Although Sysprep has been mentioned several times in this and the previous chapters, specific instructions on its use have not yet been provided. Primarily, this is because you really should understand all the built-in options available to you before you work with Sysprep. By using Sysprep, you can create prototype computers that are fully configured and then create images of these computers so that you can quickly deploy many computers at once. But Sysprep is special because it creates only an image; it doesn't handle the remote operating system installation. Thus, the use of Sysprep assumes that you have disk-imaging software, such as Norton Ghost from Symantec or Drive Image from PowerQuest, that can handle the remote OS installation.
Essentially, you use Sysprep to make a "usable" clone of the prototype computer's hard disk drive. If you've worked with other cloning tools, you can probably guess why there are quotes around usable. Basically, it is because not all cloning tools are created equal. Some cloning tools create exact copies of the prototype computer, which includes the computer's SIDs. Unfortunately, these identifiers are supposed to be unique, and copying the drives with these intact means the network sees them as two identical drives.
The creators of imaging software, such as Norton Ghost and Drive Image, worked around this by scrambling the SIDs. The problem is that Microsoft won't support computers with scrambled SIDs.
A "usable" clone has the unique SIDs removed, not just scrambled. The way you remove the SIDs is to use Sysprep to prepare the system by scrubbing or stripping them.
The primary advantage of using Sysprep-created disk images is speed. Sysprep is typically the fastest way to deploy a new computer, but it does have limitations. Before you set out to use Sysprep, keep these limitations in mind:
Sysprep-prepared images always overwrite the existing partition, which means no operating system upgrade is possible.
Sysprep-prepared images must share a common HAL, meaning you cannot mix ACPI systems with non-ACPI systems or uniprocessor systems with multiprocessor systems.
Sysprep doesn't support image-based deployment of Active Directory–dependent applications. Because of this, you can't image a domain controller, for example, using Sysprep. You could, however, script the domain controller promotion (Dcpromo) process into the disk image using the answer files.
Sysprep doesn't support imaging of servers that run certificate services or that are part of a cluster.
Sysprep doesn't support NTFS file/folder permissions set in the master installation and doesn't work with files that are encrypted by EFS.
Other than these limitations, Sysprep can be used to prepare for imaging just about any computer running Windows 2000 or later. Sysprep requires two programs to work, Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe, and an answer file. Although Sysprep does not support user interaction during setup, Sysprep can be customized by an answer file, either Sysprep.inf or Winbom.ini. Sysprep.inf is used to automate the Mini-Setup portion of the installation; that is, the portion of setup after the initial reboot when normally the user would be prompted for configuration information. Winbom.ini file is a manually created answer file used to control Sysprep running in Factory mode. When used, these files along with Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe must be present in the %SystemDrive% folder on the destination computer.
The steps for using Sysprep are as follows:
Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe are not installed by default, but rather have to be extracted from the Deploy.cab file in the SupportTools directory on the distribution CD. To do this, access the SupportTools directory on the CD-ROM, and double-click Deploy.cab. Double-click Sysprep.exe, and then extract it when prompted. Next, double-click Setupcl.exe, and, again, extract it when prompted.
Log on as the administrator, then install and configure the Windows operating system on the prototype computer. Install and configure any applications you want to deploy to all systems using this image. The applications must be on the same drive as the Windows operating system.
Tip
Plan Sysprep-created images, partitions, and configurations carefully
Because Sysprep-created images cannot be installed on a disk partition smaller than the one on which the image was created, plan the primary partition size carefully. Any computers that use this image will be partitioned to the same size as the prototype computer's partition. You can use the ExtendOemPartition parameter in the [Unattended] section of the Sysprep.inf answer file to extend the partition to fill the hard disk.
Remember, you can configure the prototype computer exactly as you want it. You can set simple Start menu and Classic Control Panel. You can ensure that folder options are set to display details and use single-click to open an item. And the list goes on and on.
On the prototype computer, copy Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe to a directory named Sysprep on whichever drive the operating system is on, such as C:Sysprep.
To ensure the environment settings are available to all users of the computer, you must copy the Administrator profile to the Default Users profile. This way, anyone who logs on to the cloned computer uses those settings.
Reboot the prototype one last time, and ensure everything is working and configured correctly. You will not be able to reboot the system once you run Sysprep.
Run Sysprep to remove the SIDs from the system. When Sysprep finishes, it shuts down the system.
Don't boot the computer from the hard disk drive. Boot from a floppy disk (probably one that has DOS or was created by the disk-imaging software), and then run the diskimaging software. If you let the computer boot to the disk drive, it realizes it doesn't have SIDs, and it will generate them—just as any new clone computers do. At that point, you'll have to run Sysprep again, because you ran it in the first place to remove the SIDs.
Use a floppy disk to boot the new computer, that is, the computer on which you want to place the newly created disk image, and then connect to the network share containing the drive image.
Restart the new computer to initiate Mini-Setup. As the new computer boots, it recognizes that it doesn't have any SIDs. It then generates new ones, a process that requires the computer to rejoin the domain, obtain a product key (if applicable), and so on.
Note
Mini-Setup detects any additional Plug and Play devices and hides any devices that are different or missing. You can override this by using the –Pnp option, as discussed later, which tells Setup to perform a full Plug and Play device detection. You can also provide an answer file to modify the computer's configuration without having to re-create the disk image.
Several of the steps in this procedure are fairly complex.The following sections examine them more closely.
Okay, you logged on as the administrator and optimized the configuration, which is a good thing. Now you want the configuration settings to be available to other users, and to do this, you must copy the Administrator profile. The problem is you can't copy the Administrator profile while logged on as the administrator. Resolve this problem by creating a new local user on the computer and then logging on as this user so that you can copy the profile.
To create a new user account on the prototype computer, follow these steps:
In Control Panel, double-click Computer Management, and then double-click the Local Users And Groups node.
Right-click Users, and select New User.
In the New User dialog box, type a name for the new user account (as shown in the following screen).
Enter and then confirm a password.
Clear the User Must Change Password At Next Logon option.
Click Create, and then click Close. The new user account is created.
In Computer Management, double-click the new user account to display the new user's Properties page.
In the Member Of tab of the user's Properties page, click Add.
Type Administrators, and then click OK twice.
To log on as the new user and copy the profile, follow these steps:
Log off as the administrator, then log on as the new user. Make sure you log on to the local computer and not the domain.
If the Default User profile is hidden, you must tell the Windows operating system to show hidden files. Also, you can't copy the profile files directly—you must use the System tool.
In Control Panel, double-click Folder Options or select Tools, and click Folder Options in Microsoft Windows Explorer.
Click Show Hidden Files And Folders, and then click OK.
In Control Panel, double-click System. Select the Advanced tab.
In the User Profiles panel of the Advanced tab, click Settings. This displays the User Profiles dialog box (as shown in the following screen).
Select the MachineNameAdministrator profile, where MachineName is the name of the local computer with which you are working. It should have a Type of Local.
Click Copy To, which displays the Copy To dialog box (as shown in the following screen).
Under Permitted To Use, click Change. You'll see a list of all available groups on the computer, including the special group Everyone. Type Everyone, and click OK. Note that if Locations is set to the domain, you must change the location to the local computer. Click Locations, and then select the local computer as the search location.
Copy the profile to the Documents and SettingsDefault User folder. To do this, either type in the full path, including the drive letter for this folder, or use the Browse button to navigate to this folder. Then click OK, and the profile is copied.
Sysprep is run from a command line and accepts quite a few parameter options. Usually when you run the command, you type the following:
sysprep -quiet -reseal
The options used here specify that confirmation dialog boxes should be shown (–Quiet) and that the SIDs that were stripped should be reset after running Factory.exe (–Reseal). In some cases, you might want to consider adding –Pnp and –Mini, such as this:
sysprep -quiet -reseal -pnp -mini
These additional options tell the cloned computer to detect its Plug and Play devices on the first boot and to run Mini-Setup. Use the options together to ensure you get what you want to happen—which is that you can copy a computer with one set of hardware and get its clone to work on a computer with very different hardware.