While this is yet another link, I think this one deserves it’s own post.

I’m a big proponent of virtualization and think that it is going to start saving our butts when it comes to effecient use of hardware sooner than later. I know it has saved mine by allowing me to run IE6 (which is the supported browser for the app I test these days) in a virtual machine on my laptop which had IE7 installed on it. But even if you are using virtualization extensively, you still need to get the OS installed initially. For me, that process normally takes about 3 hours with all the patching, then more patching due to the patches that were just installed. If it wasn’t for the patching it is around 30 minutes (give or take). Thats a significant difference.

Enter slipstreaming. Slipstreaming is when you roll your own Windows install cd with all the current service packs, patches, drivers, tools, etc that you need for your install. All Microsoft service packs have this feature to allow for easier installation over the network.

The best instructions I could find when I build my slipstream cd can be found here. They explain how to properly setup your burning software, something the original instructions I was following was lacking and caused me to create a couple frisbees.