joshrosen
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Boot from a virtual PC image
I am trying to find a way to create an image in virtual PC and then boot from it. I have over a 100 clients all over the US and for disaster purposes I want to create a Virtual pc with all the software they need which would be less than a DVD then in case of a HD crash they could put the CD in and boot the image, or boot the image over the network. Is there a way to do this? So that they can be operational while we get the hardware fixed.
Win7 supports boot from VHD - never set it up though. And it's not supposed to support booting from VHDs that were once Virtual Machines, as I understand it.
I would suggest A Terminal Server (are the "clients" in the sense of computers connecting to the same server network or are these clients as in individual companies/people you support)?
I would suggest A Terminal Server (are the "clients" in the sense of computers connecting to the same server network or are these clients as in individual companies/people you support)?
ASKER
Indavidual Companies all with their own server same OS same hardware on client and server side. How would you boot into a terminal server session?
I wouldn't - if these were all once company's clients (as in employees on a client-server network) I might setup a terminal server for people to use. VDI is another option, but would require high speed connections between sites.
I wish you luck in this, because what you're asking for, to me, makes little sense.
In properly setup networks, you should be able to have any employee sit at any computer. Certain exceptions may apply (like Accounting programs), but for "critical" and/or unique systems, get a Windows Home Server and setup backup so you can easily restore the machine to a new box.
Creating a virtual PC doesn't make much sense to me... would you copy the VHD off the machine if the motherboard failed and try to boot it off another system? If so, why not just swap hard drives (which is another point - if the machines can be made standard OR you can use Windows 7 or Vista then the hardware variances don't matter as much and you can just get a new/old machine otherwise meeting minimum specs and boot the hard drive from the failed system.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding your desired goal... If so, please feel free to elaborate.
I wish you luck in this, because what you're asking for, to me, makes little sense.
In properly setup networks, you should be able to have any employee sit at any computer. Certain exceptions may apply (like Accounting programs), but for "critical" and/or unique systems, get a Windows Home Server and setup backup so you can easily restore the machine to a new box.
Creating a virtual PC doesn't make much sense to me... would you copy the VHD off the machine if the motherboard failed and try to boot it off another system? If so, why not just swap hard drives (which is another point - if the machines can be made standard OR you can use Windows 7 or Vista then the hardware variances don't matter as much and you can just get a new/old machine otherwise meeting minimum specs and boot the hard drive from the failed system.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding your desired goal... If so, please feel free to elaborate.
se VMware ACE for this kind of purpose. Place image on a flash drive, they plug it into any computer (home, new, whatever) and they are up and running.
http://www.vmware.com/products/ace/
http://www.vmware.com/products/ace/
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Ok Kenneniah I like this so far is it expensive. As for the post from leew This is indavidual every site has its own domain and own workstations and in turn its own image for each site independant from the others. We just use a cookie cutter instalation which makes all these sites identical but indavidual at the same time. So in theroy I can have a workstation instalation image not joined to a domain that could work at every location due to the fact that everyone has the same hardware just diffrent computer names.
Option 1:
If you have domain and server 2008 start WDS service and capture one of yours win7 to wim file (read manuals of Windows AIK and imagex). Open wim file in WDS and you have installation of customized win7 available for installation over network (via PXE boot). If client's hdd fails (for example) you can replace hdd and install win7 over network in 30min and you will have all custom apps included.
Option 2:
VHD option requires Win7 Ent or Ultimate. You can use disk management to create and to attach VHD. Latter, when things go bad, you can use diskpart to deploy on machine:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744338%28WS.10%29.aspx
If you have domain and server 2008 start WDS service and capture one of yours win7 to wim file (read manuals of Windows AIK and imagex). Open wim file in WDS and you have installation of customized win7 available for installation over network (via PXE boot). If client's hdd fails (for example) you can replace hdd and install win7 over network in 30min and you will have all custom apps included.
Option 2:
VHD option requires Win7 Ent or Ultimate. You can use disk management to create and to attach VHD. Latter, when things go bad, you can use diskpart to deploy on machine:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744338%28WS.10%29.aspx
One of the essential tools that I keep in my "disaster recovery toolbag" is a "mini-XP" image on a bootable USB flash drive. There are similar versions that can boot from a CD.
I've never tried to add any extra software to the image, but I'm sure that can be done. If you're interested, there are several places on the web that describe the details on how to do it.
I've never tried to add any extra software to the image, but I'm sure that can be done. If you're interested, there are several places on the web that describe the details on how to do it.
http://www.symantec.com/business/products/family.jsp?familyid=backupexec