How best to deploy an image onto a VM

[Coup27]

I couldn't find a forum for this so I guess it is loosely related to storage.

A friend of mine is being asked by his customer to provide 3 identical laptops as part of an overall software project. The customer wants to purchase a single licence for some expensive PLC programming software and to activate it on a virtual machine running XP Pro. They then want that VM image deploying on the other two laptops. I have informed him that this most likely goes against the licence agreement but thats not really my problem.

I want to know the best way to achieve this? The laptops will be sold running Windows 7 Pro x64. I know this offers XP mode but that will be fine for laptop 1, but I don't think you could image the VM afterwards? Could I just image the whole HDD, deploy it on laptop 2 and change the Windows 7 licence key to the correct one?

If I used VirtualBox instead, could I image the first VM and deploy it just within VirtualBox?

Any ideas or assistance is much appreciated.

 

[ZeroRift]

I know this offers XP mode but that will be fine for laptop 1, but I don't think you could image the VM afterwards?

XP mode installs to a VHD located on a directory within the host machine. You can boot to a VHD using some fancy command line fu (bcdedit) and take an image, or you could just copy the VHD file to the other machines instead.

Could I just image the whole HDD, deploy it on laptop 2 and change the Windows 7 licence key to the correct one?

This is the best solution IMO. You'll have your VMs set up the same across each laptop since the VM files are a part of the host image. This will maintain your Windows 7 configuration as well, so you only have to do the job once.

If I used VirtualBox instead, could I image the first VM and deploy it just within VirtualBox?

You could. I generally prefer VirtualBox to Windows Virtual PC for personal use, but third party programs can be confusing to the average user. Virtual PC integrates nicely into the Windows shell, making the user experience better if you just need an application or two.

 

[lopri]

I don't see why not. One of the biggest attractions of VMs for me was their portability. You can simply copy the VHD around as long as you don't change the VM configurations (if you do that the vOS might ask for reactivation)

 

[hhhd1]

try something like vmware player which is free, then after installing 1 virtual machine copy its file folder over to the others.

all the virtual machine files will be present in the same directory.

 

[imagoon]

For 3 machines it would be a waste of time to build a syspreped Windows 7 install unless the applications being installed takes hours. The XP machine is just a VHD and could be freely moved form machine to machine.

Do not just ghost Windows 7 on to multiple laptops. You will security ID issues and the local IT guy will hate you because you didn't bother to do it right and he has to fix it.

 

[Coup27]

Do not just ghost Windows 7 on to multiple laptops. You will security ID issues and the local IT guy will hate you because you didn't bother to do it right and he has to fix it.

Thanks for the replies people. Can you elaborate on this point as I don't fully get it. When large corps setup lots of machines do they not just use a standard image with software using VLK's?

 

[Hardlin]

Our imaging process uses an image created with MDT and Sysprep'd to make sure they get a unique security ID each time the image is laid down. We don't just image one system and then put that image on all 30k of our desktops/laptops.

You could use the same image on all of the systems if the image is completely contained within the VM and doesn't access any network resources. You would still need a license for each system you run it on.

 

[Coup27]

Would it therefore be better to keep the original Windows 7 install from each laptop, install VirtualBox, and then copy over my virtual image file?

 

[imagoon]

Thanks for the replies people. Can you elaborate on this point as I don't fully get it. When large corps setup lots of machines do they not just use a standard image with software using VLK's?

You need to sysprep / use the deployment tools before you ghost to remove duplicate IDs. On the next reboot it would look like the [auto]setup is running again. This cleans up those issues.

 

[Coup27]

I've used imaging a lot but it has always been on a domestic single machine backup and restore process and I have little knowledge of multi machine deployment. I know what sysrep and WDS are, and programs like GSS and Acronis Snap Deploy but I have not really used them. Would you mind explaining in a bit more depth the problem you are describing?

 

[imagoon]

I give you this:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/11/03/3291024.aspx

However realize that at the time it was written it was true that the SID didn't matter. However:

[random example]
http://www.wsus.info/index.php?showtopic=11696

Duplicate SID issues appear in products that use the SID. WSUS is one example. SCCM is another.

Also duplicate SID's on Windows server OS's can wreck a domain if 2 of the same are promoted to Domain Controllers. All in all it is best to simply sysprep and avoid the issues.

 

[Engineer]

try something like vmware player which is free, then after installing 1 virtual machine copy its file folder over to the others.

all the virtual machine files will be present in the same directory.

This. Use VMWare VCenter converter to make an image and then run with VMWare Player. I run all kinds of PLC software on images from my work laptop (XP Pro) at home on my Windows 7 PC's. Not sure if that will do the trick as communications with the PLC may be effected but it's worth a shot. I have found no PLC software that wouldn't run in the VM and most if not all have transferred the licenses in the VM (no reactivation).



Good luck.

 

[kmmatney]

"try something like vmware player which is free, then after installing 1 virtual machine copy its file folder over to the others."

I second this. VM player is very fast and feature rich and free. Once you create one VM, you can just copy over the VM folder to the other machines. I run about 20 VMs for various customers going back 15 years, and VM player is very good, and you can't beat the price.

 

[Coup27]

Is it that much better than VirtualBox?