Understanding Setup

To automate Windows Setup, you must first understand the installation process. Knowing the underlying process will help you understand the decisions you must make when developing Windows 7 for deployment.

The Windows 7 installation process is simple. All editions of Windows 7 use the same installation image (Install.wim in the Sources folder of the installation media), but Microsoft is shipping edition-specific media. As a result, you can install only one edition of Windows 7 through the user interface, but you can use an Unattend.xml file to install a different edition. The installation process is divided into three phases: Windows PE, Online Configuration, and Windows Welcome.

Windows Setup runs in phases, which the following ...

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