Inside Vista's Image-Based Install Process

KrispyGlider writes "Vista's installation process is dramatically different from any previous version of Windows: rather than being an 'installer,' the install DVD is actually a preinstalled copy of Windows that simply gets decompressed onto your PC. It is hardware agnostic, so it can adjust to different systems, and you can also install your own apps into it so that your Vista install becomes a full system image install. APCMag.com has published an interview with a Microsoft Australia tech specialist on the inner workings of it as well as a story that looks at some of the pros and cons of image-based installs."

IKEA catelog?

[Anonymous Coward]

My geek karma must be off today. When I read the title, instead of thinking CD image, I thought "what, is windows going to just be a bunch of pictures of guys pointing and clicking with no actual instructions like an IKEA assembly manual"?

Anywho, this is a cool idea and it's begging for someone to create a "Vista Live" hack, much like the current *nix live CD's (Knoppix anyone?).

Yeah, it's Monday.

File based imaging format?!?!

[brunes69]

However, all this is about to change. Windows Vista is based entirely around Microsoft's Windows Imaging Format (or WIM), a file-based imaging standard rather than a sector-based. this means that the image isn't a bit-for-bit image of your disk layout, and hence you can apply the image to a new system without destroying the contents of the hard drive.

Wow how revolutionary.

Oh, hang on a second while I untar this archive....

By the time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Vista's released, won't DVDs be obsolete anyway?

Maybe they can put both Vista and Duke Nuke Em 3D on the same HD-DVD/BluRay disc when they're released in a few years.

Hasta La Vista, La Manzana

[digitaldc]

Some say Vista's image is tarnished, but I think we should wait until the next Apple commercial to see if it really works or not.

Re:dual boot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows users [like me] just don't run Linux, e.g. not an issue.

Re:At last

[utopianfiat]

Will Duke Nukem Forever also be image-based?

Re:dual boot?

[Mister Whirly]

"I don't see the value in dual booting" and therefore, no one else should. Everyone knows there is only one correct computer setup for everyone.

Darn, I was looking for a source-based install

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd love to spend a week -emerge(ing) a Vista designed specifically for my computer.

Re:dual boot?

[Mister Whirly]

"Microsoft desperately wants Linux to go away"
I think you may have got that backwards...

Autodetect.

[Savage-Rabbit]

If this is basically going to just decompress windows onto your drive, where do the install options come in to play?

<sarcasm>
Perhaps they will be automatically detected/deduced for you by the same infallable logic engine we have come to know and love from the 'Windows Genuine Advantage' pirate software detector thus rendering manual configuration unnecessary in which case the manual configuration utility may well have been removed from Windows Vista.
</sarcasm>

Re:dual boot?

[Ciarang]

Let me appologise for my fellow Gentoo user who seems to need to grow up.

Oh dear. I feel the need to be gentlemanly and reciprocate.

I apologise for my fellow Windows users. I'm really sorry, words really aren't enough are they...

Re:dual boot?

[Mister Whirly]

"Dual booting is for people who can't really decide why they bought a PC in the first place."
And generalizations are for people who can't see uses for things outside of their own realm...

"hardware agnostic"

[dethndrek]

OK...does that mean that Vista will be unsure as to whether my hardware exists or not? Hmm... "VISTA HAS PERFORMED AN ILLEGAL OPERATION... actually is it illegal? who says what is legal or not? Perhaps it is legal for me but not for you? sorry, WINDOWS DOES NOT BELIEVE YOUR HARDWARE EXISTS. CONVINCE ME YOUR HARDWARE IS THERE, AND ILL LET YOU INTO YOUR COMPUTER" I think I would prefer "hardware fanaticism" personally. -JWR

Re:A good house guest.

[Random_Goblin]

I feel allow duel boot is a good house guest option

You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means.

mind you...

After a long boot sequence...
XP: You are wonderful!
Distro in black: Thank you -- I've worked hard to become so.
XP: I admit it you are better than i am...
Distro in black: Then why are you smiling?
XP: because i know something you don't know.
Distro in black: And what is that?
XP: I am not left-handed....

Re:Smalltalk and Emacs did this.

[Anonymous Coward]

Worst poem ever. Didn't even rhyme.

Re:does vista break ghost then?

[glwtta]

does vista break ghost then?

Doubtful, seeing how vista isn't even out yet, and Ghost has been broken for many years.

(couldn't resist)

Re:dual boot?

[God'sDuck]

Tell me how to get 10.4 on my iMac G3 266 MHz without doing arcane things then.

1.: Purchase Mac Mini
2.: Place Mac Mini on top of iMac.

Re:dual boot?

[grammar fascist]

Windows users [like me] just don't run Linux, e.g. not an issue.

Mac users [like me] just can't fathom why anyone would want to run anything else; i.e. not an issue.

Grammar fascist time. Now, you didn't make the original mistake, but you perpetuated it, and now you're on my "bad" list. (Snakes in your stocking this year, boy, and I'm not talking about the kind you hang over the fireplace.) "E.g." means "for example," and "i.e." means "in other words." (Translated, of course.) The way I remember is to consider how stupid I'd sound using it wrongly.

Okay, not really. Mentally substitute "for egzample" whenever you use "e.g." to see if it works.

I've also got a great mnemonic device that involves skinning purple hamsters for remembering how to use "who" and "whom" correctly if anyone is interested.

Re:dual boot?

[Lord Ender]

Comparing Microsoft OS and Linux and saying who's is like asking who would win in fight between Darth Vader and Capt Picard. Essentially pointless because they live in different universes.

Same universe, different galaxies, different time periods, actually. Get your sci-fi right! This is slashdot!

Re:dual boot?

[Mister Whirly]

"If Dual booting is for people who can't really decide why they bought a PC in the first place, what is slashdot for?"

Microsoft bashing, telling everyone how your hand rolled kernel is better than [fill in OS here], correcting other people's grammatical errors, and Natalie Portman + hot grits.

Re:dual boot?

[BattleApple]

feeble attempt at humor = strike three

Re:dual boot?

[MrNiceguy_KS]

The question is, if you don't run Linux, why you install it? Grup does not overwrite Windows MBR if you don't install Grub.

Ok, I make it a rule to never comment on anyone's grammar, but coming after the above posts on e.g. vs. i.e., this is just too funny. It reads like an old Incredible Hulk comic.

"Why you install Linux? Hulk smash puny master boot record!!"

Re:dual boot?

[nakkenakuttaja]

OK, well the reason why my grammar is not so good is that I come from the same country as Linus(Finland), and it's already quite late here in Finland(11PM). Practically everyone in Finland is drunk at this time of night during summertime and so am I, so please excuse my typos. Anyway I prefer LILO.

Re:dual boot?

[Warg! The Orcs!!]

A fanthom is an SI unit of depth equal to 6 Trekkies.

To clarify, these are vertical Trekkies - 'cos Trekkies are never laid....