Introduction:

After a lot of development and testing and countless changes it's time to release version 1.0 of the windows-noob.com FrontEnd HTA. This HTA can be used by Network administrators/techs to quickly make choices about Deployment Type (Backup, Reinstall, New Computer) for their migrations from Windows XP to Windows 7.

The HTA comes with pre-written scripts that do the hard work for you and set variables based on choices made by the end user. These variables are in turn used by the backend Task Sequence to do the actual heavy lifting. If you stick to the default Task Sequence included here, then when you start it you'll see a password prompt

Attached Image: monthly_04_2011/post-1-0-50840500-1301942400.jpg

enter Password123 to continue, if you get it wrong it will abort the task Sequence so be careful :).

Once you've entered the password correctly the HTA itself will display, currently it's adjustable in size, you can edit the DeployMenu.hta to maximise it by editing the following lines,

<HTA:APPLICATION ID="objTest" APPLICATIONNAME="Frontend HTA" SCROLL="yes" SINGLEINSTANCE="yes">
<!HTA:APPLICATION ID="objTest" APPLICATIONNAME="Frontend HTA" SCROLL="No" SINGLEINSTANCE="YES" BORDER="none" CAPTION="no" WINDOWSTATE=MAXIMIZE SINGLEINSTANCE="yes">





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The Backup option allows you to Backup the data in several different ways (option to run CHKDSK before backup, full WIM backup both locally and network, Offline Scanstate in WinPE which is then backed up to a network Share) and also allows you to Create a computer association between source and destination computer while in WinPE if you want to do traditional SMP based state backup (note however for SMP based scenarios that the scanstate must be performed separately while in the full Windows OS using a separate Task Sequence).

Attached Image: monthly_04_2011/post-1-0-17754800-1301937329.jpg

The Reinstall option allows users to Quickly backup data (using offline mode in WinPE and hardlinking) and install Windows 7 Enterprise on existing hardware. They can also optionally specify a user which will then become the Local Administrator of that computer.

Attached Image: monthly_04_2011/post-1-0-29392800-1301937441.jpg

The New Computer option allows you to choose regional and language options offline via drop down menus (4 languages offered, can be expanded upon easily)

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Requirements:

The HTA has the following prerequisites:-

* MDT 2010 update 1 integrated with ConfigMgr
* Maik Kosters Web Services 7.2 installed - quick quide here
* SCCM 2007 SP2 R2 or later
* Implement Offline scanstate in WinPE as shown here
* Install Language packs Offline using SCCM 2007 sp2


Features

The windows-noob.com HTA has the following features:-

The windows-noob.com FrontEnd HTA ver 1.0 is primarily used for Deploying (or migrating to) Windows 7, and it offers the following features,

  • Backup
  • Reinstall
  • New Computer



The three Operating System Deployment scenarios, Backup, Reinstall (refresh) and New Installation (bare metal/new computer) offer their own options, detailed below:-

Backup features
Chkdsk
full wim backup (local)
full wim backup (network)
Offline scanstate in WinPE (network)

Reinstall features
Chkdsk
full wim backup (local)
full wim backup (network)
Offline scanstate in WinPE (local using hardlinking)
Username becomes Local Administrator

New Computer Features
Regional settings (drop down choice)
Language Settings (drop down choice)
Username
Computername
Restore Users data (drop down choice, none, SMP or Offline via Network)


Additional Features

In addition to the above, you have the ability to:



Exit from the HTA
Open a command prompt
Create a Computer Association (see below)

Attached Image: monthly_04_2011/post-1-0-89003000-1301937793.jpg

Show information about a client, including IP Address, MAC address, GUID, etc (see below)

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Reboot
Shutdown

so that's the introduction now here's how to implement it in your lab..


read the rest plus see the screenshots here on windows-noob.com

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