Windows ADK Overview

The following tools are available in the Windows ADK:

This scenario models the work of OEMs and IT professionals who customize and automate the large-scale installation of Windows, such as on a factory floor, or across an organization. The Windows ADK supports this work with the deployment tools that were previously released as part of the OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) and the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK). The deployment tools in the Windows ADK help you to perform the following tasks:

• Create a customized Windows PE environment that you can use to deploy Windows to computers.
  
  
• Customize aspects of Windows and add your own branding, applications, and settings by using Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM).
  
  
• Keep Windows up to date with the latest updates, language packs, and drivers by using Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management Tool (DISM).
  
  
• Identify application compatibility issues by using the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT).
  
  
• Migrate user data between Windows installations by using User State Migration Tool (USMT).
  
  
• Manage volume activation of Windows by using Volume Activation Management Toolkit (VAMT).
  
  

This scenario models the work of OEMs, IHVs, and IT professionals who measure the operational characteristics of a computer, including its performance, reliability, and functionality. Assessments help you make these measurements, diagnose problems, and determine how to make improvements. Assessments can help reduce costs by identifying potential issues as you create your hardware and software experiences. By using these tools, you can help ensure that the hardware and software that you develop are responsive and of high quality.

Assessments help you perform the following tasks:

• Assess performance aspects of a single computer using the Windows® Assessment Console.
  
  
• Assess performance aspects of multiple computers in a networked or lab environment using Windows® Assessment Services.
  
  

The Windows Assessment Console and Windows Assessment Services tools help you measure the following characteristics:

• Manufacturing and deployment readiness
  
  
• System start-up and shut-down performance
  
  
• The out-of-box end user experience
  
  
• Media streaming and photo file browsing
  
  
• System idle and overall energy efficiency
  
  

For a complete list available assessments, see the Windows Assessment Toolkit Technical Reference.

The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) enables IT professionals to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying a new version of Windows or a new version of Internet Explorer. New features include:

• Application Compatibility Manager (ACM) is significantly updated and is now the functional centerpiece of ACT.
  
  
• The new Runtime Analysis Package (RAP) gathers compatibility information and replaces the issue detectors and down-level agents from previous ACT releases. RAP runs in the background on the computers where application testing is being performed.
  
  
• Inventory collection now supports inventories of 64-bit applications and ActiveX issues, and other Internet Explorer add-ons.
  
  
• Application compatibility information is now focused on operating system deployment. Compatibility information for updates has been removed.
  
  

For more information, see Application Compatibility Toolkit.

You can use the following tools to customize Windows images and to automate installation and image management.

Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) enables you to capture, apply, and service Windows images. DISM has the following new features:

• Command-line options to capture, apply, and mount an image file. This functionality was previously available in the ImageX tool. ImageX is deprecated in this release.
  
  
• DISM PowerShell cmdlets, which enable you to use PowerShell to create and deploy images.
  
  
• Support for mounting and servicing Virtual Hard Disk (.vhd) files and Windows Imaging Format (.wim) files.
  
  
• A new API to enable programmatic management of Windows images.
  
  

Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) enables you to create answer files to use during Windows deployment.

Windows Help & Support Customization Tools enable you to customize the Windows help experience. You can customize three pages in Help and Support: Home, Escalation, and the new Browse page. On these pages you can add your information, links to FAQs, and links to your top-level custom topics, so customers can find the Help they need without picking up the phone. New features include:

• A new help & support framework allows you to use XHTML to author help pages for inclusion with the Windows 8 help content.
  
  
• Easily add your custom help content to the Windows 8 help collection by packaging up your files in a .zip file.
  
  

For more information, see Deployment Tools.

User State Migration Tool (USMT) allows IT professionals to migrate user data from a previous installation of Windows to a new installation.USMT has the following new features:

• Two new command-line options for the UsmtUtils tool:
  
  
  • /verify. Verifies the status of each file in a compressed migration store. The default summary report lists the number of files that are intact and the number of files that are corrupted. It can also list all files, only the corrupted files, or only the catalog file.
    
    
  • /extract. Extracts all files from a compressed migration store, including files that become corrupted during the migration. This option can also extract specific files.
    
    
• Improved error management:
  
  
  • A USMT error summary in the ScanState and LoadState log files helps you understand error messages and correct the errors.
    
    
  • When using the /c parameter in the ScanState and LoadState tools, a new return code indicates that non-fatal, unexpected errors were ignored during the migration process, so that you can decide whether to perform additional review.
    
    

For more information, see User State Migration Tool.

Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) enables IT professionals to automate and centrally manage the activation of Windows®, Windows Server®, and Microsoft® Office 2010. VAMT provides the following new features:

• A new, three-pane user interface in which you can easily perform the following volume activation and license management tasks:
  
  
  • Select a menu item to see the actions that apply to that item.
    
    
  • Select a Windows or Office product to see a list of all of the computers in the database on which that product is installed, and the license status of each computer.
    
    
  • Click a computer name listed in one of the Volume Licensing Reports or Products lists to see details about installed products, product versions, and license status.
    
    
  • Select product keys that have been assigned to your organization, as well as the number of remaining activations available for each key.
    
    
• Computer information is now stored in a Microsoft SQL Server® database, providing better performance for larger sets of data. We recommend using SQL Server 2008 R2, but VAMT also supports SQL Server Express.
  
  
• Five new Volume Licensing reports enable you to view the licensing status of every computer in the database, including:
  
  
  • The products that are at risk for entering an unlicensed state.
    
    
  • Computers that have a duplicate Computer Machine ID (CMID). This can occur when Sysprep was not run against a Windows installation before the image was captured.
    
    
  • The current state of usage of the MAK keys.
    
    
  • The products that are currently in an unlicensed state.
    
    
  • A list of the computers that are activated through KMS and those that are activated through AD.
    
    
• Better multiple-key management to save time with the capability of importing multiple keys at once, including the ability to import keys from a file.
  
  

For more information, see Volume Activation Management Tool.

Windows Assessments help you assess the performance, reliability, or functionality of a running operating system, or a set of features, so that you can diagnose problems and make improvements. This feature is new in Windows 8, and consists of the following tools:

• Assessment Lab Management Console
  
  This tool automates measurement of performance, reliability and functionality, in a lab environment on multiple computers. You can install this tool on a computer that runs a Windows client or server operating system. The tool interacts with Windows Assessment Services, which must be installed on a computer that runs Windows Server.
  
  
• Results Database Tools
  
  These tools interact with Windows Assessment Services (Windows AS) and Windows Assessment Services-Client to manage the result files that other tools produce after assessing a computer.
  
  

For more information, see Windows Assessment Toolkit and Windows Assessment Services.

These tools provide in-depth information enabling you to analyze and trace system and application performance.

• Windows Performance Analyzer shows traces from Windows Performance Recorder and shows assessments created by the Windows Assessment Platform. Windows Performance Analyzer offers the following new features:
  
  
  • Recording controlled through the UI.
    
    
  • Simplified command-line syntax.
    
    
• Windows Performance Recorder, which replaces Xperf and is based on Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). Windows Performance Recorder offers these new features:
  
  
  • Powerful new UI with dynamically synchronized graphs and summary tables.
    
    
  • Issues window to help identify problems on the system.
    
    
  • Ability to zoom in on a time interval to see greater detail.
    
    
  • Full text search capabilities in summary tables.
    
    
  • WPRControlAPI enables you to write applications that interact with Windows Performance Recorder.
    
    

For more information, see Windows Performance Analysis Tools.

Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) is a minimal operating system designed to prepare a computer for installation and servicing of Windows. Windows PE has enhanced image management command-line scripts. CopyPE.cmd creates and populates working directories, and renames the base image. Makewinpemedia.cmd creates a bootable Windows PE image on removable media.  Windows PE includes new optional components, including .NET Framework 4 (WinPE-NetFX4), PowerShell (winPE-PowerShell3), Internet SCSI (WinPE-iSCSICmdlets) and others. A new command line option for WPEUtilWaitForNetwork instructs Windows PE to wait for the network card to be initialized. This new option is helpful when you run scripts to ensure that the network settings are initialized.

For more information, see Windows Preinstallation Environment.