Sysprep is pretty simple; there's a lot of documentation available on it. As Rich mentioned, you need to set up your customizations under one profile and copy that to the default user profile. Some irksome things change, however. One of my pet peeves is that when you sysprep a PC, the next time it boots, the select OS timeout goes from whatever you have set it to (5 sec in our case) back to the default of 30 sec.
I have found that using group policy to make most of the settings changes is better than doing it on the workstation. We start with a sysprepped image that runs the mini-setup when first booted. We then the workstation and place it in the domain, where the GPOs apply to make all the required settings. I was able to go from a boot floppy, ghost, and ghostwalker to a boot CD, sysprep, and ghost (our new laptops don't have floppy drives) in about 4 days of testing and fine-tuning. I took a couple of laptops and a BartPE CD (with ghost added to it) into a spare conference room, didn't answer my phone, and worked it all out. A few days of work and the result is significantly simpler deployment of new images. ********************** Charlie Kaiser W2K3 MCSA/MCSE/Security, CCNA Systems Engineer Essex Credit / Brickwalk 510 595 5083 ********************** > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Garyphold > Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 5:01 AM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD computer accounts being removed > > Thanks for the link Nav. > > I use Symantec (PowerQuest) V2i Desktop (DriveImage). > Haven't used Ghost (Ghostwalker) or Sysprep. Been wanting to > experiment with Sysprep but haven't had the time. I was > thinking about that this morning though. Is there a big > learning curve with Sysprep? > > I use V2i for cloning, because I'm already using that for > backups of all the workstations and all the servers. Hard > drive backups instead of tape. Without sysprep, I'm stuck > being able to only clone like machines. > > I really need to learn to use Sysprep. Too many fires > burning right now. > > Gary > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Navroz Shariff > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 3:29 PM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD computer accounts being removed > > > Hi Gary, > > Try looking at this article from MS regarding 'Resetting > computer accounts in Windows 2000 and Windows XP'. > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216393/EN-US/ > > Also, you join the computer to the domain and then change its name? > Do you reset the SIDs of the cloned workstation using > GhostWalker or Sysprep? > > -Nav > > > ________________________________ > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Garyphold > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 3:04 PM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD computer accounts being removed > > > Brenda, > > FWIW: It happens to me when I clone a workstation then try > to join that workstation to the domain in order to change the > computer name. AD sees 2 machines with the same name, gives > me a notification and lets the 2nd one in. Then when the > original machine with that name logs in next time, it isn't > seen on the network. Then I have to do the same thing you > did - with the original machine. Then all is well again. > Don't know if that will help, but it might narrow down the > problem some. > > Gary > > Gary Polvinale > Denton ATD > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brenda Casey > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 2:24 PM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD computer accounts being removed > > > Yes, their computer account in AD is actually gone. > > Thanks, > Brenda > > Brenda Casey > Network Manager > Billings Public Schools > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 406-247-3792 > > > ________________________________ > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gil > Kirkpatrick > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 11:14 AM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD computer accounts being removed > > > When you say "lose their account", do you mean the computer > object in AD disappears? Or something else? > > -g > > ________________________________ > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brenda Casey > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:42 AM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: [ActiveDir] AD computer accounts being removed > > > Occasionally computers will lose their account in Active > Directory for no apparent reason. Sometimes it is a computer > that has just joined the domain, while other times the > machine has been a member of the domain for 2 years. The > computer can only be logged on by a local account (not a > domain account). To remedy this, the computer has to be > disjoined from the domain, join a workgroup, then join the > domain again. As I am sure you all are aware, this is not > only time consuming, but very inappropriate to have to do. > > Has anyone else had this experience and how have you fixed it? > > Thanks, > Brenda > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
