Automating Installations

Automating Installations

So far in this chapter, you've learned how to customize Windows PE. You can add optional components such as WSH and HTA. You can add your own batch scripts and utilities to it. After you complete your customizations, you can create a new CD or copy them to a RIS server. With a customized Windows PE CD, you can start each target computer in fine detail but you still have to manually configure disks, start Windows Setup, and so on. The power of Windows PE is its automation features. You can script most of the installation tasks that you might need to perform. And when you do need to collect information from the user or technician, you can use HTA.

More Info
For more information about creating HTAs, see HTML Goodies at http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/hta.html and Microsoft MSDN at http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/hta/hta_node_entry.asp. For more information about customizing Windows PE, see http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/winpreinst/WindowsPE_tech.mspx.