Today’s blog post is around Windows 7/2008 R2 SP1 Installation along with Internet Explorer 9. As you all aware when you install Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1, the default browser is Internet Explorer 8. Now, when you want to install Internet Explorer 9, there are several steps involved depending upon how do you choose to install IE 9. If you are downloading IE 9 package from the Internet and run the installation on a single machine it will download all the necessary pre-requisite packages and then performs the installation. Well, for a single machine that’s fine but what about large scale deployments in Enterprises, it will be difficult. In these cases, we prefer to integrate the Internet Explorer 9 packages with the Windows 7/2008 R2 installation media. Hence, when you deploy Windows OS, IE 9 packages is installed as a part of OS installation. You do not need to manually install it later on.
Following are the different deployment options available for IE 9 in your Organization or individual machines. I am covering the Image based deployment today, i.e. using Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM)
In this post I am going to talk about Slipstreaming Internet Explorer 9 packages using Windows 7/2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Installation Media/DVD. So what is Slipstreaming, well you can read this Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipstream_(computing) Basically, Slipstreaming is a process of integrating patches, service packs into the main installation media, in this example Windows Operating System Files. To begin with first understand what are pre-requisite packages for installing IE 9. You can find the list of packages required for specific OS over here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh147968.aspx (Internet Explorer 9 Preinstallation Techniques)
Internet Explorer 9 Prerequisites for specific OS
- For Windows 7, the following prerequisites must be installed: KB2454826, KB2484033, KB2488113, KB2467023, and KB2505438. These prerequisites are available in the Internet Explorer 9 .iso file.
- For Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), the following prerequisites must be installed: KB2484033, KB2488113, and KB2505438. These prerequisites are available in the Internet Explorer 9 .iso file.
- For Windows Server® 2008 R2, the following prerequisites must be installed: KB2454826, KB2484033, KB2488113, KB2467023, and KB2505438. Another update, KB2483177, is not required, but without this update installed media codecs will not be available. This update requires that Desktop Experience is enabled. These prerequisites are available in the Internet Explorer 9 .iso file.
- For Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, the following prerequisites must be installed: KB2484033, KB2488113, and KB2505438. Another update, KB2483177, is not required, but without this update installed media codecs will not be available. This update requires that Desktop Experience is enabled. These prerequisites are available in the Internet Explorer 9 .iso file.
Before you begin collect the necessary files. There are several steps involved for slipstreaming IE 9 packages into Windows Installation Media. In this example I will slipstream Internet Explorer 9 x64 package into Windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition Media available via Retail channels. However, the same is applicable for Enterprise Edition as well as for all the full editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 media.
- Download the pre-requisite packages to a specific directory. In my example I have copied them to D:\IE9\IE9PRE directory
- Download Internet Explorer 9 Installer & Language Packs (Optional) from this link http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-9/worldwide-languages
- In this example I have downloaded IE 9 x64 package for Windows 7 (IE9-Windows7-x64-enu.exe) and extracted the .CAB file from this installer to D:\IE9\IE9EXT directory. To extract the .CAB file from the package use this command D:\>IE9-Windows7-x64-enu.exe /X:D:\IE9EXT (This command will extract the IE9-Win7.CAB & few other files file in the D:\IE9EXT folder, we need only IE9-Win7.CAB file) For details explaining the same visit http://blogs.technet.com/b/aviraj/archive/2011/10/14/windows-internet-explorer-9-installer-command-line-options.aspx
- Copy all the content from Windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition DVD to D:\Windows7SP1x64 directory & also create a empty directory called D:\MOUNT. You can use any of the available drives but accordingly choose the path in the command. In my example I have created D:\MOUNT for mounting install.wim image contents.
- To perform the slipstream process, we need to run DISM.EXE command. This is available as a part of Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit (Windows OPK). If you are an OEM build you can get Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit (Windows OPK) For other Enterprises/Individuals you can install Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) You can download WAIK for Windows 7 here and Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) Supplement for Windows® 7 SP1 from here. WAIK contains all the necessary files. In this example I will be using WAIK to perform the same.
Now we are ready to perform our slipstreaming process. It’s a 3 step process. Let’s get going.
Step 1: Mount the install.wim file to a specific local folder along with specific Edition or all editions. The install.wim is located in the \Sources Directory on the Windows Installation Media. In this example we will mount ULTIMATE Edition to D:\MOUNT directory.
Get the Windows7/Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD Media & copy all files locally to D:\Windows7SP1x64. Now, go to Start –> All Programs –> Microsoft Windows AIK and launch Deployment Tools Command Prompt
Then, run the following command to see available editions on the Windows Installation DVD Media
This will show you following editions available. Note: In case of Enterprise edition there will be just 1.
Now, that we know how many editions available on the DVD media, let’s mount Ultimate Edition that has Index Number 4. Run this command to mount the Ultimate Edition files to D:\MOUNT
Step 2: Import the Pre-Requisite Packages located in the D:\IE9\IE9PRE directory and Internet Explorer 9 Package (IE9-Win7.CAB) located in the D:\IE9\IE9EXT to the mounted WIM File in the specific local folder.
Use the following command to import the Pre-requisites to the image mounted on D:\MOUNT
Use the following command to import the Internet Explorer 9 Package to the image mounted on D:\MOUNT
Step 3: Un-mount the install.wim using the /commit switch so the changes would be saved in the installation media
Once completed, you can use the WIM file to deploy Windows OS using bootable USB Drive or using WDS (Windows Deployment Server)
Here is the list of all the commands I used on 1 picture.
You can use the following sample script for slipstreaming the IE 9 package for all editions of Windows 7 x64 Retail DVD Media.
Save the file as IE9_SS_X64.BAT
@echo off
cls
mkdir C:\WIM
C:\IE9.exe /x:C:\IE9
erase /F /Q "C:\IE9\IE9_SUPPORT.CAB"
dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\DVD\sources\install.wim /index:4 /MountDir:C:\WIM
dism /Image:C:\WIM /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\IE9
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\WIM /commit
dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\DVD\sources\install.wim /index:3 /MountDir:C:\WIM
dism /Image:C:\WIM /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\IE9
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\WIM /commit
dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\DVD\sources\install.wim /index:2 /MountDir:C:\WIM
dism /Image:C:\WIM /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\IE9
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\WIM /commit
dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\DVD\sources\install.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\WIM
dism /Image:C:\WIM /Add-Package /PackagePath:C:\IE9
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\WIM /commit
erase /F /Q "C:\IE9.exe"
RD /S /Q "C:\WIM"
RD /S /Q "C:\IE9"
pause
exit
For detailed demonstration you can watch my Zeollar Session covering the same http://www.zeollar.com/Session/275
Enjoy
