MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing ...

3-20 Chapter 3 Deploying Windows XP Professional
The hard drive controller device driver and the hardware abstraction layer (HAL)
on the computer on which the disk image was generated and on the computer to
which the disk image was copied must be identical. The other peripherals, such as the
network adapter, the video adapter, and sound cards on the computer on which the
disk image was copied, need not be identical to the ones on the computer on which
the image was generated because the computer will run a full Plug and Play detection
when it starts the first time following installation from the image.
You can run the System Preparation Tool in its default mode by simply double-clicking
the Sysprep.exe file that you extracted from Windows XP deployment tools. Table 3-1
describes some of the optional parameters you can use when running Sysprep.exe.
Table 3-1 Optional Parameters for Sysprep.exe
Switch Description
/quiet Runs with no user interaction because it does not show the user
confirmation dialog boxes
/nosidgen Does not regenerate SID on reboot
/pnp Forces Setup to detect Plug and Play devices on the destination
computers on the next reboot
/reboot Restarts the source computer after Sysprep.exe has completed
/noreboot Shuts down without a reboot
/forceshutdown Forces a shutdown instead of powering off
Note For a complete list of the switches for Sysprep.exe, start a command prompt, change
to the Deploy folder or the folder where you installed Sysprep.exe, type sysprep.exe/?, and
press ENTER.
How to Install Windows XP Professional from a Master Disk Image
After running Sysprep on your test computer, you are ready to run a non-Microsoft disk
image copying tool to create a master disk image. Save the new disk image on a shared
folder or CD-ROM, and then copy this image to the multiple destination computers.
End users can then start the destination computers. The Mini-Setup Wizard prompts the
user for computer-specific variables, such as the administrator password for the computer
and the computer name. If a sysprep.inf file was provided, the Mini-Setup Wizard
is bypassed, and the system loads Windows XP Professional without user intervention.
You can also automate the completion of the Mini-Setup Wizard further by creating a
sysprep.inf file.