Wioski

Just came across with this. A nice tool for those that want to boot/install 7/8 from a vhd file.

http://www.wioski.com/

Panagiotis

 

Wioski sounds very interesting.

 

After testing it for two weeks, I have to say that is superb.
It is a great alternative (personally I find it better) to Deep Freeze, Drive Vaccine, Shadow defender, etc.

If one has Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate or Windows 8 Pro/Enterprise is definitely worth to take a look at Wioski.

Wioski Daily Operations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io1FNhSwVaI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_U2PfVR6JI

Creating Wioski installation media (ISO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX5Ax5NH_7U
Creating Wioski installation media (USB)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO-ztathC-Q

Panagiotis

 

pandlouk thanks for posting this, nice to see new alternatives!

Haven't tried Wioski yet but planning on it soon. Only negative I see is that Windows reinstall is required for every Wioski software update/upgrades in its current form. Hope that can change as it matures in the future (Sami).

Have you tested for or notice any weakness so far?

My current LV set-up is 2 layer LV, Deep Freeze as first layer and Shadow Defender within it, is pretty solid. Though I'm looking to drop Shadow Defender due to weaknesses/holes (a new? hole every week it seems). I can see potential for Wioski and Deep Freeze though, or Drive Vaccine, Diskshot, returnil beta also haven't tried yet; I think returnil beta will most likely compatible due to entering LV state while Windows is running like Shadow Defender if you want to run the 2 layer set up.

 

You are welcome.
It does not need updating. Wioski is a wrapper to help you create an installation media to install windows on a VHD file and to create a differential VHD + some maintenance scripts for freezing/unfreezing the differential VHD and booting directly to the parent VHD where you can perform the maintenance.
If you want you can perform the same thing manually
http://blogs.technet.com/b/fyang/ar...clone-your-pc-with-vhd-boot-on-windows-7.aspx
http://www.cchsu.com/art-en/2009/07/11/128/

There should be no weakness when you are not in maintence mode; except from bootkits that create a hidden storage (but I have not a sample to test)

I do not see why you should use Deep freeze with Wioski (unless you want to use deep freeze to protect your other drives/partitions).
Deep freeze allows 2 states; a frozen one and an unfrozen state.
Wioski allows 3 states; a frozen one, a temporal unfrozen one (until you manually reset) and an unfrozen state.

Panagiotis

 

I'm VHD newbie So Wioski is like VMware Workstation, runs VHD from boot rather than VM within your OS, cray cray!

Thanks again for the guides. I have a question on cloning current system for Wioski. I'm trying to find a easier solution without the command lines and WAIK.

Would a hot OS VHD backup using Windows native 'Backup and Restore' app work?
Then attaching the backup VHD in Disk Management and use gimagex to capture WIM for Wioski. SInce tutorial states Disk2VHD being wrong tool and gimagex as an alternative to WAIK imagex.

Yes I use Deep Freeze to protect pc/latop with lots of hotswap internals/externals. For easy OS switching, some kept as unfrozen backups, ones that stay perma-frozen testing etc.

 

Sami second reply clears up the OS reinstall thing

I'm prepping again for Wioski. Because the WIM (VHD from current system) is to large to fit even on my biggest USB stick 64GB. I'm using a spare SSD drive as the "stick installer".

My first attempt Wioski formatted/installed on the "stick" installer drive! Left it with a error in command prompt at the end and a VHD fiel. Trying again by editing 'disk.txt' diskpart to select disk 1 instead of 0 (better if there were the ability to select connected drives from a list like Windows install).

So if this cloning method works I guess OS reinstall won't be needed? As you can restore back to current system (non Wioski) from AX64 or Acronis Workstation, and just prep again for the new Wioski version?

 

Like Sami says WIM captured by Windows Backup didn't work for me. Normal Wioski install and manual VHD, both have been solid so far..

 

http://www.steadierstate.com/

Steadier State is another free VHD alternative to Wioski for Windows 7 Ultimate/Enterprise (8?). Unlike Wioski, you can install Steadier State without having to reinstall Windows.

 

can't wait for 3.0