Updated: July 11, 2020 (May 29, 2006)

  Charts & Illustrations

Windows Automated Installation Kit

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Michael Cherry by
Michael Cherry

Michael analyzed and wrote about Microsoft's operating systems, including the Windows client OS, as well as compliance and governance. Michael... more

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) is a collection of tools and documentation to help OEMs, system integrators, and corporate customers use images to install and configure Windows on computers.

The tools in the WAIK include WinPE, Sysprep, ImageX, the Package Manager, and the Windows System Image Manager.

To manage images, administrators will use WinPE to boot the computer that will be used to create the image (the master computer). Because it is booted from WinPE, none of the files in the image itself will be in use when an image is created. Next, Sysprep is used to remove any user- or computer-specific information, such as the system ID (SID) from the master computer. When the master computer is ready, a command-line tool called ImageX uses the Windows Imaging API to capture and compress the Windows image file. The Windows System Image Manager uses the Component Platform Interface API to manage any network distribution points that store additional third-party device drivers and packages, such as updates or security fixes not included in the image, and creates an answer file with the configuration information for every feature in the image.

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