Build Custom Windows 7 Image

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Let’s build custom Windows 7 image for our virtual environment. Images are used to install the same operating system and same programs to multiple machines. Imagine having a company environment with 20 machines. Do you really want to go from one PC to another doing the same thing: boot from DVD, install, wait, update, wait, install programs, wait, update, wait, setup, update…? Of course not. That’s why we build custom Windows 7 image – install it once and deploy it to other machines within minutes. Outline of the steps is as follows:

1. Install Windows 7 on a reference virtual machine (whose virtual disk will be reused).
2. Install all the applications you want your image to have, like Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, 7-Zip, etc.
3. Connect it to network and run Windows Update (several times).
4. When you’re satisfied with your image, it’s time for cleaning it up. We’ll enter Audit mode in which we can delete the user profile we used to configure the installation. Go to C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\ and run sysprep.exe as an administrator. You’ll get a GUI with menus. Under System Cleanup Action select Enter System Audit Mode. Uncheck the box for Generalize and select Reboot under Shutdown Options” menu. Hit OK. This will reboot the machine and automatically log in as Administrator account.

Sysprep Round 1 - Entering Audit Mode

5. In Audit mode we’ll do two things – remove user profile used for installation and delete that user:
   • Click Start, type user profile and select Configure advanced user profile properties. Delete the temporary account.
   • Click Start, type lusrmgr.msc and press Enter. When Local Users and Groups console opens up, double-click Users container. From the left pane, select temporary user’s name and delete it.
6. Now we’ll generalize the image (remove machine specific information like SID, drivers, etc.) and shutdown the machine. Again, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\ and run sysprep.exe as an administrator. Under System Cleanup Action select Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE). This time check the box for Generalize and select Shutdown under Shutdown Options menu. Hit OK. This could take a while. Your machine will shutdown as expected when this is done.

   Sysprep Round 2 - Generalize

DO NOT TURN ON YOUR REFERENCE MACHINE, you’ll undo everything you did so far. Since we’re working with virtual machines, we now have a base disk for multiple installations. Store it somewhere safe and don’t ever attach it to a virtual machine, only make copies of it.

If you’re working on a physical computer, you’ll need to boot into Windows PE (Pre-Execution Environment) and capture the image to .wim file with ImageX. Ben O’Sullivan has a great tutorial.

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