Datasheet

16
ChAPTeR 1 Windows Server 2008 R2 Deployment Secrets
NO TE All feature names are case sensitive.
ADDINg uPDATES TO IMAgES
Every month Microsoft publishes new updates, some of which need to be deployed
to computers running Windows Server 2008 R2. Something that you have to take
into account when you are thinking about deployment is whether or not you want to
include all the currently released updates in the deployment image or whether you
want to have the server retrieve all necessary updates after the installation process
has completed. Having the server retrieve all those updates and install them can sub-
stantially add to your deployment time.
You can use DISM.exe to add updates to a mounted image. To do this, copy all the
updates that have the .MSU extension into the same folder. After all the updates are
in the same folder, use DISM.exe with the /Add-Package switch. For example, to add
all the updates in the c:\updates directory to the Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
Edition image mounted in the directory earlier, issue the command:
Dism.exe /image:c:\mount /add-package /packagepath:c:\updates\
All of the updates that are added to the image are applied automatically at the end
of the installation routine. This is likely to add to the amount of time it takes for the
installation routine to complete but uses less time than having each server download
the updates from your WSUS server or Microsoft Update server and then install them.
As updates are released each month, you can use this simple procedure to perform an
ofine update of your deployment image.
Unfortunately, you don’t apply service packs to images in the same way that you
apply updates. Because Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 use a different type of
image than previous versions of Windows, you can no longer “slipstream” service
packs. When the Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack becomes available, you should
obtain an updated operating system image from Microsoft that includes the new ser-
vice pack.
It is, of course, possible to build an updated image and then capture it using a
utility such as ImageX.exe, but whether this is worth the effort when the updated
image will be available for download is a decision that only you can make.
In fact, if

you don’t come
up with a way
to incorporate
updates into your
image, you’ll
eventually find that
it takes longer
to perform the
post-installation
update process
than it takes to
actually install the
operating system in
the first place!
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