Sysprep

Sysprep is Microsoft's System Preparation Utility for Windows operating system deployment. Originally introduced for use with Windows NT 4.0, Sysprep can prepare an operating system for disk cloning and prevent issues that arise when otherwise restoring a disk image captured from one Windows installation onto other computers.

Issues that may arise from disk cloning

• Invalid or missing mass storage drivers.
• Invalid hardware abstraction layer (HAL).
• Missing device drivers.
• Duplicate computer names on a network.
• Workstation recognization issues in a domain. This is due to the fact that a security identifier (SID) is used to identify an NT workstation.
• If you put a 10GB image on a 40GB hard drive the new drive will only use 10GB, wasting 30 unless your use the ExtendOemPartition=1 in sysprep.inf

Using Sysprep on Windows NT 4.0 through Windows Server 2003

• To run Sysprep, extract it from the deploy.cab file on the Windows installation CD or download the latest Deployment Tools update from Microsoft. Deployment tools are available for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP SP1 and SP2 and Windows Server 2003. It is also available as part of the OPK.
• Create a directory in the root of the system drive named Sysprep.
• Copy the sysprep.exe, setupcl.exe and factory.exe files to the newly created Sysprep directory.
• Use Setup Manager (setupmgr.exe) to create the unattended answer file for sysprep. Depending on the version of the deployment tools you are using, the default name of the answer file will either be sysprep.inf or unattended.txt. Save the file as Sysprep.inf and place it in the Sysprep directory at the root of the system drive.
• Launch sysprep.exe manually to use a GUI to configure sysprep options or run sysprep from the command-line. This will prepare Windows for the first-run Out-Of-Box-Experience (OOBE).

In Windows XP, the OOBE can be Windows Welcome or Mini-Setup.

Mini-Setup uses the entries provided in sysprep.inf as its answer file. Windows Welcome uses entries provided in winbom.ini as its answer file.

Consult the ref.chm and deploy.chm files, also included in deploy.cab or the Deployment Tools download, for additional information.

External links

• How to use the Sysprep tool to automate successful deployment of Windows XP
• Hardware devices not installed in Sysprep image
• Description of New Features in Sysprep for Windows XP