James Jarvis - University of Edinburgh

Using GNU/Linux to Deliver Windows XP to the Desktop

Paper (PDF) and Paper (DVI)

The scalable management of desktop computing requires automated installation or re-installation of operating systems and software where, ideally, the configuration data should be held centrally. For Microsoft operating systems this has often been difficult because the delivery environment has been DOS-based, and filesystem image delivery techniques add additional per-seat licensing costs.

Our approach has been to use GNU/Linux to deliver the files and configuration information to networked PCs to build the operating system. The University of Edinburgh system - PIE, the Pre-Installation Environment - is being used to deliver Windows XP but it has been designed so that we can deliver dual-boot Windows XP and Linux if desired.