Server Fault Stack Exchange
Server Fault Stack Exchange

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

187 questions
1
vote
2 answers

Sysprep and unattend.xml: remove local user account on windows 7

We are deploying Windows 7 using WDS. We want to remove the local user account which was created during setup. We don't need this account since the machines join a domain and a domain user account is created during OOBE phase. Documentation of…
Scolytus
  • 434
  • 3
  • 7
  • 22
1
vote
1 answer

Windows System Image Manager - Extended Attributes Error

I'm trying to create a basic answer file for an image I'm working on to get the computer to automatically join the domain upon reimage. I've got the Win7 Pro 64 bit install.wim file extracted from the iso and I'm running on Win 7 x64. I'm confused…
Joseph
  • 293
  • 2
  • 7
  • 14
1
vote
3 answers

MDT 2012 - Task Sequence Not Completing

I'm a complete novice with MDT 2012, but I have had pretty good luck getting a deployment for Server 2008 R2. I have a reference system, and I do a very vanilla sysprep and capture using the template task sequence with no changes. My deployment has…
Mark
  • 21
  • 1
  • 4
1
vote
1 answer

Can I still < CopyProfile > without the /Generalize arg to the default Profile?

The title is self explanatory. I had to remove the /generalize option when going from my sysprep to OOBE but that has now broken my copy profile. I have read multiple places, that /generalize is needed for the copy profile and I cannot do this…
Zero
  • 315
  • 1
  • 5
  • 21
1
vote
1 answer

Will a SQL Server client alias survive a sysprep?

I want to sysprep a Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 machine that has SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 installed (for reference, SQL Server 2008 R2 has a new sysprep feature that allows the instance to be sysprepped). On the server is a SQL Server client alias that…
shufler
  • 972
  • 1
  • 6
  • 18
1
vote
1 answer

Multicasting Windows 7 Image

I am trying to deploy some new machines with windows 7 for the first time in our computer labs. We used to use third party imaging software and then run sysprep after the image was copied(XP), but it seems you can't go that route with windows 7. We…
LawnChairSkank
  • 11
  • 2
1
vote
1 answer

What does sysprep do on Win2k8 with /audit?

Windows 2008 R2 host running Hyper-V. I meant to run "sysprep /audit /reboot" on one of the virtual machines, but ended up running that on the host (doing this through 2 layers of RDP - bad idea). The server was one of two domain controllers, but…
VokinLoksar
  • 121
  • 1
  • 8
1
vote
1 answer

Reboot loop after sysprep of AD machine

Major screw-up here and I need to find out how much trouble I am in. I have an AD machine that is running Server 2008 R2, hyperv, DHCP and DNS. On the hyperv machine, I have a backup AD instance running along with a handfull of other server 2008…
rboarman
  • 237
  • 1
  • 5
  • 15
1
vote
2 answers

Accidental sysprep of AD machine

Major screw-up here and I need to find out how much trouble I am in. I have an AD machine that is running Server 2008 R2, hyperv, DHCP and DNS. On the hyperv machine, I have a backup AD instance running along with a handfull of other server 2008…
rboarman
  • 237
  • 1
  • 5
  • 15
1
vote
2 answers

ESX + Sysprep.inf + Template= unhappy computername

I am trying to create a template in ESX that I can automate with PowerCLI. Everything works great so far, but because I have some specific settings, I had to create my own sysprep.inf. Now, the computername and the VM guest name are out of synch. …
breadly
  • 217
  • 2
  • 12
1
vote
0 answers

VMware Sysprep with Custom Unattended.xml

I was looking into using VCenter for deploying VMs and wanted to take advantage of the built-in template features and the ability to make use of unattended.xml files. I have a Windows 7 template that I would like to use to spin off copies of this…
John
  • 2,276
  • 7
  • 44
  • 60
1
vote
2 answers

Can't re-image laptop, "Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware"

A user's laptop (Lenovo W520) was having strange issues (could not open mspaint, among other things, other apps crashing a lot), and it is only 2 months old. After chkdsk and Lenovo diagnostics CD (a full run), nothing surfaced so I decided to…
Joshua McKinnon
  • 1,431
  • 1
  • 14
  • 26
1
vote
0 answers

Sysprep rearm set to 1 and shouldn't have been. Any workarounds for automatic activation prior to the 30 day period?

I work for a fairly large school. We are deploying 850 tablet PCs to students starting tomorrow (Windows 7 Enterprise with a MAK). We have imaged all of these machines with our standard student image tailored specifically for these machines. When I…
Blurn
  • 11
  • 2
1
vote
1 answer

Sysprep question

I want to move a VHD I have on my Hyper-V server to another Hyper-V server I am setting up. For this to happen, does the VHD need to be sysprepped? Furthermore, I am downloading an OVF of a VM I have on an ESX hypervisor and want to open this in…
GurdeepS
  • 1,646
  • 5
  • 26
  • 33
1
vote
3 answers

Creating Windows 7 Images

Image creation on Windows 7 seems slightly different than what we used to do with Windows XP. Under Windows XP, I used sysprep to generalize the system (get rid of device-dependent stuff), reboot on a Norton Ghost or Acronis boot CD and take an…
user76788
1 2 3
…
12 13