In the RC0 release of Hyper-V, you may recall, you had to use the same QFE to Windows Server 2008 host and guest machines to get the Integration Component versions matching.

In RTM, you simply need to choose the Insert Integration Services Setup Disk option from the Action menu in VMConnect, just like you do for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista.

However, after you get the ICs working and you connect up to Windows Update, the Hyper-V QFE for Windows Server 2008 (KB950050) is still listed.  That little logical paradox causes you to check which QFEs are actually installed on your system, and you find that KB950050 isn't in that list.

What sort of crazy voodoo magic is this?

Well, according to Occam's Razor, the simplest answer is typically the correct one.

The simplest answer in this case is that Windows isn't lying - KB950050 isn't installed.  For RTM (actually, this happened in RC1), we added another QFE to the mix so that the standard way of installing the ICs (the VMGuest.ISO, which is what gets inserted into the VM's DVD-ROM drive when you click Insert Integration Services Setup Disk) worked for Windows Server 2008.

Since

Mike Sterling just made a triumphant return to blogging by posting an article on how to add the RC1 ICs to WinPE.  Check it out here.  Keep in mind, though, that this only works for WinPE 2.0, which is the WinPE that is based on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

As for my triumphant return to blogging, I'll be back next week with some updates to old posts and new posts as well.  In the mean time, I'm going to go back to playing GTA4.

Thus far we covered the steps necessary to capture a system image with Hyper-V installed, and how to install Windows and Hyper-V at the same time without dealing with system images at all.

Let's take a step back and talk about system images again.  Images are a great way to deploy a customized version of Windows to many different workstations or servers without having to go through the effort of configuring each system independently of each other.

Even if you're just setting Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 up from a DVD, you're still using an image to do the installation.  If you look on the DVD in the \sources folder, you'll find a file called install.wim.  WIM stands for Windows IMage, and it's an actual image of a real Windows installation that Setup applies directly to your hard drive (and then manipulates a bit, but that's a different story).

You can also make your own WIM files using the imagex.exe tool that ships with the Windows AIK, which I'll link to again. 

The cool thing about WIMs (and there are actually many, but I'm just going to stick

Picture it:  Sicily, 1914.  You've got a bunch of Servers that you need to install and configure Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V RC0 on.  You don't feel like messing around with Sysprep.  What do you do?

Well, since none of these things existed in 1914, you're probably pretty safe, but that doesn't really help anyone right now, does it?

What you need, is a way to do an unattended installation of Windows and Hyper-V so you don't have to sit there the whole time and type commands when the system is ready for you.  Lucky for you, we've already thought of that. 

Before you begin, I strongly recommend that you download the Windows AIK for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1.  The AIK contains tools and documentation specifically for helping administrators just like you to roll-out Windows on a large scale.  With the AIK, you'll get a nifty little tool that will help you build

Before we jump right into this, I thought it would be best if we got a few things straight.  For the remainder of this post, everytime I say "sysprep," I'm referring to running Sysprep with the /generalize switch.  This is the best way to make sure that the Windows installation image that you capture and apply to other systems actually works when you put it on those other systems.

For more details on what Sysprep with and without the /generalize switch does, I encourage you to read the documentation, which I have conveniently provided a hyperlink to.

So, you're planning to sysprep a Windows Server 2008 box with Hyper-V installed?  Good choice.  I'm sure you'll be happy with the result, but there are few things that you'll have to do to make sure Hyper-V functions properly after you apply the image to a different computer.  A KB article that

As you may have heard, we've shipped Hyper-V RC0.  Sorry for the lack of posts - it seems like I'm always on vacation when we ship a major release like this, so my posts lag a few days behind.

Installing Hyper-V isn't exactly a difficult task, but if you have to do it on multiple machines, installing Windows, installing Hyper-V and then applying the RC0 patch can be a bit time consuming.   The purpose of this series of posts is to offer a few different ways to help you speed up your Hyper-V deployments.

Here are the major topics I'm planning to post about:

• Sysprep and Hyper-V
• Unattended Installation of Windows and Hyper-V RC0
• Integrated Installation - The Beauty of the Win6 servicing stack

If you've got any other suggestions for topics, please let me know.