cloning XP after setting up....

  • Thread starter Thread starter jimM
  • Start date Start date
J

jimM

Greetings,

I am trying to replicate an XP set up (Windows settings & tweaks, properly
liscensed 3rd party apps, private apps, etc.) across multiple and identical
PCs. The only differences between each of the XP installations are the
product key and the PCs network name. Currently I have to go through the
same steps over and over for each of the PCs which can take a measurable
amount of time. Is there a way I can easlily "clone" one completed PC to the
others and then change/enter the correct product key?

Thanks in adavnce!
j
 
jimM said:
I am trying to replicate an XP set up (Windows settings & tweaks,
properly liscensed 3rd party apps, private apps, etc.) across
multiple and identical PCs. The only differences between each of
the XP installations are the product key and the PCs network name.
Currently I have to go through the same steps over and over for
each of the PCs which can take a measurable amount of time. Is
there a way I can easlily "clone" one completed PC to the others
and then change/enter the correct product key?
Click to expand...

Cloning/imaging software...
Unattended installation/scripts/group policy installations...

Which is more likely for you?
 
Shenan Stanley said:
Cloning/imaging software...
Unattended installation/scripts/group policy installations...

Which is more likely for you?
Click to expand...

Welll... "Cloning/imaging software..." I suppose. That part is easy. The
more difficult aspect is insuring that the "clone" gets the proper product
key and other specific info.
 
jimM said:
Welll... "Cloning/imaging software..." I suppose. That part is
easy. The more difficult aspect is insuring that the "clone" gets
the proper product key and other specific info.
Click to expand...

The Genuine Advantage Product Key Update Tool is only valid for
users attempting to change their current non-genuine Product Key
to a genuine COA sticker or genuine Product Key - all without a
reinstall!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=50346&clcid=0x409

I don't know what 'other specific info' is in your case - but if it is
computer name - you can do that pretty easily in a variety of ways (from
manual to scripts, etc.)

If you will be doing this a lot - you'd likely benefit from setting up some
scripts or a complete unattended installation with scripts to do it all for
you. If this is a once-every-6 months things... maybe not so much unless
it is a massive number of computers.

For example - I used to have 1500 computers that I redid every 3-4 months -
I had a volume license - so the product key is not a problem, but I would
use an unattended installation process to create the base image each time -
so it would be updated. I use the unattended process when I have differing
hardware. Microsoft's WDS may be a solution you could use something like
unattended.sourceforge.net as well for that.
 
jimM said:
Welll... "Cloning/imaging software..." I suppose. That part is
easy. The more difficult aspect is insuring that the "clone" gets
the proper product key and other specific info.
Click to expand...

Sysprep...
 
Shenan said:
The Genuine Advantage Product Key Update Tool is only valid for
users attempting to change their current non-genuine Product Key
to a genuine COA sticker or genuine Product Key -
Click to expand...

I think a lot of people are (or were) under the impression that the
product key update tool could change the key of a system that was still
operating in a valid state.

Which could be useful if someone wanted to make an *exact* clone of a
given install and give it a different key. The very situation that a
lot of system builders are in (ie build a bunch of identical systems
where no two systems will end up on the same LAN so the SID's don't
matter).

Microsoft made it a pain in the ass for them to easily change the
product key, so I bet a lot of them just cloned the drive and handed the
end user a legit CD with COA. A COA that, in reality, was never
registered with MS but it was, nonetheless, a valid, authentic-looking
COA that would pass any visual sniff test until WGA started messing
people up for no good reason.

Sysprep is a pain in the ass because unless you take some time to get
your .inf file just right, you're going to waste 1/2 hour after each
clone to get past the OOBE and restore some of your previous settings to
return the clone to the exact state of the master drive so you can hand
it off to the end user.
 
How frigging thick headed can you be? You haven't copied an up and
running Windows NT/2000/XP installation with Xcopy, Xcopy cannot do
this. Run the following command:

XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\system32\config c:\test /c/h/e/k/r

Answer D for directory when prompted. When done compare the contents of
the C:\test folder with C:\WINDOWS\system32\config Do the test and then
stop it with this nonsense Xcopy cloning notion of yours!

John
 
this idea was raised,Hmmmm....I think you should use SYSPREP.

for using sysprep , your computers should meet same hardware specifications.
if your problem is CD-KEY , use unattended installation to answer all
questions unattended but CD-KEY must to be added manually.
to doing this, use this program:
G:\SUPPORT\TOOLS\DEPLOY.CAB\setupmgr.exe

when you want to run sysprep, don't forget to run it from :
C:\Windows\system32\sysprep

for using sysprep with specific unattended file,use this command in cmd:

C:\Windows\system32\sysprep.exe /unattend:filename

another solution is using volume license for enterprises.
contact microsoft for this.

hope useful
 
mini-setup gathers information about your name,CD-KEY,time server etc.

you can change your product key in windows vista.
but this capability is not available on XP.

don't pain yourself more!
 
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