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Windows 7 WAIK and Custom Images

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Working on customer site recently I was perplexed by why I could not create an unattend.xml file from within MDT 2010 for my custom Windows 7 x32 image. So I did some digging and finally located a program manager who could explain to me what was going on. The summary is that;

  • if you run Windows 7 x32 and WAIK x32 you can create unattends for both x64 and x32 custom images.
  • if you run Windows 7 x64 and WAIK x64 you can not create unattends for x32 custom images.
  • running x32 WAIK on Windows 7 x64 is not supported.

What the program manager said…

I understand that its an annoyance that on x64 machines, you can only create catalogs for x64 WIM's. Back in Vista timeframe, a decision was made to use the servicing stack binaries in the image you're trying to generate a catalog for, in order to create the catalog (as opposed to having WAIK carry those binaries, which created a servicing burden for WAIK). This was a better overall design strategy since it now allowed WSIM to work ok, independent of any changes made to the servicing stack binaries of the image you're trying to generate a catalog for.

However, one side consequence is that the architecture and flavour of the WSIM tool has to match the architecture of the servicing stack ( that was extracted from the WIM ). Since a 32 bit WIM carries only a 32 bit servicing stack in it, 64 bit WSIM cannot generate a catalog due to architecture mismatch. ( Hence one can use only 32 bit OPK for this.) However a 64 bit WIM carries both , a 32 bit and a 64 bit servicing stack in it. Thus one can use either a 64 bit or a 32 bit WSIM to generate a catalog for such a WIM.

I think they have made the right trade off here in terms of reducing the support complexity for Windows System Image Manager. The down side is it might introduce a few extra steps for those of us creating custom images.

So if your admin machine is x64 when you create an unattend for a custom image you have to create it against the RTM media. Then copy the resultant XML to the correct place for your x32 custom image to use when it is installed. Alternatively use an x32 workstation to create all your unattends.

 

This post was contributed by Richard Trusson, a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Services, UK.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hello TheKZA, We would need more information about your problem. Which version of MDT are you using? Is the XML file in C:minint ? Does the BDD.log file show it being copied there? Is this a media deployment or network based? Are you using SCCM SP2? cheers, Rich

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hello charles I have seen this before when I have a mismatch between OS and WAIK kit version. Make sure you are running RTM of both. cheers, Rich

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    So.. if I'm running x64 Windows Server 2008 R2 (redundant, I know) and I want to use MDT 2010 to build a light-touch "upgrade" (migration using USMT and hardlink migration) of Windows XP (x86) to Windows 7 (x86 OR x64), am I out of luck because MDT and WAIK are x64?  

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hello JD, there are no plans to fix this as this is the new behaviour. It simplifies maintaining the WAIK in the long run while adding a few more steps for us deployment guys. cheers, Rich

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Oh, now I see it!  Thanks Rich.  Now it make sense. I was looking at it the other way around. Thanks

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 27, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 27, 2009
    Ok so if I am reading the comments right...the above entry it wrong? So the correct answer is: x32 = 32 bit only x64 = 32 & 64 bit ??

  • Anonymous
    August 27, 2009
    I thought this might have solved the issue that I've been pulling my hair out over, but this morning I rebuilt my whole MDT environment on a x86 server with x86 WAIK, MDT and everything else, deploying a custom Win7 .wim through a task sequence, but I'm still getting the same error. At the beginning of the 'Install Operating System' phase, the task sequence errors with the message "Unable to find the file [C:MININTUnattend.xml]. Windows could not parse or process the unattend file" even though I have the unattend.xml in my Control folder. Can anyone shine a light on this? I'm going out of my mind!

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 10, 2009
    Would have been better if they just left the "copy profile" to function working....I wouldn't need to do use this stuff.. :()

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2009
    i get a the wimagpi.dll file is older than the WAIK kit installed in C:WINDOWSsystem32 on a Windows 2008 R2 64bit...

  • Anonymous
    January 26, 2010
    Excellent explanation. I have run into this many times and found the "work around" by servicing my images on my old (32 bit) server. At least now I know why I was getting this error. Dan V.

  • Anonymous
    May 20, 2011