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Questions tagged [sysprep]

Sysprep is the name of Microsoft's System Preparation Utility for Microsoft Windows operating system deployment.

History

Sysprep was originally introduced for use with Windows NT 4.0. Later versions introduced for Windows 2000 and Windows XP are available for download from Microsoft and included in the Windows CD. Windows Vista marks the first version of Microsoft's NT operating system to include a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) independent version of Sysprep in the "out of box" installation.

Purpose

Desktop deployment is typically performed via disk cloning applications. Sysprep can be used to prepare an operating system for disk cloning and restoration via a disk image.

Windows operating system installations include many unique elements per installation that need to be "generalized" before capturing and deploying a disk image to multiple computers. Some of these elements include:

  • Computer name
  • Security Identifier (SID)
  • Driver Cache

Sysprep seeks to solve these issues by allowing for the generation of new computer names, unique SIDs, and custom driver cache databases during the Sysprep process.

Administrators can use tools such as SetupMgr.exe (Windows XP) or the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows Vista/7/Server 2008) to generate answer files that Sysprep will process on new computer deployments.

Screenshot

enter image description here

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Set MAK and activate Office 2010 when deploying a syspreped image

I am deploying Windows 7 using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) on Server 2008 R2. On the image I have Office 2010 already installed. I don't use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) but Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (WADK) is available. How…
Scolytus
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Access to network share not possible using Sysprep's GuiRunOnce with VMware PowerCLI

As mentioned in the title, I am currently creating an automized deployment of VMs using VMware PowerCLI. Everything works fine so far, until I want to execute some scripts in the GuiRunOnce section after the SysPrep customization. My goal is to copy…
ArgisIsland
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How to duplicate a VHD with Windows 7 so others can use it?

I have created a VHD image with Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 and a couple of SDKs, which took a while to install. Now I want to share this VHD with my coleagues so they don't have to go through the whole installation process themselves. How should…
Bogdan Gavril MSFT
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vSphere Client vCenter Template Customization Specification Using Windows Sysprep Unattended Answer XML File

I'm trying to setup a vSphere Client vCenter v5.0.0 Build 455964 Template Customization Specification using a Windows Sysprep unattended answer XML file for Win2008R2. However I didn't know how Sysprep worked before attempting this so it was a…
Brian
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Does Audit Mode Have a Time Limit

I am trying to move towards better Sysprep and image management practices, and I am trying to get me and my time to use Audit Mode when modifying the images to get rid of some nasty image problems I discovered after getting started here. However, I…
songei2f
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Sysprep system started up

We sysprep'd our newest xp install and restarted to image it. Our tech missed getting it to boot into the usb drive for imaging. Is there anyway to leave the install now without it giving a bootup error ie: 'Windows did not shutdown properly' so…
Unfundednut
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sysprep'd Server 2008 R2 VMware autocheck BSODs

I'm trying to set up a template Server 2k8 R2 (Standard) VM in our VMware ESXi environment, we'll need to deploy a whole lot of them and I want to (a) streamline and (b) standardise the server build process. Originally I built a sysprep answer file…
slag
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Windows 7 disk backup and clone for deployment to multiple systems

I'm in the process of deploying some new PCs (there's only 8), all identical hardware. What I'd like to do is install Windows 7 (64bit), join to domain etc, install a bunch of other software, and then clone that drive to multiple other machines. I'd…
gregmac
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Creating WINPE boot disc for IA64 architecture

Following the steps in the Windows Deployment Services getting started guide to create bootable media. After running Copype.cmd ia64 c:\winpe there is no equivalent of etfsboot.com in the c:\winpe\iso\boot\ folder. So as per…
nick3216
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Prepare Windows OS image in virtual environment and deploy to real environment

I need to prepare some OS typical configurations for my office I wonder, if it is possible to configure Windows OS (likely 7) in virtual machine, then do a Sysprep, and then deploy it on physical machine?
alkersan
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Sysprep unattended join with Win7/S2008R2 failing

This started out as an issue trying to deploy out VM's through VMWare vCenter - they previously were working flawlessly and then after I applied a few Windows updates they stopped working so flawlessly... I eventually narrowed it down to sysprep,…
Dan
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Using autounattend.xml to automate a Windows installation with Ventoy bootloader

In the company I work for, we occasionally need to build out servers which we sell to clients. Part of this process includes installing an OS, and in the past, we have used Windows 10 Ent. IoT and Windows Server 2019. Now, with the release of…
Ryan W
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Sysprep without audit mode?

In preparing a (windows 7) machine for cloning, does one need to run it in audit mode before installing/customising? I have a customised machine I would like to sysprep and clone, without having to re-create in audit mode. And from where does one…
askvictor
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Azure compute gallery sysprep issues

I am trying to update an Azure Compute Gallery version but it's not working properly. The process I am following is as follows: Deploy the old version from the Compute Gallery to a new VM and start. Use RDP to login to VM and patch. The OS is…
Ganners
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How to run sysprep without creating admin account?

I have installed Windows 10 Home version and updated it to Enterprise and added the KMS server. If I now run the sysprep everything else is ok but sysprep adds an account admin. How can I prevent this or delete the admin account before a user will…
JPX
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