Windows XP: Check IT List

Slipstreaming allows you to merge current hotfixes, service packs and application updates into an existing installation base, such as Windows XP, with or without Service Pack 1. To slipstream and custom tailor a master installation image suitable for your business needs, you must create an efficient and effective means of establishing order on desktops across your entire organization.

A properly slipstreamed and updated Windows XP base image expedites the process of building new desktops or rebuilding new desktops from old installations. Though it provides a ready-made pattern complete with all the appropriate tailoring for custom builds, a standard baseline image also defines system configurations for the entire organization, managing all the details at once. PC vendors and suppliers such as Dell, Gateway and Lenovo use similar practices for system recovery on computers sent out on loan or returned for re-use or re-sale in an unknown state.

A slipstreamed and custom base image also enables you to put desktops back in service more quickly should spyware or a worm overrun networks, workstations or servers. Occasionally, a piece of malware is so damaging that it warrants the fdisk-format-reinstall procedure. In many cases, there is little else one can do to ensure complete removal of suspect code from a PC. For example, Windows rootkits are not easily eradicated. By backing up data files and other safe holdings, then duplicating a well-maintaine

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d master image onto the existing volume, you can sidestep the painstaking cleanup efforts.

A basic checklist

These steps will help you construct a well-defined master baseline image:

When you have created a workable base installation, you can slowly introduce the most critical (and most time-consuming) packages into the baseline image. Usually this means updating drivers and applying software patches, which may be automated or simplified using vendor tools such as Intel's Chipset Software Installation Utility. Modern motherboards often include vendor-specific firmware update utilities. All of these tools can be automated and scripted, thereby avoiding time and effort spent on their manual use.

One handy utility designed expressly for building images is called nLite. It's billed as a deployment tool for unattended installation of Windows images. NLite helps to streamline the slipstreaming process by providing all necessary capability within a comprehensive user interface. Additional plug-ins are available to extend its basic functionality; some can even prioritize service pack applications.

Baselining allows IT organizations to rethink how they spend their time recovering from disasters or keeping abreast of current technologies, so that they may focus on the tasks at hand.

Ed Tittel is a full-time freelance writer and trainer based in Austin, Texas. He specializes in markup languages, information security and IT certifications. Justin Korelc is a longtime Linux hacker who concentrates on hardware and software security topics. They contributed to a recent book on home theater PCs and are currently working on books about gaming PCs and the Linux-based MythTV multimedia environment.