Creating a "Works on Anything" Windows XP SP2 Workstation Image

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Osiris

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This is the procedure I used to create our "works on anything" WXPSP2 ZENworks 6.5 workstation image.



Find the oldest PC you can (in our case, a PIII450 with 256Mb RAM and an Intel 810 motherboard, for reasons to be explained later).
Install XP Pro. (Reboot.)
Install SP2. (Reboot).
Run Windows Update. (Reboot.)
Install the following NetWare client and ZENworks files:
b2nc491.exe (although I see beta3 is out now) (No reboot.)
Contextless Login
ZfDAgent.msi English agent from zfd65u2.exe (No reboot.)
nipp.exe from nipp312.exe (Reboot.)
Login locally and tidy the PC up (delete temp files, unwanted menu items, etc).
Run services.msc and turn off the following unused services (your site may/will vary especially if you use Active Directory and please backup first...).


From To
Computer Browser Automatic Disabled
Distributed Link Tracking Client Automatic Manual
Error Reporting Service Automatic Disabled
Help and Support Automatic Manual
Indexing Service Manual Disabled
Logical Disk Manager Automatic Manual
Net Logon Manual Disabled
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing Manual Disabled
Network Location Awareness Manual Disabled
Network Provisioning Service Manual Disabled
Performance Logs and Alerts Manual Disabled
Portable Media Serial Number Manual Disabled
QoS RSVP Manual Disabled
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager Manual Disabled
Remote Registry Service Automatic Disabled
Secondary Logon Automatic Disabled
Security Center Automatic Disabled
Server Automatic Disabled
Smart Card Manual Disabled
SSDP Discovery Service Manual Disabled
System Restore Service Automatic Disabled
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service Automatic Disabled
Telnet Manual Disabled
Uninterruptible Power Supply Manual Disabled
Universal Plug and Play Device Host Manual Disabled
WebClient Automatic Disabled
Windows Time Automatic Disabled
Wireless Zero Configuration Automatic Disabled


(For a full explanation of what does what, www.blackviper.com is an excellent reference site.)


Sysprep and the answer wizard:
Download the latest XP2 sysprep client from here
Extract the files to c:\windows\sysprep
Run Setupmgr.exe in the c:\windows\sysprep folder
At the Welcome to the Windows Setup Manager Wizard screen, click Next.
At the New or Existing Answer File screen, ensure that the Create a new answer file radio button is selected and click Next.
At the Product to Install screen select the Sysprep Install radio button and click Next. At this point, setup the answer wizard according to your organisation's needs.
At the end of the wizard, save the answer file as sysprep.inf and make a note of its path.
Making the sysprep image run on any PC
Open the recently saved sysprep.inf in notepad
At the end of the file, add the following

[SysPrep]
BuildMassStorageSection=Yes

[SysprepMassStorage]
Save the file

(Basically what you are doing here is telling XP to take every disk driver it has and ensure that it is part of the image, thus avoiding the accursed BSoD, boot disk not found. We have found that the older the PC we use, the more sucessful this process is!)


Seal the workstation
Copy C:\WINDOWS\Sysprep\FACTORY.EXE, SETUPCL.EXE, SYSPREP.EXE and SYSPREP.INF to c:\SYSPREP
Run c:\sysprep\sysprep.exe
Click on OK
At the System Preparation Tool window enable the MiniSetup and Pre-activated tick-boxes. Ensure that Shutdown is selected from the Shutdown drop-down menu and click Reseal.
At the prompt to continue with current settings and regenerate the SIDs click OK.

(At this point sysprep will do its magic and shutdown the PC when it's finished. Because you are using an old PC and the BuildMassStorageSection=Yes switch, this can take up to an hour to complete. Keep the faith as it hasn't hung....)
Image the PC using your imaging software of choice
This image "should" work on just about anything. We use it on everything from PIII340 up to the latest P4's, laptops and so far it's never failed to boot. You may need to have some drivers disks handy (sound and graphics are usually not found by default).

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/trench/11664.html
 
woah...didn't think it was possible..i should show this to my boss..sweet..thanks.

so at work we have novell...but at home i have active directory, if I want to do this at home do i still have to use the novell software and crap? and is there a chance this would work using an intel 815 board? cuz i think thats all i have available.
 
I tried that, well 90% of that to create a universal image for my schools network. we have about 8 different system types all from dell, including laptops. and i didnt have much luck with it.
 
I posted this in the wrong section....Inaris uses a system something like this I beleive and it works for him. I'm in the middle of testing this out
 
do you have links for these and sysprep?


Install the following NetWare client and ZENworks files:
b2nc491.exe (although I see beta3 is out now) (No reboot.)
Contextless Login
ZfDAgent.msi English agent from zfd65u2.exe (No reboot.)
nipp.exe from nipp312.exe (Reboot.)
Login locally and tidy the PC up (delete temp files, unwanted menu items, etc).
 
yea, I have a working image that works fine on just the machine it was made on but not a pc that has a different HAL
 
yeah, that Hal is more then annoying. ive been trying for months now when ever i get a chance to find a way that works cuz like i said i have 8 different Dells here and man im sure you know how annoying it is doing 8 full installs and pulling 8 images and all that garbage.

there is software out there that say they can do it like these people

http://www.binaryresearch.net/UIU/About.htm

but the price is crazy
 
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