The Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) is installed when you install the WAIK. You can access it by clicking Start => All Programs => Microsoft Windows AIK =>
Windows System Image Manager. You can use WSIM to create unattended
Windows Setup answer files to automate the installation of Windows 7.
Instead of a user answering the questions for an installation, the
answer file can provide all the information. Additionally, you can
modify the default behavior of the installation with an answer file.
WSIM comes in both x86 and x64 (32-bit and 64-bit)
versions. It's important to use the version that matches the image of
your reference computer. For example, if you try to use the x64 version
to create a catalog for an x86-based image, it will fail. However, you
can use the x86 version to create catalogs for both x86- and x64-based
images.
1. Exploring the Panes: An Overview of WSIM
When you first open WSIM, it has almost nothing in
it. However, once you start creating an answer file, the different
panes of WSIM start displaying some important information. Figure 1 shows WSIM with an image opened and an answer file started. In the figure, you can see the various panes of WSIM:
Distribution Share
A distribution share is a set of folders that
contain files you can use to customize the Windows installation. This
can be a local folder that includes items that will be installed after
the installation, or a network share available to the system after the
installation. Windows Setup will use the path defined here to install
additional applications and drivers. When you create the distribution
share, it creates the three folders shown in the Distribution Share
pane.
Windows Image
The Windows Image pane shows the selected image
and available components and packages that can be defined for the
image. The figure shows an image named Windows 7 ULTIMATE added with
the available components. As you can see, many components can be added.
You can add components to the answer file by right-clicking them and
selecting Add Setting. Different settings are added to different passes
of the installation. You can add packages by right-clicking them and
selecting Add To Answer File. Instead of selecting an image here, you
can select a catalog file for the image if one exists.
Answer File
This pane shows the answer file as you're
building it. This pane starts empty, but as you add components and
packages from the Windows Image section, it becomes populated. In the
figure, only one component has been added: x86_Microsoft-Windows-Setup_
neutral. This has two sections: UserData (selected) and ProductKey.
Selected Components' Properties and Settings
When you select a component in the Answer File
pane, the available properties and settings for the component appear.
You can then configure the settings as desired. For example, the
AcceptEula setting has been configured with a value of True and an
organization name has been added. Some properties have specific data
types you can select (such as true or false) whereas other properties
allow you to enter the data as free text.
Messages
The Messages pane includes different messages for you while working with an answer file. For example, if you select Tools =>
Validate Answer File, it will check for any issues. In the figure, the
validation has identified that the ProductKey setting doesn't have a
value and the message indicates this will be not be added to the answer
file.
4.9.2. Understanding Catalog Files
A catalog file (.clg) is a binary file that contains the state of all the components and packages within a Windows image. If you look back at Figure 1,
you'll see that the Windows Image pane has been expanded to show the
available components for the image, and one of the components has been
added to the answer file. This list is derived from the catalog file.
Figure 2
shows an answer file with the available packages expanded. You can
right-click any of the packages and select Add To Answer File. After
adding the package, you can select package components, and configure
their properties. and settings sections of the answer file.
The installation DVD includes separate catalog files for each image within the install.wim
file in the sources folder. If you're using a default image, you can
simply copy one of these catalog files to your technician's computer
when you copy the install.wim file. Alternately, you can use
WSIM to create a catalog file. WSIM queries the image and creates a
list of the settings in the image to create the catalog. If you update
the image, you need to re-create the catalog file. For example, if you
use DISM to add or remove packages, the catalog file needs to be
updated to reflect these changes.
When you open an image in WSIM, it looks for the
catalog file for the image. If it can't locate the catalog file, it
will prompt to you create one. If you launched WSIM with administrative
permissions, you can simply click Yes and it will create the catalog
file.
Be careful, though. There are several known reasons why the catalog file creation will fail, including the following:
When the WIM File Is Read-Only or in a Read-Only Location
The location includes the installation DVD. You need to copy the image file to your hard drive.
When You're Trying to Create an x86 Catalog from an x86 Image on an x64 Technician's Computer
If the WAIK is installed on an x86 technician's
computer, the x86 version of WSIM will run and you can use it to create
both x86- and x64-based catalogs. The help file indicates that you can
use the x86 WSIM to get around this problem, but it isn't available if
you installed the WAIK on an x64 computer.
When You're Using It for a Nonsupported Version
For example, you cannot create a catalog file for Windows Vista RTM version.
