So…I currently use Sysprep to get my machines ready for imaging/deployment. I then use Acronis True Image 2010 to do the actual imaging.
However…
I HATE Sysprep. It f’s up a lot more than it helps. Half of my Dell machines use Intel NIC’s and Sysprep removes the driver (causing me to have to go to C:\Dell\Drivers\NIC… upon first boot).
What do you guys use to get past the SID’s and make every machine have their own windows key?
VMWare LOL
I wish.
That’s not an option here. And even if it was, the user would still have a PC at their desk that would have it’s own PC name and would require it’s own SID to be on our network (damn Microsoft).
sysprep and ghost it at that point. then apply ghost image to new HD and complete mini setup wizard. Thats how we did them, now we use Microsoft sms/sccm or some shit to make a task sequence and pull images down. i dont work in that dept so i dont know.
If CRD is watching this he might know, thats what he is suposed to be doing while at work. lol
I’ve always just used ghost…
I havent had to do much imaging other than here and there… but IIRC don’t you have to put in a CD key regardless if using sysprep?
That’s what I do. I sysprep then use Acronis before it starts to boot to the mini-wizard. But whatever sysprep does wipes out my intel drivers on most of my models and does other stupid things like reset the pagefile settings, etc. It pisses me off.
Correct. That’s why I HAVE to use Sysprep. Because, really, that is the only way to maintain unique SID’s and key’s. I just wanted to know if anyone had a ‘non-official’ workaround. I re-did the imaging ‘ways’ here at this company (they used to use scripting) to make it faster (can have a machine on a desk in under an hour as opposed to more than 4hrs) but I hate sysprep lol.
yeah thats teh only nice thing about sysprep…
IDK, I dont find it to much of a hassle to generate a new SID and type in a key but thats just me
It’s not an issue with the hassle lol. It’s the issue with my intel drivers getting biffed (making me re-install them) and other settings that I try to set on my images getting defaulted back to ‘stock’. It creates a lot of the work that I took care of pre-image in my image.
But it’s okay…better 1hr than 4hrs (old method). I guess…just figured I’d ask if anyone had anything else they did for a similar task.
What I just woke up, your tax dollars hard at work :lol. We use sysprep and ghost. Our images have all the needed drivers in one folder EX c:\drivers\dell\d610 or \d620 etc. In the sysprep file we have a list of all the drivers under those folders. I can’t remember the exact syntax but I can post it tomorrow if your interested.
I am interested. And by sysprep file you mean the one I get when I run sysprepmgr.exe or whatever that exe is?
I also have all the drivers on each image in a folder like C:\Dell\Drivers\Audio, Video, NIC, etc.
I made our T&V court laptop image (2,000+ laptops) with sysprep and ghost and it worked like a charm. That’s how “they” wanted it done, but no one ever did it before, so they bought in a pro (me) lol. Not really…
Anyway, we used NewSid and Ghost at AMC. Worked great and that’s what I wanted to do with these laptop to avoid the sysprep BS. Its been awhile, but I sorta remember having to put a few drivers in an I386 directory or sysprep would eff everything up. I don’t work for that dept anymore, so I couldn’t even get you the config files and info on what I did to get it all working 
Hmm…I’ll research NewSid. Thanks.
I like it a lot. You can change the SID and computer name all in one shot. It doesn’t eff up your default profile settings, drivers, or anything.
Thanks for the tip.
This is a txt file that we write manually and it’s what minisetup reads after you image a pc. I think it’s the same as the file from sysprepmgr but I have never used sysprepmgr. Here is our file this one works for our gateway M250, and all our dells D610, D620, D630, D830, E6400 & E6500. The filename is sysprep.inf and gets put into the same folder as sysprep.exe
;SetupMgrTag
[Unattended]
OemSkipEula=Yes
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
InstallFilesPath=C:\sysprep\i386
OEMPnPDriversPath=drivers\dell\d630\Audio (R171789)\WDM;drivers\dell\d630\Chipset (R153997);drivers\dell\d630\Modem (R167368);drivers\dell\d630\NIC (R151327);drivers\dell\d630\SC Reader (R182329);drivers\dell\d630\Video (R181739)\graphics;drivers\dell\d630\WiFi (R151519)\driver;Drivers\Gateway\M250-E\Audio (D00332-001-001);Drivers\Gateway\M250-E\Modem (D00355-001-001)\drivers;Drivers\Gateway\M250-E\Video (M250vid4363)\drivers;Drivers\Gateway\M250-E\WiFi (D00464-001-001);Drivers\Dell\D610\Audio (R99254)\WDM;Drivers\Dell\D610\Modem (R104087);Drivers\Dell\D610\Video (R137843)\Win2000;Drivers\Dell\D620\Modem (R114200);Drivers\Dell\D620\Video (R153830)\Graphics;Drivers\Dell\E6400\Audio (R213367)\WDM;Drivers\Dell\E6400\Broadcom USH (R210495);Drivers\Dell\E6400\Chipset (R182522)\All;Drivers\Dell\E6400\NIC (R211478)\XP32;Drivers\Dell\E6400\Video (R212481)\Graphics;Drivers\Dell\E6400\WiFi (R194581)\Drivers;Drivers\Dell\E6400\Video (R212481)\HDMI;Drivers\Dell\E6500\Chipset (R215879);Drivers\Dell\E6500\WiFi (R21931)\DRIVER_US
UpdateInstalledDrivers=Yes
[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
OEMSkipRegional=1
OEMDuplicatorstring=“NYSDOT Dell XP Laptop Core Image Build Lyymmdd”
TimeZone=35
OemSkipWelcome=1
AdminPassword=“XXXXXXXXXXX”
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=1
[UserData]
ProductKey=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FullName=“New York State Department of Transportation”
OrgName=“New York State Department of Transportation”
[Display]
BitsPerPel=32
Xresolution=1280
YResolution=768
Vrefresh=60
[TapiLocation]
CountryCode=1
Dialing=Tone
[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=1
[Identification]
JoinDomain=NYSDOT
[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes
[Branding]
BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes
[Proxy]
Proxy_Enable=0
Use_Same_Proxy=0
[GuiRunOnce]
Command0=“C:\Progra~1_SetSpeed\SetSpeedDuplex.exe /log=false /SPEED=100FULL /REBOOT=FALSE”
Command0=“C:\Documents and Settings\dotadmin\My Documents\CSA-NYSDOT_Laptop_Agent_setup.exe”
Command0=“C:\Drivers\Dell\WOL PXE Fix\dellfix.exe”
Command2=“%systemroot%\system32\postsysprep.exe /s”
[Sysprep]
BuildMassStorageSection=yes
[SysprepMassStorage]
Thanks man.
I guess if I can get sysprep to look in my C:\Drivers\Dell… folder I should be good. Either that or I’ll give NewSid a try.
Appreciate it.
So I tried NewSid. Took me a little while to find a downloadable link since MS took down it’s own link and some other sites did as well (after seeing MS not support it or whatever)…but…
I LOVE THIS PROGRAM.
I changed OOBE reg key to 00 so it makes the PC think that it’s not activated and then made a batch file to run the Activation Wizard and showed the other two guys how to use the program and we’re now in better shape than we were before. No more issues with drivers, certain view settings, etc. getting erased due to Sysprep.
And the best thing is I don’t have to keep two images on my server. I used to have to have a D630BeforeSysprep (one where I make my driver/windows updates, etc.) image and D630CleanImage (deployment) image. Now I just have one called D630. Awesome.
Thank you Oppie.
:thumbup
I hated that about sysprep. All the damn extra images always having to have around.
If you ever are in a jam, or whatever, don’t hesitate to shoot me a PM.
+1 on NewSID. Used it for everything from imaging, to vmware clones, to cloning from mirrored drives, etc.