There are a lot of nuances to using Sysprep and WDS, most of which I’ve found by trolling message boards and blogs. The Microsoft documentation is particularly lacking in this area, especially if you’ve never used RIS before. Below, I’ve included the steps I have used to successfully image an XP system and deploy it across my schools. This assumes that you already have a WDS server configured and authorized. For the sake of ease, I assume you have installed Windows XP to c:\windows\.
- Install Windows and any other software to the master machine. Make sure all options are configured as you would like them.
- Extract the entire contents of deploy.cab from an XP cd to c:\sysprep.
- Use the Setup Manager (setupmgr.exe) to create a sysprep.inf file. (A better explanation can be found here.) Save the sysprep.inf file to c:\sysprep.
- Run Sysprep.exe.
- I prefer to run sysprep from the command line, because it’s easier for me to keep track of which switches I’m using. Typically, I use “sysprep.exe -activated -mini -reseal” from the command line. An explanation of all available switches can be found here.
- It’s worth noting that if you use “-activated”, the product key in your sysprep.inf MUST match the product key used to install Windows on the master machine. A mismatch will prevent the “-activated” switch from working.
- After sysprep completes, your machine will shut down. Do not reboot from the hard drive until you are finished imaging the machine. At this point I PXE boot from my WDS server and capture the disk image. You can also capture the image by booting from local WinPE media (a CD/DVD, USB key), but I’ve had mixed results.
It took me more than a few full days of pouring through TechNet, cursing loudly, and deploying bad images to finally get the entire process down. At this point it takes me about 3 minutes to set up a machine for sysprep, run it, and start imaging.
