Resource Kit

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A Resource Kit is a term used by Microsoft for a set of software resources and documentation released for their software products, but which is not part of that product. Resource kits offer supplementary resources such as technical guidance, compatibility and troubleshooting information, management, support, maintenance and deployment guides and multi-purpose useful administrative tools and utilities and are available separately. Typically, Microsoft releases resource kits after every major version of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office or a major server product.

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[edit] Windows Resource Kits

The Windows Resource Kit was introduced with Windows 3.0 in 1991 and has since been released for every Windows version with the exception of Windows Me. The tools are mainly to help administrators streamline management tasks such as troubleshooting operating system issues, managing Active Directory, configuring networking and security features and automating application deployment.

The Windows 95 and Windows 98 resource kit documentation and tools were free of cost and were included on the respective Windows installation CD-ROM. Most resource kit tools are usually free of cost and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center, while the technical guidance and information is released in the form of a purchasable Microsoft Press book. The CD-ROM accompanying the book, contains an electronic version of the book and includes the tools and utilities, some of which are sometimes exclusive.

The Windows NT 4.0 resource kit contained a large number of tools and utilities. In the past, Microsoft used to release supplements for resource kits which offered revised and new tools and resources. Microsoft released 4 supplements for the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit and 1 supplement for the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit. Some of these utilities later shipped as part of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Others were included in later resource kits. Older resource kits are no longer available.

The Windows 2000 resource kits also contain over 300 utilities.[1] For Windows Server 2003, over 120 tools and utilities have been updated.[2] The Windows XP resource kit includes only support and deployment tools and documentation.

In 2007 and 2008 respectively, Microsoft released the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Resource Kits. Microsoft has also released resource kits for Group Policy, Windows security, Active Directory, Terminal Services and IIS 7.

[edit] Other resource kits

The Office Resource Kit and tools are included on the respective Office CD/DVD. The tools are also downloadable from Microsoft.com.

Microsoft has also released, in the past, resource kits for Internet Explorer, Windows Media, Internet Information Services and several server products such as SharePoint, Exchange etc.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Windows 2000 Resource Kits
  2. ^ Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit

[edit] External links