Changing the HAL

[Tripredacus]

I am tasked with changing the HAL on a Windows XP image. Here is what I have encountered so far, and do not know if Windows is lying to me or what.

First we start with a computer that has Windows XP Pro, SP 2 that has had some software installed on it by a customer. Unfortunately, all of the software was installed in Factory Mode rather than Audit Mode. This computer has a Celeron CPU and uses the ACPIAPIC_UP HAL as according to Device Manager.

We send this image up to the Ghost Server and then I did a test by putting this image down on an identical Computer except it has a Dual Core in it.

Another thing to note is that Sysprep is NOT run before the image is sent up generally, so the computer is in Factory Mode after it is deployed.

I rebooted the computer after the Ghost was dropped and I went into the Device Manager to check the HAL. The HAL was now set at ACPIAPIC_MP without me making any changes.

Am I to believe that Windows has automatically changed the HAL for me? Shouldn't it still come up as UP after ghosting it? I had also prepared a new SYSPREP.INF that would change the HAL but it seems that I do not need it.

What are your thoughts on this?

[ilko_t]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

Notes:

.......

4. On Windows XP and later versions, the ACPI Uniprocessor HAL and the MPS Uniprocessor HAL recognize the existence of more than one processor and report the MP ID. Plug and Play detects that the computer devnode's hardware ID list has changed and moves the devnode back through the "found new hardware" detection process. Therefore, when you add a second processor, the MP files (HAL and kernels) are automatically installed, and you do not have to manually update the driver in Device Manager.

Is this what you are looking for?

[Tripredacus]

Yes, thanks a lot.