Any sysprep/wim tutorial for XP/Vista

[iceangel89]

i have been reading many tutorials on sysprep and Wim like Art of OEM here, but still quite lost on how to start, ok i am trying to do Art of OEM right now but maybe it will help if there is a video tutorial somewhere?

ok an to clarify,

1) use nLite to customize

2) install on VMware

3) Sysprep << is it after install?? and does it take care of activation/CD key entry/languages etc? does it affect nLite's Unattended?

4) WIM image it? << how to? using ximage something likedat? i read a guide somewhere here by iceman(not too sure if its right name)

but i still need to modify somethings to make the image universal right?

------ EDIT -------

oh ya and i need some driver packs right? mmm http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/ good? they wont corrupt installs as long as i dont mix x86 with x64? by the way isn't Intel E6600 x64? y does my XP say x86? << i guess i can still install x86 Xp on a x64 comp right? and the drivers will be according to the OS?

and will different BIOS, different comps affect the process?

also if i use DriverPacks, if i integrate all drivers of the driver pack using nLite/Other methods (sysprep also can isit? and how?) which is better?

Edited October 28, 2007 by iceangel89

[IcemanND]

With vista there is not much to do, just get it configured the way you want it, add drivers image and deploy.

With XP you need to either know all of the hardware you are deploying to will be either ACPI Uniprocessor or ACPI multiprocessor HALs and build your image on a Multiprocessor HAL system and then configure your sysprep file to downgrade it to a uniprocessor HAL which will then upgrade itself to multiprocessor if needed, or script in HAL replacement and build your image as ACPI standard and replace the HAL if required manually (or scripted) before you boot to the image.

You will also need to add and SATA/SCSI drivers that are not included with XP that you may encounter to the sysprep massstorage section to have them added to the critical devices database so that windows can boot from them.

[iceangel89]

i have a question

2.9. Drivers

Similar to Part 1, my drivers are stored in Business Desktop Deployment. You can find them in \Distribution\Out-of-Box Drivers

Use the VMware shared folders feature to copy them to the virtual machine. I use \WINDOWS\Driver Cache, it's a very suitable target for this operation. Original drivers (driver.cab) is cached in \WINDOWS\Driver Cache\I386.

do i copy the whole folder from \Distribution\Out-of-Box Drivers or do i need to cab it? << if i do it this way i do not need to integrate with nLite right?

Thanks

--- EDIT ---

also i am supposed to add this, so InstallFilesPath="C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386" will take care of drivers install right?

;SetupMgrTag
[Unattended]
InstallFilesPath="C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386"
OemSkipEula=Yes
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
UpdateInstalledDrivers=Yes

[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=0
OEMSkipRegional=1
OEMDuplicatorstring="Windows Home Server"

[UserData]
ProductKey=?????-?????-?????-?????-?????
FullName="Windows User"
OrgName=""
ComputerName=*

[Display]
BitsPerPel=32
Xresolution=800
YResolution=600

[LicenseFilePrintData]
AutoMode=PerServer
AutoUsers=100

[SetupMgr]
DistFolder="C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386"
DistShare=windist

[GuiRunOnce]
Command0="cmd /c "rd %SystemDrive%\$WINDOWS.~BT /s /q""
Command1="cmd /c "rd %SystemDrive%\$WINDOWS.~LS /s /q""

[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

under [setupMgr] i have DistFolder="DistFolder=C:\sysprep\i386" instead of DistFolder="C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386" as in the guide. do i change it?

also i have not reach this yet right? but i thought this is for a regular setup? created using something like "winnt32.exe /makelocalesource /noreboot"?

[GuiRunOnce]
Command0="cmd /c "rd %SystemDrive%\$WINDOWS.~BT /s /q""
Command1="cmd /c "rd %SystemDrive%\$WINDOWS.~LS /s /q""

Edited October 29, 2007 by iceangel89

[evila]

With vista there is not much to do, just get it configured the way you want it, add drivers image and deploy.

I installed Vista on my model machine, then config, then syspreped and make image....

but when i deploy onto other machines that are identical to the model machine, Vista will reconfig the desktop, gadgets and pretty much everything back as if it is a fresh install.....

also, when i try to run sysprep from command line with /generalize /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml, sysprep will open up it's GUI......I'll have to check the generalize box and forced to choose the OOBE (however it spells) option and click OK....am I doing something wrong here?