Deploying PCs with Sysprep

Sysprep Grows Up
Because SID-duplication problems still exist under XP and Win2K and disk cloning continues to be a popular deployment method, Microsoft updated Sysprep to a Win2K-compatible version—Sysprep 1.1, and an XP-compatible version—Sysprep 2.0. (I discuss Sysprep for XP later.) Fortunately, these new versions are much more accessible. You can download Sysprep 1.1 for Win2K from Microsoft's Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/sysprep/download.asp, or you can access the tool from the Win2K installation CD-ROM's deploy.cab file (which resides in the CD-ROM's \support\tools folder) or from the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit. Figure 1 shows Sysprep 1.1's first dialog box.

To use Sysprep 1.1 to manually duplicate and deploy a Win2K system, follow these steps:

1. Install and configure the reference machine with Win2K and the applications you want to include. Don't join the system to any domain, and leave the local Administrator password blank.
2. Verify the system configuration and remove all extraneous files that you don't want included in the disk-imaging process.
3. Create a directory and name it Sysprep in the root of the reference computer's C drive (e.g., C:\sysprep).
4. Extract sysprep.exe and setupcl.exe from the \support\tools\deploy.cab file. If you'll use a sysprep.inf answer file for your manual installation, copy the file to the Sysprep directory as well. (I discuss sysprep.inf files in the next section.)
5. Run sysprep.exe on the reference machine to prepare the disk for duplication.
6. Use disk-cloning software to duplicate the desired disk partitions.
7. Use disk-cloning software to deploy the reference machine's disk image to one or more target machines.
8. Boot each target machine that has received the disk image, then complete the installation by following the screens that the Mini-Setup Wizard displays.

Sysprep.exe has a few optional parameters that you might want to use. In Win2K, these parameters are

• quiet. The -quiet parameter forces Sysprep to suppress the display of confirmation messages so that a user doesn't need to respond to the messages. If you plan to run sysprep.exe right after an unattended setup process, for example, add the command

sysprep -quiet

to the [GuiRunOnce] section of the sysprep.inf file.

• pnp. The -pnp parameter forces a Plug and Play (PnP) refresh on the next reboot. I highly recommend that you use this parameter because it forces a redetection of PnP hardware on the cloned machine. (On XP systems, Microsoft recommends that you use this option only when you need to detect and install legacy, non-PnP devices and never on computers that contain only PnP-compliant devices. Doing so needlessly increases the time required for the first-run experience.)
• reboot. The -reboot parameter forces the computer to reboot and to either start the Mini-Setup Wizard or start in Factory mode—whichever you've specified. This parameter is useful when you want to test the system to verify that the user's first-run experience is happening as expected.
• nosidgen. The -nosidgen parameter runs Sysprep without regenerating the SID that's present on the system. You can use this parameter if you won't be duplicating the computer on which you're running Sysprep or if you're preinstalling domain controllers (DCs).

Using Sysprep with an Answer File
A drawback to the standard Sysprep method is that it requires you to manually answer the questions that the Mini-Setup Wizard asks. To improve the automation of a Sysprep deployment, you can use an answer file to automate the responses to the wizard's questions. (For information about answer files and unattended installations, see Robert McIntosh, Windows 2000 Ready, "Automating Windows 2000 Installations with Sysprep," http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 8861, and "Windows 2000 Automated Installations," InstantDoc ID 8767.) The default Sysprep answer file is called sysprep.inf and uses a subset of the sections found in typical unattended answer files. You can place sysprep.inf either in the C:\sysprep folder along with sysprep.exe and setupcl.exe, or on a floppy disk. (If you use a floppy disk, you must insert the disk in the floppy drive after the Windows startup screen appears and before the Please Wait Mini-Setup Wizard screen appears.)

Using Sysprep answer files isn't an all-or-nothing prospect. If you choose not to or inadvertently neglect to complete one or more sections within the answer file, the wizard presents the corresponding screens to the user to complete during the first system reboot. Thus, if you want to create a fully automated deployment for your users, be sure to complete each relevant section within the sysprep.inf answer file. Table 1 lists the sections and parameters of sysprep.inf that relate to a variety of wizard screens and includes some sample values. (In some cases, more than one section of sysprep.inf can have values that relate to a particular wizard screen.) Listing 1, page 44, shows an example of a Win2K-centric sysprep.inf file to be used with Sysprep 1.1. This answer file automatically answers all Mini-Setup Wizard questions except for those in the regional settings dialog box (which will thus be the only screen the user sees).