Hello everyone, I work with a company that is currently all Windows 2000. We are wanting to deploy XP by going to each machine and placing the customized image onto the machines using Acronis Imaging software. We cannot change the way we deploy, because of restrictions in our policies. I am new at this company as of last week, and they were on their way to creating a standard image for each machine type, and an upgraded image for each machine type. In total it would be about 20-30 images, depending on how many different configurations we need. I was wanting to streamline this process, since creating multiple images "the same" is error prone. Heres what we are wanting to do: -Customize themes -Install an in house custom application -Install several other apps, WinZip, PGP, -Install all the basic apps that are needed on any base installation, Flash, Java, PDF Reader, MSOffice 2003 -Uninstall Outlook Express -Setup folder restrictions for a few folders -Join a Domain -Migrate user settings from Windows 2000 to Windows XP -install any windows updates that need to install We have to install McAffee on each machine by itself because of licensing issues, an unattended install is not neccessary. We have 7-8 different types of Dell machines. Most notably we have the Dell Optiplex 240,270,280,620,320. We have conducted inventory and we have approximately 225 machines that need a standard image, and another 40 that need that image plus some other software that is used to manage calls in a call center. I have advised my supervisor that sysprep (which they use to prep the harddrive before placing it on other machines) can install the required drivers for each machine type from an answer file. She had heard never heard of it before. She talked to one of our System Administrators, who used to do a lot of imaging, and he said that if you install drivers via an answer file, it wont neccessarily install the software applications that are required for some drivers. We took that at its worth, and I got to researching, as well as creating images for each and ever machine type. I figured out that you don't HAVE to HAVE the software that comes with about 90% of the drivers available. I was wondering if that is correct. The system admin I talked to also mentioned that if you were to do that, we would need someone full time doing nothing but updating images. I found that a rather startling comment since once you find the driver that works, the hardware isn't going to change (since we rather replace the machine than upgrade hardware components). I am looking for the most accurate and comprehensive solution for what we are needing. To sum this up a list of the questions I need answered: -Must I install the software that comes with standard drivers (mouse, nic, video)? -Would it be worth it to make an answer file and image with all the drivers auto install through the answer file? -What would be the best solution for all of our needs: -predeployment setup -installation of drivers on different machine types Thanks for any information
