How to create a custom Windows PE Disk

Windows PE allows you to boot a PC into an operating system that is resident in RAM disk. This means you can do what you want to the hard drive. This includes formatting, creating, and imaging the disk. In class I demonstrated using a Windows PE disk that resided on a USB memory stick. With a large enough USB flash drive and volume licensing, you can actually use this setup to deploy an image of Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 2008 should a network based image deployment not be an option.

The following link will guide you in creating a Windows PE image suitable for you needs. You will need to download and install the Windows Automated Installation Kit prior to proceeding.

WAIK Download: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5753

Windows PE build instructions: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709665(WS.10).aspx

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With the AD Recycle Bin Turned on, What Happens when you Create a User Account with a Password that does not meet the Password Policy?

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Backup and Restore AD LDS with DSDBUTIL.exe

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services allow you to create a directory service that allows applications to have access to user accounts, groups, and authentication similar to Active Directory Domain Services. The big advantage here is that the schema of the directory service will not be bound by the rules of an Active Directory database. Exchange 2007/2010, for example, use an instance of AD LDS on the Edge Transport Server to provide for user authentication from the internet. Because your Active Directory database is not exposed to the internet, this is more secure. Applications will handle most of the dirty work should they require AD LDS. You may want to make sure the database is being backed up and also have a restore plan in place. Should the database become corrupt, the application that uses that database will fail. This document will walk you through backing up and restoring an instance of AD LDS using the dsdbutil.exe command. Fi...

Jason Yoder, MCT

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