SideBar    Using Setup Manager to Create a Sysprep.inf File
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Sysprep Magic
Plenty of information is available about using Sysprep with the imaging process for XP and Win2K, so I won't cover the fundamentals. (For an overview of the tool's capabilities and parameters, see "Deploying PCs with Sysprep," June 2002, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 24877.) Instead, I discuss the Sysprep features that help make disk imaging a more useful large-scale deployment mechanism.

The most powerful functionality for stretching an image to fit different types of hardware is presented in the SysprepMassStorage section of sysprep.inf. You can manually add mass storage drivers to this section to enable systems with different disk controllers to share an image, or to hedge all bets, you can have Sysprep automatically populate this section with entries for every mass storage driver included with the OS.

The upside of the latter approach is that you can support a wider range of hardware with one image—even hardware that might not have existed in your company when you created the image. Unfortunately, it takes 10 to 15 minutes to include all the drivers during the Sysprep process, and you must provide a means for running Sysprep with the -clean option on target systems. The -clean operation, which you execute using the cmdlines.txt or GUIRunOnce methods discussed below, will prevent Windows from trying to load drivers for nonexistent mass storage controllers. To have Sysprep automatically add mass storage drivers, you must include both a Sysprep and SysprepMassStorage section in the sysprep.inf file. Create the following entry under the Sysprep section:

BuildMassStorageSection=Yes

as Listing 1 shows. To tell Sysprep to create the entries, open a command prompt, change to the directory where sysprep.exe is located, type

sysprep -bmsd

and press enter. The program will build the SysprepMassStorage section and finish silently. Then type

Sysprep -mini

to launch the final Sysprep operation. See "Deploying PCs with Sysprep" for information about other command options you can use to complete the image-building process. You can also use the standard Sysprep GUI to select the Reseal option to make final system preparations before taking an image.

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Reader Comments

Just to let you readers know. When setting up a syspreped image for windows 2000, using the XP setup manager tool you can specify all standard options rather than just the basic options with the win2k setup manager e.g. inserting Product keys.

Once you have run the xp setup manager from a non sysprep directory. e.g c:\xpsysprep copy the sysprep.inf file and the i386 from the xpsysprep directory and move it to the c:\sysprep directory and then run the sysprep.exe from a command prompt with the required switches.

I hope this helps new sysprepers

Andrew Barr- June 12, 2003

The more times you run sysprep on the same image, the more unstable it becomes. So always keep a unsyspreped copy of your first image. When you go from rev B of your image to rev C for example, you dont make all your changes to a rev b image and presto, you have rev c. You have to start with rev A, add all your changes from rev B and rev C. Another thing I have never seen documented is that some settings get removed from the default user profile during the sysprep process. Need to specify IPX frame types for instance, want the "show connected icon" in sys tray? fagetaboutit! you'll have to do it on each new machine created from the image. And heres a good one, even though the mini-setup asks you (depending on how you set up your sysprep.inf) what the local admin password is supposed to be, if the local admin pw wasnt cleared before you sysprep'd, it will ignore whatever you tell it to be and your local admin pw will still be what ever it was on the original machine.

Learned The Hard Way- November 26, 2003

Thank you for this interesting article. I did not know that "sysprep -clean" was necessary to avoid loading of every mass storage driver in WinXP. I thought that "sysprep -clean" only was appliable on Win2k. Is that a correct statement?

John Gronmo- November 28, 2003

Thanks for Ed Roth's Windows Client: "Image-Based Windows XP Deployment" (June 2003, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 38950). I'm anxious to use this technique but have a question about licensing and Windows Product Activation (WPA). Most of my clients don't have Microsoft Select License 6.0 and use OEM, Microsoft Open License 6.0, or Full Packaged Product (FPP) licensing instead. When an organization uses OEM, Open License, or FPP media to build a Sysprep image, how does WPA work? <P>

Unfortunately, in your case the answers aren't clear. The simple answer from Microsoft is, "For unattended installations that are not performed using volume-licensing media, a separate answer file, including a unique Product Key, must be created for each computer on which Windows XP Professional is installed." That's not an optimal solution for you. You need to consult your Microsoft representative to determine whether your FPP licensing (which I am unfamiliar with) will let you use one key. If that works, you'll then need to figure out the legality of and method for performing a clean installation of XP from your qualified upgrade media. The ability to provide one key for multiple installations will rely on the image having been built by the appropriate media. You can obtain a Volume License Key (VLK) for your Open License media by contacting the Microsoft Activation Center for the appropriate region. Microsoft should have provided the phone number for your Activation Center to you in a letter. You'll need to provide your Open License Authorization Number, your Open License Agreement Number, and the title and quantity of product you have licensed. In the case of your OEM-licensed systems, you have several options when deploying by using single license activation media, as discussed in the Microsoft article "Deploying Windows XP Using Windows Product Activation" (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/deployment/activation/default.asp).<BR>

—Ed Roth

Dean Sherwood- January 15, 2004

Has anybody else has problems with the Outlook icon desappearing after a sysprep?

numark- October 01, 2004

Hey Learned The Hard Way -November 26, 2003 I too am having the same issue and ran across this tidbit for Uncle Bill Gates: Changes in behavior of the SysPrep and RIPREP tools after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887816 Hope this helps!!

Anonymous User- January 05, 2005

Hi all,

I would like some precision about driver install, on which I could not find any clear hint on the internet.

Does Sysprep.exe install all the drivers specified in te SysprepMassStorage section before rebooting and MiniSetup then just picks up the right one and delete the others when detecting the hardware ?

Or does Sysprep just delete all installed drivers and Mini-Setup searches the sysprep.inf file for appropriate drivers for the installed hardware ?

Thanks a lot for any hint...

Benoît "Mutos" ROBIN http://hoshikaze.net

Anonymous User- January 11, 2005

Article Rating 4 out of 5

 
 

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