1. Windows 7 deployment at CERN
Michal Budzowski, Michal Kwiatek, Andreas Wagner
Operating Systems and Information Services Group IT Department, CERN
HEPiX Spring’10

2. Motivation
Windows 7 pilot project was started at CERN in December 2009
On 31st March 2010 Windows 7 support was officially started
So we want to share:
Experience from the pilot phase
Our subsequent deployment plans
HEPiX Spring’10

3. Windows 7 at CERN time line
Beta RC
RTM
Official Release
Jan May Aug Oct Dec Mar 10
Evaluation & Testing
Pilot
Service
Shortly show what happened at Cern when Beta, RC and RTM were released. – evaluating, testing, adjusting our infrastructure and starting prepare Windows 7 distribution for Cern.
Time line is not scaled.
Pilot – started supporting Windows 7 on selected, new hardware available from Cern store.
Service – making Windows 7 available on all Cern hardware satisfying minimal hardware requirements.
RC - Release Candidate
RTM – Release To Manufacturer
HEPiX Spring’10

4. Current Windows 7 status
Already over 430 Windows 7 installations
Default OS for new desktop machines:
32-bit version of Windows 7
Very few support cases to helpdesk
CERN Windows 7 distribution tested on all HW models for which Vista was previously available (currently 11 different models of laptops and 7 models of desktops – available at CERN from 2006 up to now)
Windows 7 available for installation on all hardware (which satisfies min HW reqs)
We decided to make windows 7 available for installation even on the hardware we didn’t test e.g. that available from Cern store.
32 bit version preferred because of printing problems
Description of Cern store
HEPiX Spring’10

5. Trends
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6. CERN facts and figures 6000 managed Windows PCs (mostly XP)
Microsoft Extended Support for Windows XP stops in April 2014
Importance of starting the migration to Windows 7 early (big effort)
3 months of Windows 7 availability resulted in more installations than we saw during 4 years of Vista availability
HEPiX Spring’10

7. Windows 7, Engineering and Controls
A large number of engineering applications are supported at CERN: AutoCAD, Inventor, ANSYS, Mathcad, Matlab, Mathematica, Cadence, Altium, etc.
All  these applications were tested by IT-PES group and are now available for Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit).
The only engineering product which is not yet supported by the supplier on Windows 7  is Catia/SmarTeam ( should be available in Q ).
PVSS is still not available for Windows 7
HEPiX Spring’10

8. Hardware requirements
For Windows 7 32-bit:
(*) Equal or less than for Vista
Microsoft
CERN Recommendations (*)*)
Memory
1 GB
2 GB (**)
Disk Size
16 GB
60 GB (***)
CPU
1 GHz
2 GHz
(**) 1 GB memory is enough if Windows 7 is configured without the AERO user interface
(***) 60 GB disk space for typical set of CERN supported applications
HEPiX Spring’10

9. Hardware requirements
For Windows 7 64-bit:
Microsoft
CERN Recommendations
Memory
2 GB
4 GB (*)
Disk Size
20 GB
60 GB
CPU
1 GHz
2 GHz
The default version for new windows machines is 32-bit version so if there is a need for a 64 bit it is usually because of the need for configuration with higher amount of memory.
(*) Main motivation of installing a 64-bit OS is to support higher memory configurations
HEPiX Spring’10

10. Evolution of old hardware
Analysis of the life time of the hardware, where Windows 7 is not supported
We have a legacy hardware on which we can install only Windows XP. This hardware should be replaced at the latest before April 2014.
HEPiX Spring’10

11. Evolution of old hardware
HEPiX Spring’10

12. Windows 7 image customization
Making CMF icon always visible in notification area
Password-protected screen saver
Removed links to local hard-disk folders from Windows 7 libraries
„Recently changed” search added to search folder
International settings set to CERN default (English(UK), Switzerland, US, Euro)
4 first changes done to the user profile, then sysprep machine with CopyToProfile option – copies your changes to the default profile, then open image and copied “Default profile to the image”.
In c:\tmp\mount\Windows\Setup\Scripts\SetupComplete.cmd we call control intl.cpl,,/f:"c:\CERN-Install\regional-custom.xml where xml file stores the internationalization settings.
HEPiX Spring’10

13. Windows 7 image customization
Default user
profile
Sysprep with copyToProfile option
Windows 7 with:
Cmf icon visible
Password-protected screen saver
Removed links from libraries
Added “Recently changed’ search
XML
Cern
Regional settings
Windows Automated Installation Kit
4 first changes done to the user profile, then sysprep machine with CopyToProfile option – copies your changes to the default profile, then open image and copied “Default profile to the image”.
In c:\tmp\mount\Windows\Setup\Scripts\SetupComplete.cmd we call control intl.cpl,,/f:"c:\CERN-Install\regional-custom.xml where xml file stores the internationalization settings.
Windows 7 image
HEPiX Spring’10

14. CERN Roadmap
2009Q4
Validate core office applications on Windows 7
Validate most recent CERN standard PC models
Windows 7 installable over the network
2010Q1
Validate remaining applications
Update documentation and training offers
Start Window 7 service (32- and 64-bit)
No new Windows Vista installations
2010Q2
Windows 7 as default Windows version for new installations at CERN on supported hardware
2010Q3
Phase out Windows Vista at CERN
2010Q4
Define roadmap for ending support of XP at CERN
In April 2009 Microsoft moved XP from Mainstream Support to Extended Support, which means that there is no Hotfixes for XP anymore, and security updates are still available. This will definitively stop in after April 2014.

15. Summary Windows 7 deployment proceeds according to plan
The user feedback is very positive
We get prepared to define roadmap for ending support of XP at CERN
HEPiX Spring’10