Windows Vista: Deployment

Applies To: Windows Vista

This collection provides deployment and migration step-by-step guidance for the Windows Vista® operating system as well as information about the User State Migration Tool (USMT) 3.0, Multilingual User Interface (MUI), Windows Deployment Services (WDS), Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK), and Volume Activation 2.0.

Technical Guidance

The following documents provide guidance on how to optimally deploy or migrate to Windows Vista.

How to Start a Windows Vista Pilot Deployment

Windows Vista Deployment Step-by-Step Guide

Windows Vista Migration Step-by-Step Guide

Step-by-Step Guide for Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2003

Multilingual User Interface

The following documents provide information and instructions for building a custom multilingual installation of Windows Vista operating system.

Guide to Windows Vista Multilingual User Interface

Windows Vista Multilingual User Interface Step-by-Step Guide

User State Migration

USMT migrates user files and settings during large deployments of Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. The following document provides information on getting started with USMT.

User State Migration Tool 3.0

Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK)

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is designed to help corporate IT professionals customize and deploy Windows Vista operating systems. By using the Windows AIK, you can perform unattended Windows installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, and create Windows PE images.

This Windows AIK documentation describes the concepts and procedures used to configure and deploy Windows. Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=96105

To download the Windows AIK tools, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=79385.

To review the latest known issues and workarounds, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98410.

To review the Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) tools and documentation, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=46852.

Volume Activation 2.0 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Volume Activation 2.0, the new method of activation designed for volume license customers, is a set of technical and policy related solutions provided by Microsoft’s Software Protection Platform. Volume Activation (VA) 2.0 is a configurable solution that helps IT professionals automate and manage the product activation process of Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 systems licensed under volume licensing. VA 2.0 helps manage and increase the protection of volume license keys in both managed and unmanaged environments. VA 2.0 eliminates the use of product keys at the time of software installation and enables better protection and management of customer-specific product keys through new and enhanced activation management tools. Volume Activation 2.0 should be integrated into Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 deployment.

For information covering Planning, Deployment and Operations of Volume Activation 2.0, go to https://www.microsoft.com/technet/volumeactivation

To download the Volume Activation 2.0 documentation, go to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75674.

To see a demo of Volume Activation 2.0 including activation options, go to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=104707.

Volume Activation 2.0 is integrated with Microsoft Deployment solutions.

User Account Control

This content describes step-by-step procedures for using User Account Control (UAC) in a test environment.

User Account Control Step-by-Step Guide