Sysprep and Deployment Tools – updated 8June2004

 

Microsoft Windows XP Deployment main page: Microsoft TechNet Windows XP Professional Deploy

Web Page: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/default.mspx

 

Unattended: How to create an unattended install CD: MSFN's Unattended XP CD - Introduction

Web Page: http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/

 

Sysprep; How to use the Sysprep tool to automate successful deployment of Windows XP: 302577 - HOW TO: Use Sysprep.exe Tool to Automate Successful Deployment of Windows XP

Web Page:  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q302577

 

Unattended; Windows XP Unattended install example: Svrops.com - Windows XP Unattended Install

Web Page http://www.svrops.com/svrops/documents/xpunattend.htm

 

Unattended and Sysprep; How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows XP: 314479 - How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows XP

Web Page: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314479

 

Sysprep; Example myITforum.com : Windows XP: Automating deployment using Sysprep

Web Page: http://myitforum.techtarget.com/articles/15/view.asp?id=4392

 

HAL; Make your Windows XP boot image compatible to any PC

Web Page: http://www.geog.umontreal.ca/cotal/XPimage.htm

 

Unattended; Examples, use of sysdiff, etc Creating OEM installations for Windows

Web Page: http://www.tech-hints.com/oem.html

 

HAL, Sysprep and tools to upgrade hardware Windows 2000 Procedure - Change Motherboard and save operating system

Web Page: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/other/motherboard/win2k.htm

 

 

Example from 314479 - How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows XP

Web Page: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314479

 

Sysprep Setup

The process by which you add OEM-supplied drivers to a Windows Sysprep Setup is similar to the procedure described in the "Unattended Setup" section of this article, except that you do not have to create the distribution share. To add drivers to the mini-setup wizard of Sysprep, follow these steps:

1.                   On the root of the volume where the %WinDir% folder is located, create a folder structure to hold the OEM-supplied drivers. For example:

\Drivers
- - \NIC
- - \VIDEO
\Sysprep
\WINNT

2.                   Copy the OEM-supplied drivers to their appropriate subfolders.

3.                   Add the OemPnPDriversPath = Driver_Paths entry in the [Unattended] section of the Sysprep.inf file. You can list multiple paths in this key by separating them with a semicolon (;), as shown in the following sample code:

4.                    [Unattended]
5.                    OemPnPDriversPath = Drivers\NIC;Drivers\Video
                                  

Note The %SystemDrive% environment variable string is automatically inserted before each of the listed search paths.

If you do not want the OEM-supplied drivers to remain on the volume after mini-setup is completed, you can place the folder structure that you created in the preceding step in the Sysprep folder. Make sure that you adjust the OemPnPDriversPath = key appropriately. The Sysprep folder (along with all of its subfolders) is automatically removed after Setup is completed.

Save the Sysprep.inf file in the Sysprep folder, and then run Sysprep.exe. All Plug and Play devices (including those found by using the OEM driver .inf files) are automatically installed during mini-setup on the target computers. Note that you do not have to specify the -pnp command-line switch unless there are earlier version (ISA) devices on the target computers. If you use the -pnp command-line switch, a full Plug and Play re-enumeration of all devices is performed. This adds 5 to 10 minutes to the Sysprep mini-setup process.