Windows Vista Team Blog

In Build 5728, we got to see examples of the kind of fit-and-finish the Windows Shell Team is making to Windows Vista as they progress toward RTM. I'd like to show you a few that I found. I imagine there is quite a bit more.

In “Computer”, you will notice that the “System Properties” and “Map Network Drive” icons have been changed from RC1.

The “Folder Options” dialog now has new icons instead of the old icons seen from Windows XP.

And when you access your user profile (“C:Users\<Your Name>”) you will notice new blue-style icons for the important system directories that are used to organize your data in your profile.

These are just a few examples and more to come as the Windows Shell Team is really working hard to make Windows Vista look stunning!

PC World got the conversation going on installation times in Windows Vista.  While they quote Jim Allchin that Windows Vista can take as little as 15 minutes to install, my installs have been more like 20 minutes (still rocking fast), so I thought I would talk with David D'Souza who manages our Deployment and Installation team to get some more information about the different deployment scenarios and their installation time.  In his own words ...

Hi, my name is David D’Souza and I am the Director of Development in the Windows Core OS Division. I run the development team responsible for the deployment technologies in Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Setup has dramatically improved since Windows XP.  This has been one of the deepest and most comprehensive investments Microsoft has made in deployment.  Our goal was to dramatically enhance the reliability and performance of OS deployment across end users, OEM, and Corporate scenarios.   Windows Vista deployment had to be fast and reliable across a wide variety of scenarios and it had to easily integrate into the deployment processes our customers already used. Generally, our internal goal that rolled this all together was “15 minute OS installation using imaging”.  Technically, we focused on three things:

1)       End to end tool set for local and remote image based deployment of Windows Vista.

2)       Reduction in number of images due to easy addition/removal of language packs and drivers.

3)       Modularization to facilitate agility in engineering, deploying, and servicing all the new Windows Vista flavors.

In this note, I will cover the first item.

 

Why Imaging

Ideally, installation of an operating system is two fairly simple steps. First, copy all the OS files to the hard disk. Second, configure the machine dependent files & registry settings such as security identifiers, machine name, and specific hardware drivers required for the system.  Install time should scale with the size & number of files in the operating system.

However, the software development process is structured around smaller, isolated, components – kernel, file system, shell - that combine to produce the full OS. Thus, our developers create an installation script that is a long list of individual components, each with their own state, configuration, and instructions for installation.  Each component copies its files, builds its databases, and individually adds its registry keys. This makes it easy for Windows developers to change one component without disturbing other components.  Unfortunately, this means install time scales with the number of components, files, and registry keys.  This is the process we used to install Windows XP.

Imaging allows us to execute the “slow” installation process internally at Microsoft and capture the resultant files and a list of machine dependent state.  Subsequent installs simply copy all the files – the OS image - and reconfigure the machine dependent state.  The imaging process allows us to have the best of both worlds – an agile internal software development process that is component centric and a final installation process that optimizes towards installing the full operating system. Additionally, imaging is highly reliable because significantly fewer & simpler operations are performed to install an image.  Imaging is the default installation process we use in Windows Vista.

How We Image

Windows Vista supports a collection of imaging tools & file formats to enable image based deployment by OEMs & Corporations.

Windows Imaging technologies (WIM) –  Also includes the Windows Image Format that contains all the files required to install the operating system.  WIMGAPI is an API set developers can use to read or write WIM image files so more tools can be developed around this. This is a file based imaging technology that enables a greater degree of hardware independence.

ImageX is the tool that allows users to capture a WIM image, edit certain files offline, deploy it onto a harddisk, and configure the machine dependent state so the OS boots & runs.

Setup provides a friendly user interface around ImageX to install the Windows image stored on the DVD. Setup can do a clean install or upgrade an existing operating system such as Windows XP or Windows Vista. When doing an upgrade, Setup first captures all your documents, settings, drivers, & applications, lays down the clean image, and then reapplies your state into the new OS.  Supporting upgrade scenarios via imaging ensured our imaging technology worked across a huge variety of hardware configurations.  This helps reduce the number of images corporations & OEMs need to maintain.

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) – is a server product that allows you to boot your bare metal PC from the network and install an image onto your hard disk.  This is primarily used by corporations & OEMs for large scale, remote image deployment.

Performance

Let’s first look at the overall performance numbers we are seeing from our latest RC builds:

Overall “Mode” External Installs		% of RC1 installs	Mean Time	Comments
All Clean Installs		100%	20 minutes	Overall clean installs using any mechanism described below
Clean Installs starting from XP		17%	26 minutes	Overall clean installs starting from XP (DVD, Net)
Clean installs starting from WinPE		82%	20 minutes	Boot from DVD or boot from external media (USB etc.)
Clean installs using WDS		1%	8 minutes	Windows Deployment Services (network boot) installs

 

This data represents Windows Vista Ultimate clean installation times across hundreds of thousands of RC1 installations on diverse hardware with varying DVD drives and network traffic. The time is based on the start of copying the files to the disk to the time the OS is ready to run – the time to enter the product key (PID), select your drive, and enter the language and do the performance check during OOBE is not included.

Overall, we come very close to our 15 minute install time goal across a broad array of hardware and installation mechanisms using the Windows Vista Ultimate product. There are many things that influence this time - speed of the network or dvd drive, the flavor of Windows Vista you install (Home is smaller than Ultimate), and the number of PnP devices on your system.

Additionally, we also support in place upgrades from Windows XP to Windows Vista. During an in place upgrade, we install the image and ensure your applications, drivers, settings, and documents are properly moved into Vista.  This process of finding and moving your state adds at least 30 minutes to the upgrade process. And some machines with large numbers of files, applications, or drivers can take up to 120 minutes.

The deployment team has put a lot of effort into the install process, and in some scenarios installation is going to be as short as 20 minutes and in others, it will be longer. I hope you all have a better understanding of installation and the great progress we have made. Please install RC1 and try it for yourself.  To get all the deployment tools I mentioned, go to connect.microsoft.com and download the Business Desktop Deployment solution (BDD 2007) – this has best practice guidance on how to use these tools as well.

A lot of folks have been pinging us with questions regarding release of the Windows Mobile Device Center.  Today I’d like to personally give you the heads-up that next week you will get your chance to download the new WMDC Beta and sync your mobile devices up with newer builds of Windows Vista.

When the Beta goes online, it will first be available only in English, with more language supported in short order.  Don't worry on this last count, as language support is indeed a priority.

In the meantime, here's an image of the start-up screen for your viewing pleasure:

Once the beta is available for download, I will let you know -- keep your eyes open!

Yet another fantastic post from Vinny Pasceri, Program Manager for the Windows Shell Team, appears over at the Windows Shell blog.  Vinny sheds some light on what is involved in the feature design process here at Microsoft.  He separates the process into three different parts:  Page 1, The Spec and Building the Feature.  Definitely a great way to understand the process we follow here at MS when designing and developing the features in our products.

Even better: Vinny's post actually includes a real feature spec for all to see!  Check out the original feature spec for the Windows Aero Wizard UI.

Another follow-up to my original post on Build 5728:  the Japanese download page for both 32- and 64-bit versions is live.

That means that this link is now active!

As a follow-up to last week's post on the WinFX version of the New York Times Reader, I've learned that the link allowing access to non-MS and non-NYT emails addresses is finally live -- phew!  Go here to see NYT's "First Look" page on the Reader, which will lead you to this page, where it's necessary to pre-register in order to gain access to the download.  (Unless you're already an NYT subscriber, that is.)

Per my post from last week, I've got some news for you regarding the release of interim build 5728:

1. The 64-bit version of build 5728 is now availabile in both German and English.
2. The window is rapidly closing for download of the English build, as we're nearing our targeted download quantity.  If you've not yet downloaded the build, I would suggest doing so today.

Thank you to all of our beta testers who've downloaded this build to date -- we didn't expect your response to be so rapid and enthusiastic!

Today we released an interim build of Windows Vista, also known as an EDW, or External Developer Workstation.  This build is number 5728 and serves as an update to RC1 and runs in parallel with that release.  The build is available to the public. 

Here's our official message to our testers:

Updated Test Build Available (September 2006):  Microsoft is looking for volunteers to help test an updated, interim release of Windows Vista.  This build (5728) has a number of improvements and updates from RC1, but has not been put through the same internal testing process as RC1.  We are making this release available for a limited time only in order to get broad distribution and testing in a variety of PC configurations.  Click here if you are interested in testing this release. Otherwise, please use the links below to download RC1 (build 5600).

You can get the new build in the following languages:

• English
• German
• Japanese

(Due to localization lead times, links to the German and Japanese downloads will not be ready at the same time as English, so please be patient.)

Links to ISO files for the new build will be labeled in this fashion: "Windows Vista RC1 update (5728), English 32-Bit Edition."

One more thing to note:  users of Toshiba models M400, M4 and M5 should do a clean install (not upgrade) of this build.

If you're interested in the seeing the changes that have been made since the release of RC1 on 1 September, then I'd encourage you to check out build 5728.

We heard you loud and clear when it came to discussing our plans to include a default start-up sound that plays as you boot-up Windows Vista:  you said you wanted to have the opportunity to mute it if and when you felt it necessary.  Your collective voice truly made a difference in this matter, as we've incorporated a way for users to turn off the start-up sound when it's more appropriate to boot silently -- be it when you're mobile, at home or in the office.

Here's a shot of the control panel that will allow you to enable/disable the start-up sound:

You may have read about the Times Reader back in April when it was previewed at the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention.  It’s now available for download to Windows Vista beta users!  The Times Reader enhances the onscreen reading experience through Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft’s advanced display technology in Windows Vista.  As readers change font or window size, the text dynamically redraws to optimize both readability and on-screen layout.  With WPF, the Times Reader can completely replicate the "look" of the print version of the NY Times, including fonts, typeface and layout, much more closely than its Web site now does.

It’s very cool; here are some hi-res screen shots.

Windows Test Manager Paul Donnelly just sent the mail below to Beta testers at connect.microsoft.com, and I was so fascinated with the maps he's generated representing where Windows Beta testers are located, I thought I'd share it with you:

I'm sure you've noticed people here in the newsgroups from all over the globe.  When we put this program together one of our goals is diversity that closely mirrors that of our customers as much as possible.  We've hit all our targets and have a truly global program.  I realize only a fraction of people are active in the newsgroups and you never get to interact with and learn about most testers. The below will help you get an idea of where we get feedback from and where Windows Vista is being tested.  The below represents just the Technical Beta Program and is current as of 2 weeks ago.

 

Interesting facts:

• We have approximately 30,000 Vista Beta testers in this program now.
• There are Windows Vista beta testers in 125 countries.
• We have testers in all 50 U.S. States, Puerto Rico, Guam and several other U.S. locations.
• Exactly 50% of our testers are somewhere other than the U.S.
• The northernmost person appears to be in Fairbanks, Alaska at 64.85 degrees N. latitude though it's a close call with a person in Iceland.
• The southernmost person appears to be in the Kerguelen Islands at 49.56 degrees S latitude.
• We have 1 person on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.
• We also have a person in the Tuamoto archipelago which is almost exactly half-way between South America and Australia.
• If we had someone in the Yukon and someone in Labrador/Newfoundland we would have all Canadian provinces and territories represented.
• In the U.S. we have testers in over 6,000 zip codes, or well over 10% of all zip codes in the U.S.

Notes:

• We do not have street address granularity in some parts of the world.  In that case pushpins appear at the postal code, city or province levels and all testers in that set will cluster at 1 pushpin.
• There is a roughly 15% failure rate for pushpin creation due to the complexities of matching addresses globally.
• I kept most [map images] at 1024x768 but a couple are larger for more detail.
• I created these using Microsoft MapPoint 2006.  You can find more info here.

View of the World

 

North America

Canada - West

Canada - East

 

United States

United States - Atlantic States

United States - Midwest

United States - North Central

United States - Northeast

United States - Pacific Northwest

United States - South Central

United States - Southeast

United States - Southwest

United States - Alaska

United States - Hawaii

 

Europe

Europe

Benelux and Germany

UK

Scandinavia

 

Asia

China

Japan and Korea

 

Down under:

Australia

New Zealand

 

Other Areas:

Pacific Ocean

Caribbean

Central America

South America

Middle East

Africa

It's pretty cool to see that we've got so much of the world represented by our testers!

Our friends at the Microsoft RSS Team Blog have pointed out the announcement by NewsGator’s Nick Harris of the new NewsGator Desktop Sync Beta.  Their Desktop Sync Beta will sync RSS feeds you've saved in the Windows RSS Feed Store (in both Windows Vista or IE7 for Windows XP) with your NewsGator Online account.

If you have a NewsGator Online account, download the beta and give it a shot.  If you don’t have a NewsGator Online account, you can sign up at their site.

This is great example of an application designed to take advantage of new technology native to Windows Vista.

Over at the Windows Shell blog, Program Manager Vinny Pasceri explains the balance necessary to be struck in order to complete the UI polish, or "fit-and-finish", of Windows Vista's UI.  Questions like "will it affect the user’s habits in a bad way?" must always be faced when changing any part of the user interface -- a UI to which Windows users have grown much accustomed.

Don Vronay, Research Manager for the Windows User Experience Compliance Team, is taking feedback on the "fit-and-finish" of Windows Vista.  If you want to add your two cents to the on-going Windows Vista UI discussion, head over to their "Rants and Raves" forum and share your side of the story.

An update from the Mobile and Embedded Devices Team:  The Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) Application is an independent application apart from Windows Vista.  Windows Vista RC1 includes the WMDC driver which enables you to sync music, acquire pictures and browse the contents of your device.  The full WMDC application enables you to synchronize email, contacts, calendar appointments and more.  The RC version of WMDC for Vista RC1 will ship very soon, while at this time WMDC is only available for Vista Beta 2.

A message from my colleague Aseem on the Defect Prevention team:

With the release of Windows Vista RC1, the product teams are eager to hear what you think.  Visit the Windows Vista Scenario Voting site to explore Windows Vista and let the teams know about your experience.  For RC1 users, we have created a special voting category called "Is Windows Vista Ready?"  Here you can provide your satisfaction on nine overall attributes of Windows Vista.  You can also vote on the same nine attributes for Windows XP to compare and contrast between the two.

I urge RC1 users to vote.  We want to take your opinion into account when we decide to ship Windows Vista.

For RC1 we have also added a new Scenario Voting feature that allows users to suggest new scenarios.  We want to learn more about what you do with Windows Vista, so if you see something that is missing from our list, go ahead and add it.  We will share your entries with product teams and planners to ensure we are focusing on the right things.  To suggest a scenario, select "Add a new Scenario" on the Windows Vista Scenario Voting site menu.

All the feedback you are supplying is truly making an impact and is shaping one of the widest-used products in the World.  For this I want to personally thank you!

-Aseem Badshah

Scenario Voting Intern