1. A system comprising: a user interface device; a storage device; a processor configured to perform a method comprising: identifying a plurality of devices to install, each of said devices comprising an operating system and a software set; determining a hardware topology on which to install said plurality of devices, said hardware topology defining at least one hardware platform; identifying at least one of said devices to be installed as a virtual machine guest on a virtual machine host; determining an installation settings for said plurality of devices by determining a location in said hardware topology for each of said devices, and determining configurable settings for each of said devices; validating said installation settings by comparing said installation settings to a set of predefined minimum configurations for each of said devices; and saving said installation settings in a format at least partially consumable by an installation manager for each of said devices.