Creating multi language Boot.wim and WinRE.wim

If you for some reason need to create a multi language installation media you need to add the needed language packs to the boot.wim file found on the installation DVD. If want to take advantage of the of the “Windows Recovery Environment" you also have to update the WinRe.wim file.

Instead of doing the guide myself I will post a link for a really good guide on how it´s done. The guide is also updated to support Windows 7 SP1.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/12145-HowTo-create-a-multi-language-Windows-7-DVD-installer

Windows Automated Installation Kit

If you want, or need, to work with Windows unattended installations, you need some tools.

The most important ones is:

Dism.exe – A servicing tools that can be used to everything from mounting images to injection drivers and changing Windows version.

ImageX.exe – The best tool for working with .wim files. Dism can also be used for mounting/changing wim files. But ImageX have shorter command line options, and is needed for image capturing.

Windows PE – Is a very basic “core” version of Windows that you can boot to the memory. If you have ever booted a Windows Vista or 7 installation media you have been en PE, as it is the underlying OS that Setup.exe is running from. Windows PE is pretty cool, and can be used for a lot of stuff. Please remember that there are some license restrictions when it comes to the use of PE, but as long as you use it to installing correctly licensed Microsoft software it should be okay.

Fortunately Microsoft have made a single kit with these, and many other usable, tools. There are two versions – OPK and WAIK. The OPK kit is for “System Builders” and OEM´s, and the WAIK is for Enterprise Admins. The only difference between these two versions is the name, and WAIK can be downloaded without from microsoft.com so that’s a easy choise.

The WAIK iso can be downloaded from this link - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5753 

After downloadning mount (or burn) the iso file, and run the WAIK setup.

With SP1 for Windows 7/Server 2008R2 there were also released a supplement to the WAIK kit. The supplement contains some changes to the PE tools, and primary to handling of language packs. If you don’t have any contact with Language Packs, I will recommend not to download it. The “installation” is done by copying some files and folders to the right location, but is not documented very well. You can get it here - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5188

After then installation you can press start and navigate to “All Programs” -  “Microsoft Windows AIK” and start the “specialized” command prompt to start using the tools. Remember to start the command prompt with admin rights, else you will get stuck quick.

Installing Server 2008 R2 unattended

I stumbled over a post on wegotserved.com, explaining how to install Windows Server 2008 R2 on a HP WHS box. I will give the author credit for being creative but I would like to point out an alternative, the AutoUnattended.xml.

This post is a basic “how-to” and I am not going to explain the whole concept and all the tools around “Windows Automated Installation Kit”. Also i will add that i don´t own a HP whs box, the following is a general description and should work on all systems that´s capable of booting on a USB drive. (From what I understand, the HP hardware will boot on USB if no boot info is found on the hard disk)

WARNING – After creating the USB stick, booting on this stick WILL clean your hard disk, so be careful rebooting you workstation if you are not sure on the boot order.

To get started you need the following:

· A (properly licensed) Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD.
· An empty USB stick, minimum 4GB.

Let´s get started!