license agreement
for Windows 7.
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You use the ImageX /capture switch to capture an image. There are several options that are repeated with the /capture switch:
image_path
This is the path to the volume image to be
captured. On a single-drive, single-partition system, this will be C:.
If you have a dual-boot system with Windows XP on the C: drive and
Windows 7 on the D: drive, then image_path will be the D: drive to capture the Windows 7 image.
image_file
This is the path to the new WIM file that will
store the captured image. It includes the full path and image filename,
and the folder specified in the path must exist or the capture will
fail. You can name the file almost anything, but it must end with .wim.
image_name
This is the unique name for the image being
captured that will be stored in the WIM file and needs to be in quotes.
Later, you'll be able to use this name or the index number to identify
the image within the WIM file.
image_description
This optional text provides additional information on the image. If it's included, it should be in quotes.
flags switch
Use the flags switch to specify which edition
you are capturing. While it isn't needed if you're deploying the image
with ImageX, it is necessary when you use other tools to deploy the
image. The format is /flags "Enterprise", /flags "Professional", or / flags "Ultimate".
The basic syntax with these options looks like this:
Imagex /Capture /flags "Enterprise" image_path image_fi1e
"image_name" ["image_description"]
The drive you'll image is almost always the C:
drive. However, in some instances where you have dual-boot systems, you
may be imaging another drive. The folder where the image will be stored
can be on any available system drive that has adequate space, including
the drive that you're imaging.
As an example, the following command can be used to capture an image after booting into the WinPE:
Imagex /Capture /flags "Enterprise" c: D:\images\Win7.wim
"Mastering Windows 7"
This command will capture the C: drive and store the image in the Win7.wim file in the preexisting D:\Images folder with a name of Mastering Windows 7.
After you have prepared a Windows 7 system with Sysprep, you can use the following steps to capture an image of the system:
Boot
using the WinPE media you created. But be careful: make sure that you
boot to the WinPE media and not directly into the Windows 7 system. If
the Welcome phase starts, you'll have to rerun Sysprep before you can
capture the image.
When the WinPE boots, it will run the wpeinit program and eventually you'll see a command prompt in the X: \Windows\System32 folder after wpeinit completes. In this case, X: is the actual drive and it represents a RAM disk created by the WinPE.
Enter the following two commands to create a folder named Images that will be used to store the image:
C:
Md Images:
Identify the drive letter of your bootable media. You can do this by entering the Dir command followed by a letter and a colon like this:
Dir C:
Dir D:
Dir E:
Continue doing this until you see a directory that includes the Image.exe command, and the Boot, EFI, and Sources folders.
Once
you identify the drive holding the ImageX program, change to the drive
by entering the letter and a colon. For example, on our system, the
bootable media was the H: drive so we entered this command:
H:
Enter the following ImageX command to capture the image of the C: drive, store it in the C:\images\win7.wim file, and name it Mastering Windows 7:
Imagex /Capture c: C:\images\Win7.wim "Mastering Windows 7"
The display will show steady progress in the format of:
[ 50% ] Capturing progress: 7:40 mins remaining
When the process completes, you'll see a message
indicating that the drive has been successfully imaged, with a total
elapsed time. At this point, you'll have an image file created in the
location you specified. You can reboot the system and complete the
Welcome phase of Windows startup.
You can view the details of the image with the following command:
Imagex /info C:\images\Win7.wim
