Updated: Vista is so protective…

A bit of a gotcha with using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool on Vista is that it (very sensibly) protects the objects you create from accidental deletion but (very annoyingly) doesn’t inform you that it’s done this. If you are using the AD Tools on Vista and you suddenly find that you can’t delete something you created, then check the Object tab on the object in question. If the “Protect Object from Accidental Deletion” box is checked as shown here within the red circle:

* You will need to select ‘View’ from the menu bar and then check ‘Advanced features’ first. *

Active Directory object

… you’ll need to uncheck it before you can delete or move it.

Notes on Windows Client Deployment

This morning I attended a session on Windows Client Deployment. There was some mixed news.

The good

A tool called Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management (DISM) is due for release next year as will an updated version of ImageX. This will form part of WAIK 2.0

  • DISM will be able to work with WIMs and VHDs.
  • DISM will allow simple add/remove/lisitng of drivers and Windows features.
  • Dynamic driver provisioning will allow drivers to stay on the WDS server. The image will contain references to the drivers meaning that only the drivers needed are transferred to the machine.
  • WDS will deploy VHDs in the same way as WIMs however they will still need to be syspreped.

The Bad and the Ugly

  • DISM is another command line tool.
  • There will be no update to WSIM. It will look and feel exactly the same.
  • No GUI for ImageX.
  • No updates to WDS manager for dealing with legacy RIS images.