Sysprep question

[meister]

I'm thinking you guys here will probably know the answer to this one right off...

With Sysprep....what the heck are the Factory and Audit options for? I mean, does factory literally mean for use in, say, the Dell factory?

And auditing? What would you audit on a workstation? Is it for testing, licenses maybe?

I seriously don't know, and Ive read tons, but nothing actually tells you what it's for :-) Love that. Lots of documents tell you how to click Factory and that it will reboot in Factory mode, but I haven't found one single doc that tells me why I might want to use it...at least not clearly I should add <grin>

But this forum rocks, so I know I'll get an in depth and well thought out answer...smile..

[CoffeeFiend]

From How to use the Sysprep tool to automate successful deployment of Windows XP:

-factory - Restarts in a network-enabled state without displaying Windows Welcome or mini-Setup. This parameter is useful for updating drivers, running Plug and Play enumeration, installing programs, testing, configuring the computer with customer data, or making other configuration changes in your factory environment. For companies that use disk imaging (or cloning) software, Factory mode can reduce the number of images that are required.

When all the tasks in Factory mode are complete, run the Sysprep.exe file by using the -reseal parameter to prepare the computer for end-user delivery.

-audit - Restarts the computer in Factory mode without having to generate new security IDs (SIDs) or process any items in the [OEMRunOnce] section of the Winbom.ini file. Use this command-line parameter only if the computer is already in Factory mode.

See also Choosing Sysprep Settings and How to Use Sysprep: An Introduction.