RyanVM Integrator

Ok, so I haven't spent a lot of time or energy creating an imaging system to rapidly deploy cloned PCs. When I started here, I thought it would be a must have item. It actually hasn't been that important. The procedure so far has been to use a slipstreamed Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD to install the OS while offline then use c't Offline Updater to patch the computer with post-SP2 critical patches. Once that's done, I plug into the LAN and go to Microsoft Update to get the rest of the patches. A couple software installs (anti-virus, Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader) from the NAS with one more MS Update hit (for Office patches) and we're off and running.


I think we can improve that system though and still not need to move to an imaging solution. That's where RyanVM Integrator comes in. From the site:

"This pack is designed to bring a Windows XP CD with SP2 integrated fully up to date with all of the latest hotfixes released by Microsoft since SP2's release. It accomplishes this task via direct integration, where files on the CD are directly overwritten by the updated files."

The beauty of this system is that there is zero lag time between installing the OS and installing patches. They are installed simultaneously with the OS! This saves:

• time by installing files once, rather than installing them then overwriting them with patches,
• space by not needing to download patches and extract them,
• headaches by providing a secure OS from the moment of installation.

TechRepublic has a nice howto article, so I won't bore you with the details of how to set the Integrator up.

The post-SP2 update pack, which includes the patches released after SP2, seems to lag behind Microsoft's patches slightly. As of today, the latest RyanVM pack (version 2.1.8) is dated 3/20/2007. That misses the .ANI fix and the patches that came out yesterday. I think that it might not hurt to run this in conjunction with c't. So, here's my new procedure:

1. Install the integrated Windows XP,
2. Run c't Offline Updater,
3. Plug into LAN,
   
4. Install software,
5. Go to Microsoft Updates for the latest Office updates.

What do you think? Do you have any improvements on that practice?