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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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Is ImageX needed after a Sysprep when preparing Virtual PC's for duplication?

I have researched this question and there seems to be two methods: 1) Run Sysprep, and 2) Run Sysprep followed by ImageX (this is what Microsoft says should be done). What does ImageX do and any pointers on the general process to follow? I am…
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What does audit mode in Sysprep do?

Possible Duplicate: Is the audit mode of SYSPREP practically useful in Windows deployment? The MS docs say when you should use it, and for what, but I can't find any description of what going into Audit mode actually does.
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Windows 7 Pro sysprep not working

I'm trying to sysprep a Windows 7 Professional machine, prior to grabbing an image for mass deployment on identical hardware, and am having a hard time getting sysprep to work (at all). I've created an XML answer file with WSIM, and have a basic…
Callum D
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Can you "swap" the Sysprep answer file in Windows 7

I have a load of new Lenovo laptops which I am due to distribute in my company. We are distributed in multiple locations and I want to ship the laptops "boxed" and untouched by IT hand for distribution. We are using LANDesk to do all the software…
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Sysprep failling after reboot into OOBE

I'm trying to configure an image for deployment to other machines. I've configured the machine, then I run sysprep, choose generalize and OOBE. Sysprep does its thing, then reboots. Then when 'setup is starting services', I get a 'Windows could not…
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What is the correct way to set credentials for a directory when using EC2Launch sysprep?

I created a startup script like this: $FolderPath = "C:\Path\To\Your\Directory" $UserAccount = "Domain\User" # Replace with the appropriate user or group $Acl = Get-Acl $FolderPath $AccessRule = New-Object…
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Change Windows Store Apps language using poweshell or unattend.xml?

I am trying to create a golden image and I can't find any way to set Store Apps language. These are the settings I want: Windows Display: English (US) Apps & Websites: English (US) Regional Format: Turkish Keyboard: Turkish Speech: English(US) These…
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Automatically set drive letters after SysPrep

After syspreping a machine all drive letters are reassigned. How do I prevent this from happening or automatically reasign drive letters after sysprep?
Eric Hazen
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How to preserve sysprep from changing Default User settings

I'm having diffculties configuring 20 new Dell Vostro minis here. I set up one of them with my preferred OS, applications and settings, especially the Visual Effects Settings of Windows XP. I set them to best performance and deactivated everything…
user33794
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Assign a specific machine SID to a new Windows system

Windows Setup assigns a unique machine SID to a Windows system at install time. The machine SID is not exposed over the network, and as such it usually does not matter what it is, but local users' security identifiers are based on the machine SID,…
Anton Tykhyy
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Azure: "Disallowed by policy" error trying to capture a VM

I'm working through some guided labs studying for the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals certification test. The labs instructed me to: Create an ARM VM with Visual Studio (OK) Run SysPrep on the VM "Capture" the SysPrep'ed VM in order to create a template…
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Answer file for clonable windows installation

I would like to create a windows image that can be cloned to multiple different computers, with different (known) hardware. And I would like Windows to resize the partitions after cloning. I read that you should "sysprep /generalize" from audit mode…
jdm
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Unattended machine join to domain

My company would like to use a Syprep image and an autounattend.xml file to deploy new machines or rebuild old ones with a USB stick. We do not want to use SCCM. I will push us to use WDS in the future but we still want to be able to do this through…
Rhys
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Windows Answer file is not activating the product key

I'M trying to enable the product key of our Windows Server with an answer file. The answer file is created with Windows System Image Manager.Is finishing the Answer file without errors but when i check the product key I have to activate this…
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sysprep for Windows 2003 R2 SP2

I cannot seem to get sysprep to work on Windows 2003 R2 SP2. I've downloaded multiple version from Microsoft's website. This doesn't appear to update…
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