What does Med-V do that makes it a viable solution?

By itself, Med-V can provide a single Windows XP image (called a Workspace) to computers using Windows 7, but it really shines through with an ESD such as SCCM. Users will still be able to use the legacy applications without resorting to dual-boot, multiple computer or RDS scenarios. These programs appear on the Start menu and can also be pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar.

Currently, I’m deploying a Med-V workspace to Windows 7 SP1 Professional x64 users. The combination of SCCM and Med-V allows our administrators to create an image, which includes legacy applications, and deploy one image to multiple computers to provide a consistent environment. The users have no idea these legacy applications operate on XP, and this provides time to migrate the application.

Our custom applications work on the x86 version already, so this helps in limiting the scope of computers that are affected. However, there are a few snags that I have run into that aren’t readily apparent from various blogs and TechNet:

1. Powershell must be enabled on the computer which has the Med-V Workspace manager.
2. Although I used Windows Virtual PC, my original XP VHD was unusable because I created an image using the differencing disk. The solution here was to merge the parent and differencing disk once the image was completed.
3. Create a Sysprep.inf file correctly. TechNet was a little vague but this site was very helpful.

I plan to provide a much more comprehensive guide to deploying Med-V in the very near future and include step-by-step instructions and screenshots. In the meantime I’d like to add my basic steps and web sites used for the deployment:

1. Download the Windows XP Mode files here.
2. Downloading these files ensures that you’re using the correct prerequisites by using Windows Virtual PC, not Virtual PC 2007.
3. Install the Med-V Workspace Manager (included in the MDOP 2011) and remember to enable PowerShell scripting. I didn’t have any success until I enabled this feature.
4. Start the Virtual PC and join the image to your domain.
5. Install all Windows updates for XP.
6. Install legacy applications and test.
7. Sysprep and seal the VM, then shut down.
8. Merge the differencing and parent disk.
9. Open the Workspace Manager and complete the wizard with the appropriate settings for your environment.
10. Create a batch file (or other installation method).
11. Create a collection, package and advertisement in SCCM.
12. Test and deploy!

Sources:
http://ahmedhusseinonline.com/2011/05/medv-2-step-by-step/
http://ajweh.com/blog/?tag=med-v-2-0
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/installing-med-v-agent-and-workspace-package-2-0.aspx
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2384.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg548505.aspx