Can Xp cope with a ghost image from a slightly different driver setup? 4

[projector1]

We are about to upgrade 40 pc's from windows 98 to XP, this includes replacing the various hardware.
We have ghost images from machines not to dissimilar, What i would like to know is if we try the image on the upgrade would XP detect the hardware and install the drivers. Normally when you install a new piece of hardware XP detects it and installs the drivers. I have slight feeling that i may be going down the wrong path. We are trying to cut down on the number of images we have as it takes up valuable disk space

 

[bcastner]

I would go the unattended route rather than images, unless the machines are identical.

Two excellent sources to help you decide on this route:
[ul]
[li]

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

[/li]
[li]

http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/index.htm=676827&SPID=779&page=1

[/li]
[/ul]

 

[Jowers]

You must run the Windows XP Pro Sys rep utillity before you ghost an Xp machine.

 

[projector1]

thanks for the reply however the images we have are custom built with software packages and if it 40 pc's on the go will that not drain bandwith?

 

[projector1]

http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/index.htm=676827&SPID=779&page=1

deadlink!

 

[bcastner]

Try:

http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/index.htm

 

[projector1]

what i would like to achieve one master image, probably it will not happen as we have pc's with amd boards and intel ones.
Would unattended be a solution for this type of scenario or am i looking at a few images?

 

[bcastner]

Unattended would allow you to create a single installation image.

 

[projector1]

bcastner

as always you are a star, thank you very much for that, we can now appraoch the manager and baffle him with this news

 

[J741]

You can use Ghost images as long as you have used SYSPREP to prepare Windows first, and you should also have different images for the different brand of chipsets used on the motherboards (VIA chipset boards, Intel Chipset boards, SIS chipset boards) otherwise you may encounter a STOP 0x7D error on startup, but SYSPREP is suppose to avoid this.

But, the unattended intstallation referenced by bcastner is the cleaner, preferred method.

- James.

 

[projector1]

Having spoken to our manager, he informed us that the greater benefits of ghosting is that if a machine goes down then all you do re-image it!
I am trying to push the idea of unattended installs.
Can somebody post a few advantages and disadvantages in order for me to get a beter picture of the this area
thanks

 

[bcastner]

Some debates on exactly this point:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/Q_20806834.html

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

Note too that Ghost is not cheap: you need a license for every workstation it will be used on, as well as 18% of your license costs as an annual software maintenance fee.

 

[ReddLefty]

Projector1,

I used to do the same thing back in the Windows NT days, which was have a ghost for each model, and simply dump the ghost according to the model.

I will agree with everyone who said that SYSPREP is the way to go, but if ever you DO make a ghost and use it to replicate to other machines, remember these three things:

1) the ever correct bcastner mentionned the licensing issues
2) Leave the machine STAND-ALONE before ghosting. Do not add it (or remove it) from the domain prior to ghosting
3) Run NEWSID after the ghost

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/newsid.shtml)

You may then enter it back into the domain. If you do not remove it from the domain and run newsid, you will start getting odd problems on the network because of duplicate SID numbers on different stations. This may cause security problems such as some computers randomly not logging on to domain anymore and computer security failures on domain.



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[projector1]

thanks guys for the info, i have along bank holiday weekend to go over it,
enjoy your weekends

 

[projector1]

manager decided ghosting is quickest way of bring a pc back up.
Just a quick question, on the unattended mode, if i create cd with XP pro and office 2003, drivers and ms secuirty pathes, will it be a case of a 2 cd rom scenario, will unattended cope with this?

 

[bcastner]

Yes, see:

http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/index.htm

But only 1 CD is required.