Steady State Solutions for Windows 7

Question

I am not really certain the term I used is right. If somebody gives me the right one, I will try to change title/text accordingly.
Edit: Found what it is called, "Steady State" (that at least was the name of a Micrsofot Tool with this functionality). I guess it is a good a name as any.
What I mean is:
There are cards whose job it is to rollback all changes made to the disk (and thus windows), everytime the computer is restarted (or for really good ones, everytime the user session is logging out/logging in).
Now hardware has it's downside (more pieces of failure, drivers needed, not as easy to distribute as software, hardware costs) so software has been developed for the same purpose. Software like DeepFreeze or Time Freeze. I even heard that Windows 7 almost got
such feature, but it was cut at last minute (something about the MediaPlayer not working with it, I think).
I know that the Windows Domain Controler allows you to mark a user Profile as "auto restore", by renaming a file. But I want something that can affect the whole computer (all disks, all folders) and does not require a windows domain controller.
I wonder of anybody knows of a software that fits several of the followign requirements:
- Able to rollback a computer at every start/shutdow (better might be every login/logout)
- pure software solution (no need for extra hardware)
- possibility for fully autoamtic distribution (MSI package or not overly complex setup)
- remote controllable (especially be disabeled), asuming admin rights. Be it via central server, or just running a commandline command on the computer. If the only way to disable it is via GUI, this is a drawback but might still be workable.
- it would help if it did not need to restart the whole computer/current sessions in order to open the computer to changes (combined with the option to disable it remotely this would speed and simplify updates), but we could cope with that
- it would help if it had some way to exclude whole disk or fodlers without having to reinstall the whole software. (so we can still update Virus scanners, maybe windows updates too). If not, we have learned to cope.
- it should run fully from the local disk. A solution that stores images on the server is not ideal. Maybe if it is really smart at finding changes to minimize network traffic. We are below gigabit ethernet and upgrade seems unlikely. And more work during
setup is much more feasibly then work during Courses.
- it must allow the computer to have personal settings (like Mail-programm settings, licenses, propably hardware). So a pure image distribution system is not ideal.
- it does not need to be perfect. We will have ways for fast reinstallation/extra images to solve the ocassional fluke.
Background:
Medium sized provider of training courses. We got almost as much audience traffic as an internet cafe in our computer rooms and an even bigger need to have the "status quo" be preserved between courses.
So far we have used DeepFreeze+Windows Backup on hidden partition. This was manageable (not ideal) for 51 computers, but we have to move and almost double that number and lack the working force to deal with all the work. So we are looking into several automatic
installation/upgrade/restore solutions, each of them either lacks ability to restore at restart from disk or in the personalsiation area while also making updates go automatic (image distribution system).
Let's talk about MVVM: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wpf/thread/b1a8bf14-4acd-4d77-9df8-bdb95b02dbe2 Please mark post as helpfull and answers respectively.

Answer 1

VMWare calls that child VIrtual Hard Disk the "Delta Disk" based on "Delta Differencing", a blockbased technique for incremental backups. And it is a good as name as any.
The biggest question is if this approach (installing to VHD, with and without Delta) can be fully automatised for unattended setups. If it was Linux I would not doubt it, but Windows often lacks in the automation department.
I could propably modify the Windows PE to run some batch/powershell/programm that does the commandline work, but I wanted to avoid having to make serious work in the PE.
Some reasons I tend to a software solution that can just be added:
- Windows has difficulty with changing hardware. The activation complaining is the least of the worries there. So no image distribution appraoch will work
- Windows was also not designed for cloning. Backup is okay, but cloning (and putting both into same network) will most often give you freaky problems.
- It can be added retroactively. From the Point of View of the Deployment system it is just another package/software.
Edit: Found a Toutorial for what you described, an re-implementation of the Old Steady State approach:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/panosm/archive/2011/01/23/implementing-a-windows-7-steadystate-by-utilizing-differencing-vhds-files-and-the-boot-from-vhd-feature.aspx
Let's talk about MVVM: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wpf/thread/b1a8bf14-4acd-4d77-9df8-bdb95b02dbe2 Please mark post as helpfull and answers respectively.