Pre-Vista, Windows admins setting up drive-imaging systems had no choice but to use third-party utilities; by contrast, in early demonstrations of Vista, Microsoft emphasized the OS's image-management capabilities. You'll find these in ImageX, a command-line tool in Vista used to create and manage Windows image (WIM) files.
To modify volume images, install the Windows Imaging File System Filter (WIM FS Filter) driver from the as installation disc on a computer running Windows XP SP2, Server 2003 SP1, or Vista.

Now mount a WIM file as if it were a directory, and browse, copy, paste, or edit the images right from Windows Explorer. ImageX command-line options use these conventions: imagex [flags] {Iappend Ilapply I Icapture I/delete I Idir I I export I linfo I Isplit I /mount I /mountrw I /unmount} [parameters]

For example, the instruction imagex !capture image_path image-file "name" {"description"} {/boot I Icheck I/compress [type11 Iconfig I Iflags "EditionID" I /norpfix I Iscrolll Iverify} captures a volume image from a drive to a new WIM file, including all non-empty directories and data.

It's possible (though not easy) to install, maintain, and image Vista from the command line without buying another utility. You'll find more details by searching for "lmageX Technical Reference" at technet.microsoft.com. Linux admins will need to use third-party tools as well, but Mac as x from Panther onward includes capable drive-imaging features.