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Inside Vista's Image-Based Install Process

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the how-the-whole-bloody-thing-works dept.

KrispyGlider writes "Vista's installation process is dramatically different from any previous version of Windows: rather than being an 'installer,' the install DVD is actually a preinstalled copy of Windows that simply gets decompressed onto your PC. It is hardware agnostic, so it can adjust to different systems, and you can also install your own apps into it so that your Vista install becomes a full system image install. APCMag.com has published an interview with a Microsoft Australia tech specialist on the inner workings of it as well as a story that looks at some of the pros and cons of image-based installs."

4 of 519 comments (clear)

  1. File based imaging format?!?! by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    However, all this is about to change. Windows Vista is based entirely around Microsoft's Windows Imaging Format (or WIM), a file-based imaging standard rather than a sector-based. this means that the image isn't a bit-for-bit image of your disk layout, and hence you can apply the image to a new system without destroying the contents of the hard drive.

    Wow how revolutionary.

    Oh, hang on a second while I untar this archive....

  2. By the time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Vista's released, won't DVDs be obsolete anyway?

    Maybe they can put both Vista and Duke Nuke Em 3D on the same HD-DVD/BluRay disc when they're released in a few years.

  3. Re:dual boot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Windows users [like me] just don't run Linux, e.g. not an issue.

  4. Re:dual boot? by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Dual booting is for people who can't really decide why they bought a PC in the first place."
    And generalizations are for people who can't see uses for things outside of their own realm...

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"