Using Lite-Touch to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7

by

This guide details how to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7 using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (Lite-Touch).

By using this method the user data (desktop files, My Documents files etc) will be automatically transferred to the new installation.

Software Required:

  • Windows AIK
  • Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010
  • Microsoft Powershell

 

    1. Install the required software using the default options
    2. Open the Deployment Workbench (Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Deployment Toolkit -> Deployment Workbench)
    3. Create a new deployment share by right clicking on ‘Deployment Shares‘ and selecting ‘New deployment share‘
    4. Run through the wizard selecting the required options (I chose to turn ‘Allow image capture‘ off)
    5. To add an the operating system image expand the new deployment share, right click on ‘Operating Systems‘ and select ‘Import Operating System‘
      1. If you are importing Windows 7 DVD media, select the first options ‘Full set of source files‘ and select the required options in the wizard
      2. If you are importing a custom image, select ‘Custom image file‘ and select the required options in the wizard
    6. To add additional drivers, download the drivers and save to a single location. (I suggest you download the driver packs from http://driverpacks.net/driverpacks/latest)
    7. Right click on ‘Out-of-Box Drivers‘ and select ‘Import drivers‘ and run through the wizard selecting the required options.
    8. To add task sequence for the operating system deployment right click on ‘Task Sequences‘ and select ‘New Task Sequence‘.
    9. Enter a task sequence ID, e.g. “WINXP-WIN7SOE1”. This can be 16 characters long, must be unique and can not be changed once created.
    10. Enter a task sequence name, e.g. “Upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7 SOE 1”. This is seen from WinPE when selecting the deployment. Click ‘Next‘ to progress.
    11. Select ‘Standard Client Task Sequence‘.
    12. Select ‘Next‘ and then ‘Finish’
    13. From the task sequences list, double click on the new task sequence.
    14. From here you are able to define how the task sequence runs. You can also edit the unattend.xml file from the ‘OS Info‘ tab.
    15. From the ‘General’ tab, select ‘This can run only on the specified client platforms‘, place a tick next to ‘All x86 Windows XP’ and ‘All x64 Windows XP Profressional’
    16. From the ‘Task Sequence‘ tab you can add and customise the components to the task sequence.
    17. Click ‘Ok’ to save the changes and return to the main window.
    18. Right click on your deployment share and select ‘Properties’
    19. Select the ‘Rules‘ tab
    20. Add the following lines to the bottom of the configuration:
SkipComputerName=YES
SkipComputerBackup=YES
ComputerBackupLocation=NONE
DeploymentType=REFRESH
SkipUserData=YES
UserDataLocation=AUTO
  1. Click ‘Ok’ to save the changes
  2. Update the distribution point by right clicking on the deployment share and selecting ‘Update deployment share’. Select the required settings in the wizard.
  3. Now on the Windows XP client computer, log on as a local administrator.
  4. Open your deployment share and run the LiteTouch vbs script. (e.g. \\W2K8WDS\DeploymentShare\Scripts\LiteTouch.vbs)
  5. The client computer will now present the installation Wizard and ask any required questions which haven’t been specified in the deployment configuration. After this the computer will backup the user profiles, restart and install the operating system image and then restore the user data.