Louwrentius

Introduction

Anyone who ever installed Windows on a computer by hand must have wished for a solution that automate this task. It's just waiting a lot and pressing a button now and then. But installing the operating system itself is only the beginning. Once installed, you need to apply service packs or at least about a hundred or more security updates. When finished, you need to install all additional software, like an office suite, PDF reader, anti-virus software and the like.

So you need to install:

1. the operating system
2. applications
3. security updates

If you do this all by hand, it will probably take at least half a day, if not even longer. This is a major problem, because sooner or later you may have to hire somebody full time to do just the computer deployments. Expect a high job turnover rate. You definitely want to automate this task, saving money on extra sysadmins but more importantly: quality.

Even if you have to install one computer every week, you must automate this process for the sole reason that if you don't, no two deployed computers are the same. People make mistakes, especially with boring, repetitive tasks. So automation improves quality and reduces the workload significantly.

If you don't deploy your end-user computers through some kind of automation, you need to stop what you are doing right now and build such a solution. It's fundamental to provide good quality service to your users.

It must be fully unattended or as unattended as possible. You may have to press a button to initiate the process at that start, but that must be all that is required to deploy a system. If during deployment, you need to touch the computer in order for it to continue deploying, you have a bug that needs to be fixed asap.

So, in this post I want to show you that with minimal resources, you can create a fully unattended solution for Windows desktop systems. There are probably better ways to do this, but for me, this was enough.

Imaging versus automated deployment

It's very simple. Do not image. Do not use products like Norton Ghost or Clonezilla for system deployment. Imaging is not flexible. For every change, you need to create a new image. For every hardware model, you need to create a new image. Every program update requires a new image. Instead of installing computers by hand, you are maintaining images. It does not scale.

Automated installations on the other hand do scale. They are dynamic. They just use whatever drivers they need during installation, as long as they are available. Just updating the installer of an application is sufficient to make sure that future deployments are up-to-date. Flexibility is key.

Solution overview

1. Clients use PXE to boot from the network. They boot a special Windows Embedded kernel that bootstraps the Windows installation process.
2. The operating system and drivers are installed.
3. All company software is installed.
4. All security patches are installed.
5. When ready, a mail is sent to the sysadmins

You will need:

1. A DHCP server
2. A WDS server
3. A KMS server and valid KMS licence
4. Valid Windows 7 ISO for KMS installation
5. An unattended configuration created with WAIK
6. Driver packs for the various desktop an laptop models
7. A domain account dedicated for deployment
8. A list + executables of all software required for the client

About KMS and Windows licences

In a larger environment, with 25+ desktops and laptops, it becomes to cumbersome to type in the product licence key and activate the systems by hand. This does not scale. You need a Volume Licence agreement for Windows 7 or higher in order to be able to use a Key Management Server and a special ISO of Windows 7 that does not require a product key. Learn more about this in this blogpost.

Windows Deployment services

The basis for automated deployment is Windows Deployment Services. This software made available for free by Microsoft allows clients to PXE boot and perform unattended operating system installations.

Unattended operating system installations are guided by XML files that describe the configuration for the operatings system. Such a configuration file is authored with the Windows Automated Installation Kit.

WDS uses two images: a boot image and an install image. Because computers need drivers, you need to download and inject the drivers in the boot image. All major vendors supply special complete driver packages for you to download. Just download, extract and import. Create driver groups for every model, to orden your drivers.

You may choose to install all drivers in one image. But that image can grow large and lengten the installation time. To resolve this, create separate boot images for different vendors and differentiate between model lines. This is not much work but it keeps the boot images small. This is not required.

Windows Automated Installation Kit

You need the WAIK to author the XML file used by WDS to configure the unattended installation. You must specify hard disk partitioning, some default settings and the like. This is also where you configure the command to run when the operating system installation has finished. This will start the software installation phase.

Automated silent software deployment

For software installation, I just go back to my MS-DOS 4.11 days and use a simple batch script that installs all software.

Every product, such as Adobe Reader or Java, has an installation batch file. There is one main batch file that calls each program install batch file to install it and log the results for debugging.

It is that simple. And it works perfectly. The most important task is to find out for each product how you can install it silently, without user intervention. Fortunately, almost all products provide command line arguments for unattended installation.

Software is installed by using a domain-based unprivileged user that uses autologon to logon to the system, with local administrative privileges. Once the installation is complete, local admin privileges are revoked.

Installing all security updates

This is the hard part. There are several problems. First, after you install all updates, more updates seem to be available after the next reboot. Furthermore, using Windows 7, a memory leak causes the installation proces to take ages.

The solution is to install smaller batches of patches, such as 30 or 40 at a time. You can use a script for that as supplied by Microsoft. This script must be changed not to install all patches, but a fixed number at a time.

So you need several reboots to install all patches and run the VBS update script several times. The WAIK provides an option for 'autologon'. So you can have a user account logon for like 5 times. After that, no autologon is performed ever again.

So you place a special batch file in the startup folder of the autologon user that triggers the Windows update process every time the autologon is performed. This is the last step of the installation.

After five autologons, the system will boot to the logon screen and the system is done.

Additional resources

Large organisations may use Microsoft System Center Operations Manager but I assume that such a solution has not been setup. I asume, that you are in an environment without any existing solution that may help you out.

I would also investigate the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012. Instead of tinkering with batch files and vbs scripts, this may help you also. However, it seems to focus on creating images or automate the task of creating images, rather than just automate the installation of a client.

Final thoughts

Please note that I had to research this solution within a few weeks, with lots of other things to do. It was just one project of many other projects. There may be better solutions to automate system deployments. Maybe the MDT is a better approach, but I haven't tested it (yet). The current setup is sufficient for now and it frees us to start other much needed projects.

Introduction

If you have to administer a large number of PCs running Windows, you will end up creating an automated deployment platform for your Windows clients. You may implement something like Windows Deployment Services.

I used WDS to create a fully automated installation of PCs. WDS can also be used for creating images, but using images doesn't scale as you need too much manual intervention with the devices themselves and you need to update images constantly.

With WDS and some driver packs I can support as many different computer brands and models as I want with a single vanilla Windows 7 base image. All customization and automation is done with answer files using the Windows Automated Installation Kit.

When creating an automated deployment environment, one thing you definitely don't want to be doing is having to enter each individual Windows product key as found on the sticker somewhere on the chasis. You want a single key, embedded in the deployment image or script and run with that, or some other solution. Your goal must be to do away with manual product key input and activation.

This is not a problem, but here we have to introduce the topic of licences, especially client licences such as Windows 7. There are only two flavors of Windows:

1. Retail - this licence is most expensive but allows you to transfer it from one computer to the other one.
2. OEM - this licence cost you less but is tied to that particular computer.

The important thing for a system administrator to know is this: when buying OEM, you do not have rights to create disk images or do something similar with these computers. You cannot use Windows Deployment Services, You cannot use cloning tools or other solutions.

Volume licensing

Now it is time to talk about volume licensing. A volume licence is an upgrade of a Retail or OEM license. So one thing is sure: you must order every computer with an OEM Windows licence, regardless of your plans. In addition, the volume licence, you have to buy separately, you gain 'reimaging rights'.

Now comes the fun part. You only need one (1) Volume Licence for a specific product to be eligible to image or automatically deploy all PCs running that particular operating system (32 bit or 64 bit doesn't matter).

KMS or MAK activation

With a volume licence, client's don't need to activate with Microsoft through the internet. For larger organisations, that would cause too much internet traffic. Instead, you use a local activation service within your network. You can either deploy a KMS (Key Management Service) or use the Volume Actication Management Tool (VAMT).

Most people may want the KMS service. But a KMS service only starts to validate clients with 25 or more PCs. If you have less than that number of clients, you may resort to MAK validation.

When choosing KMS activation, you install a KMS service on one of your Windows servers and that host will then act as an activation server within your organisation. Systems activated through the KMS must periodically revalidate themselves (as like every 6 months / 180 days). but how do the clients know that they should validate against your KMS? And which product key do you use?

If you buy a volume licence, you will get access to a special ISO image of Windows 7, Vista Business or XP Professional. You also gain access to a special product key, a KMS product key. (Please note that you must by a volume licence for each operating system product version).

You use this special KMS product key to activate the KMS server. This happens only once. So this one time, you activate the KMS server with Microsoft, after that, no communication occurs with clients or the KMS service with Microsoft.

That special ISO image you got contains a special Windows version that does not require a product key. Once a client is installed, it just searches your network for a KMS server through DNS and tries to activate against it. Once validated, clients stay validated as long as they get in contact twice a year (180 days) with your KMS service.

If you have less than 25 PCs, you will use the MAK activation and the VAMT tool. Clients can either activate through Microsoft directly or through the VAMT tool. The VAMT tool collects activation requests within your network like a KMS, however, it does contact Microsoft to validate those activations. And there is a limited number of activations you are entitled to. This VAMT tool can cache activation requests so you can redeploy or re-image systems and reactivate them without seeing your activation limit getting reached.

I hope this information was useful to you and if you've discovered a mistake, please comment.

Update 18 February 2012

There is one problem. When the robot is not connected to the charger, the batteries are depleted very fast. Even if the batteries are not entirely depleted and the robot can still display the menu, the clock loses it's time. Every time the robot gets a too low charge, you have to set the date and the time, which is a bit of a hassle. This does not happen often though. The robot seems to be consistently operating properly.

Update 1 March 2012

It seems that the batteries have worsened so bad that the device cannot clean my living room without 3x recharging. I have to return the product for repair. I had the device scheduled to clean every other day, about 4x per week.

Update 20 March 2012

I received a brand new device that is now charging. I hope this one will last longer.

Update 23 March 2012

It seems that the brand new robot is also flawed, it just goes nuts. Seems to be up-to-date regarding software, so have to return this one also. (read below!)

Update 31 March 2012

I did not return this device and did some additional cleaning cycles. All cylces where performed withouth problems. The device choked om some cloth and some cables I forgot to cleanup, but it does seem to operate properly. So I will keep it.

Uodate 4 May 2012

Still works like a charm. I'm currently very hapy with it. If the batteries hold up, this device is really worth the money.

Uodate 8 June 2012

I had some critical battery errors and contacted support. They asked me to check if the batteries are connected properly. So I just pushed on the connectors to make sure they are firmly connected. After that, I didn't see any more battery errors and the device is still cleaning like a charm.

Original article:

So I bought a robotic vacuum cleaner. The first question is 'why would you spend some serious money on such a device? On a toy?'. I have some rationalisations for buying this device, but honestly, one reason is that sometimes I just like to buy a new toy. Something to play with. Excuse me for being human. In this blog post I want to explain to you why I bought a Neato XV-15 and not another product.

Now I did say that I have some rationalisations, so let's start. One rationalisation is that I hate vacuum cleaning. Since I have two cats, vacuum cleaning once a week may not be enough. And I'm not going to clean more frequently. So you can accept it or if you can spare a little dough, buy a robotic vacuum cleaner that cleans your house when you're not at home.

So let's introduce the Neato XV-15.

The Neato XV-15 Vacuum cleaning robot

The XV-15 robot is made by Neato Robotics, a young startup that seems to be started purely for this device. The company started with the XV-11 for the US market, and the XV-15 is identical except that it is meant for the European market. A new XV-12 has also been announced, which seems to be identical to the other two machines, except for the color (white).

The robot automatically vacuums your house while you're away or minding your own business. I't can't do anything else, but not having to vacuum all the time is kinda cool, right?

I bought the XV-15 in The Netherlands for 500 euros. The XV-11 can be had for around $400 excluding taxes or maybe even for less at Amazon. Not very cheap, but competitively priced compared to other robots on the market.

How the robot works

The XV-15 has a rubber brush at the front that rotates quite fast and that brush scoops up the dirt. Just behind the rubber brush, a vacuum mouth is present. Anything sucked up through that mouth enters the dustbin. The actual vacuum motor is at the back of the dustbin, protected by the dust filter of the dustbin. The XV-15 is a true vacuum and Neato claims that vacuuming power is way stronger than any other robot on the market. Based on the noise, that may be true.

On top of the XV-15 you can find an LCD screen for configuring the robot and the turret housing its special secret weapon: laser sight. This is the cool part.

The XV-15 has a laser system mounted on top that allows the robot to locate objects and walls. It is capable of creating a map of its surroundings. Anything the laser can 'see' will be avoided. The robot will not bump into any objects it can see. This is in stark contrast to products like the iRobot Roomba, which just bumps into everything. The XV-15 does have a front bumper though, because anything below the laser turret cannot be seen. Thus the robot does bump into things occasionally but it does a hard job trying not to.

The laser system is not just for preventing collisions with furniture. Being able to generate a map of your house allows the robot to clean your house in an efficient manner. Robots like the Roomba just randomly zigzag through your house. If you do that long enough, chances are high that most of your house gets cleaned, which it will.

The XV-15 only covers each spot once, and thus is able to clean your house much faster. It first cleans the perimeter of a room, hugging the walls. It then cleans the room in straight lines, like a swimmer in a pool. It remembers where it has cleaned or not and will come back later to a spot if something (like humans or pets) was occupying an area that can now be cleaned.

My living-room, kitchen and entrance are cleaned in 40 minutes. An area of 40 square meters or about 420 square feet.

When you see the XV-15 doing it's job, you may tend to stare at it longer than you may want to. It's just fascinating to see the device effortlessly navigating around your house. And it doesn't need stuff like battery operated 'light houses' like the Roomba's need. It is truly autonomous except for emptying the dust bin.

The XV-15 seems to divide the rooms it detects in parts and will start cleaning those parts one after another. As said earlier, the robot will continue cleaning where it had left off if the batteries are low and needs recharging.

The robot has no problem detecting stairs. Neato has also provided a roll of magnetic strip that can be used as a boundary marker. The robot will not cross this strip and will clean around it.

However, how smart the XV-15 may be, you need to make your house robot-proof. The first time you start cleaning with the Neato, it is advised to monitor it's progress and 'fix' difficult spots in your house. I have no experience with other robots, but I think that this is true for all of them.

The robot is just low enough that it can clean underneath my central heating radiators, which is very nice. It also has no trouble cleaning under my bed, an area which seems to collect dust very fast.

The robot has never had any problems finding the base. It gently wiggles it's behind towards the base until it has a connection. It then informs you with a sound that it has finished cleaning.

Docking station

The XV-15 comes with a docking station that allows the device to automatically recharge for the next run. The XV-15 will return to the docking station if the batteries are low. When recharged, the XV-15 will continue cleaning where it left off. If you have a single story apartment, the XV-15 will thus clean the entire apartment all by itself, even if it can't clean your home in one take on a single battery charge. After recharging, the unit will just return to the spot where it aborted cleaning to recharge and continue cleaning.

The docking station allows you to put excess power cord into the station itself, to keep cable clutter to a minimum. You can also reroute the cable to exit the station from either the left side or right side.

Scheduling

The robot can start cleaning with a press of the big orange button. The robot will start cleaning and return to the docking station when finished. Ideally, you want to have the robot clean the house when you're not around. Fortunately you can set a schedule for all seven days of the week.

The robot has a clear LCD screen with a very easy menu for setting the clock and entering a schedule. A few simple buttons allows you to enter a schedule, which probably has to be done once. I have it set to clean every other day except for the weekend.

Scheduling is extremely simple: for all seven days of the week, you can configure a start time or choose not to clean that day. That's all.

Noise level

When you start the XV-15 for the first time, you will be surprised by the of noise this little device generates. The vacuum motor is loud, but the rubber brush adds an additional roaring and rattling sound to it that is just almost unbearable.

The rubber brush keeps hitting the floor causing the loud rattling sound. I had to add some felt strips on the bottom to raise the robot a little bit from the ground. This eliminated the rattling, but the robot is very loud. Keep this in mind.

I think the noise level is the biggest downside of this robot.

Cleaning performance

The picture shows what the XV-15 can collect during a sweep. I dit not perform any scientific tests to verify the cleaning performance of the robot, but any visible dirt is always devoured by the robot. I'm personally very pleased with the results.

I found a source written in Italian that seems to suggest that the XV-15 does a significantly worse job of cleaning stuff (67%) than the Roomba 780 (97%) robot, but it is an artificial test that does not use the stuff it is supposed to clean: (fine) dust and hair. However, it thus may be possible that the dumb Roomba's clean better. I don't know.

I only can tell you that even if you clean daily and you have some pets, you will find quite some stuff inside the dustbin after each run.

Maintenance

The iRobot Roomba range of products seem to require quite some maintenance. The biggest issue with the Roombas is the fact that you need to clean out hair from the bearings and brushes after each run. This is not necessary with the XV-15.

I don't know how much time cleaning of a Roomba takes, but I have an issue with that: why bother with a robot if you have to clean the robot instead of the house itself? Yes cleaning the robot takes less time, but it's probably no fun either.

The only thing that you need to do when the XV-15 is finished: empty the dustbin and clean the filter. That will take no longer than 30 seconds I guess. No need to clean up the brush or bearings. It is of course advised to inspect the brush and bearings now and then.

Checking the condition of the rubber brush and bearings is very easy. The brush guard can be removed without tools in seconds. Removing the rubber brush is just as easy and cleaning the axles shouldn't take long if ever required. I've never had to clean the brush itself. It seems that hair gets sucked up and doesn't stick to the brush.

Inside the box

The XV-15 comes with an additional rubber brush and four additional filters. According to Neato, you need to replace the filter every three to six months, depending on the frequency of your cleaning schedule. At 16 euros ($20) for 4 filters, that's not a big deal I guess.

I couldn't find any details on how long the rubber brush will last.

Updating the software

If you take a closer look at the back of the robot, you will notice that at the left side of the big exhaust vent, two small ports are present: for power (only useful if you do not use the docking station) and a USB port. The USB port can be used to update the software of the robot to the latest version.

Please note that Neato does not suply a USB cable so you need to get a mini USB cable when you want to update the software (firmware) of the robot. Bad news for Apple and Linux users: the firmware update software only runs on Windows. You can update the robot from Windows running inside VMware (Workstation or Fusion).

Take a look at Neato's update page to see if new updates are available.

Hacking the XV-15

When the robot is connected to the computer through USB, you can communicate with the device through Hyperterminal or Minicom. If you like hacking your robot, continue reading here.

Conclusion

I'm quite happy with the robot. The biggest question is how long this device will last. At first, a robot like this seems a bit as a toy and it may be, but it is a pretty darn useful one.

The lack of maintenance compared to the other robots is a big plus to me. If you have to spend time on cleaning the robot itself, where is the benefit?

To me, the only downside is the noise.

It can't vacuum the stairs. It can't vacuum in every corner. But the device can clean the majority of your house more often than you would probably have done yourself.

Additional sources

Robot Reviews

Very cool youtube film showing the robot through 'near infrared' view.