By Patrick Nelson
Microsoft promises that this version of Windows, Windows 7, will not be plagued with the same application and hardware incompatibilities that have haunted previous versions of its flagship operating system.
Time will tell.
Every Windows upgrade so far has come with massive headaches for IT.
However, Windows 7 does appear to come with more tools for deployment than previous versions.
Windows 7 adds improved application and hardware readiness, better imaging and file delivery and neater installation and file migration.
Driver handling is improved with a new Dynamic Driver Provisioning feature.
The feature reduces image sizes by dynamically matching drivers against Plug and Play IDs or bios when deploying and then get them from a central store.
Bandwidth is reduced in Windows 7 desktop deployment and there are speed gains through use of Multicast with Multiple Stream Transfer. Multicast allows broadcasting of images to multiple clients simultaneously.
Speed gains are also made through an improved installation process with consistent setup and task-sequencing tools.
User files and settings are also transferred faster.
Vista forced IT to upgrade hardware and application compatibility. Windows 7 rides on the back of that investment.
Windows 7 uses the same driver model and hardware performance specifications as Vista.
There are also tools that improve the assessment and readiness cycle. Windows 7 provides an Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) for inventorying and testing.
There is a Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit for compatibility reporting and then there’s the Windows Compatibility Center for a third way to check compatibility.
Improved File delivery and imaging is provided in Windows 7 for engineering and deploying Windows 7 images.
There are more options and servicing is available throughout the life-cycle. Tools include the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool, a scriptable command-line tool for working on images offline.
Virtual hard disk (VHD) image management and deployment is improved. VHD’s can now be deployed like native file-based Windows images.
DISM can be used to manage VHD images and the deployment can be done with Windows Deployment Services (WDS.) There is less bandwidth used in network Windows 7 deployments.
The User State Migration Tool (USMT) improvements in Windows 7 include a Hard-link migration feature for migrating files and settings without actually moving them.
Other improvements include a dynamic algorithm for finding user documents in deployment.
Previously IT would have to write custom migration XML files. Plus, In-use files can now be migrated with Volume Shadow Copy Service.
It seems that there are a host of tools and services available this time to help enterprises deploy Windows 7 across their desktops.
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