B
Bill Jackson
So in my previous thread, I found that either the telephony service or
WMP 11 were causing a sysprep'd drive to fail and go into an endless
loop during the mini-install when the preped drive is restarted.
I've further determined that it was the fact that the telephony service
was disabled - WMP had nothing to do with it. I can see why WMP might
interfere - it seems that sysprep likes putting WMP on the desktop for
some reason.
But now I have another problem. I can't get correct network
functionality out of my ethernet adapter when it's set to DHCP - but it
works if I set a static IP and DNS IP.
To recap:
I have a working XP master on a given hardware platform. I clone the
master, and take the clone to another platform (destination) that has
the exact same motherboard, cpu, and Ram. The ethernet and video are
part of the motherboard, so they are also identical (but naturally the
MAC address is different).
The network settings for the master are DHCP for both IP and DNS.
The clone will start just fine on the destination platform with no
alterations or requests for re-validation because of hardware
differences.
So with the clone mounted in the destination platform, I run sysprep on
it.
I select these options:
- Use Mini Setup
- Don't regenerate security identifiers
And I don't select these:
- Don't reset grace period
- Detect non-pnp hardware
Then I choose the Reseal option. The system shuts down normally.
I do not use any custom sysprep.inf file. What ever is used is what
ever sysprep creates by default.
I then restart the system, the Mini Setup wizard runs, I enter a new
product key. The system reboots, and the system is basically up and
running. After a few minutes the product key validiation icon appears
in the tray, but I get no popups telling me I need to validate the
installation. I know the system is running in an unvalidated state
because of utility I have (xpinfo.exe).
However, the network icon in the system tray takes a few minutes to
appear after system startup. Before it does, if I right-click on
Network Neighborhood I get nothing - as if the right-click is ignored.
Only after the network icon appears in the tray am I able to right-click
on the network neighborhood and bring up it's properties.
When the network icon appears in the tray, clicking on it shows zero
packets sent and received - always.
If I open a command shell and type ipconfig, the IP address and DNS
address both show 0.0.0.0, and no dns or gateways are shown.
If I enter the command ipconfig /renew, I get a message along the lines
of:
THE RPC SERVER IS UNAVAILABLE
Some have said to rebuild the winsock layer, by entering the command
"netsh winsock reset", and I did that, and I think it wanted a restart
after it was finished, but it didn't fix this problem.
If I set the IP address, DNS, netmask and gateway to static IP's, then
the network adapter works fine and I have working lan and internet
access.
I see nothing in the event logs that would indicate a problem with the
network adapter.
There is one Microsoft kb that might be relevent:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884564
===============================
This problem occurs because of a mismatch in the computer name and the
name that the RPC service expects. This mismatch may occur if the
computer name is changed by using one of the following methods:
* The Microsoft System Preparation (Sysprep) tool was used to
create the Windows XP image that you used to start the computer.
* You change the computer name during the Windows XP Out of Box
Experience.
* One or more of the following conditions are true:
* You disconnect the network cable during the Windows XP
Out of Box Experience.
* You do not restart the computer after the Windows XP
Out of Box Experience has completed.
* You open Disk Management.
To work around this problem, restart the computer at least one time
after the Windows XP Out of Box Experience has completed, and before you
open Disk Management.
=============================
This system is basically configured as a stand-alone system. It's
configured as part of the default workgroup (named "workgroup") - not
part of a domain.
I don't know if I successfully completed the OOBE or not. I might have
killed it when it first started running. At one point I located it on
the drive and re-started it, but it just seemed to display some html
crap that was of no consequence. If the OOBE was supposed to perform
some additional system configuration or setup, then I don't know if it
did that, or how I can invoke it again to do it.
On the master drive, I turn off a LOT of services to increase the
performance and decrease external vulnerabilities of the system.
Naturally, I don't have any critical service turned off that would
render the master system inoperable in any way.
Are there any services that MUST be on (or set to automatic) for the
sysprep session to function correctly? I've already discovered that for
some reason, telephony is one such critical service.
Any idea what's going on here?
WMP 11 were causing a sysprep'd drive to fail and go into an endless
loop during the mini-install when the preped drive is restarted.
I've further determined that it was the fact that the telephony service
was disabled - WMP had nothing to do with it. I can see why WMP might
interfere - it seems that sysprep likes putting WMP on the desktop for
some reason.
But now I have another problem. I can't get correct network
functionality out of my ethernet adapter when it's set to DHCP - but it
works if I set a static IP and DNS IP.
To recap:
I have a working XP master on a given hardware platform. I clone the
master, and take the clone to another platform (destination) that has
the exact same motherboard, cpu, and Ram. The ethernet and video are
part of the motherboard, so they are also identical (but naturally the
MAC address is different).
The network settings for the master are DHCP for both IP and DNS.
The clone will start just fine on the destination platform with no
alterations or requests for re-validation because of hardware
differences.
So with the clone mounted in the destination platform, I run sysprep on
it.
I select these options:
- Use Mini Setup
- Don't regenerate security identifiers
And I don't select these:
- Don't reset grace period
- Detect non-pnp hardware
Then I choose the Reseal option. The system shuts down normally.
I do not use any custom sysprep.inf file. What ever is used is what
ever sysprep creates by default.
I then restart the system, the Mini Setup wizard runs, I enter a new
product key. The system reboots, and the system is basically up and
running. After a few minutes the product key validiation icon appears
in the tray, but I get no popups telling me I need to validate the
installation. I know the system is running in an unvalidated state
because of utility I have (xpinfo.exe).
However, the network icon in the system tray takes a few minutes to
appear after system startup. Before it does, if I right-click on
Network Neighborhood I get nothing - as if the right-click is ignored.
Only after the network icon appears in the tray am I able to right-click
on the network neighborhood and bring up it's properties.
When the network icon appears in the tray, clicking on it shows zero
packets sent and received - always.
If I open a command shell and type ipconfig, the IP address and DNS
address both show 0.0.0.0, and no dns or gateways are shown.
If I enter the command ipconfig /renew, I get a message along the lines
of:
THE RPC SERVER IS UNAVAILABLE
Some have said to rebuild the winsock layer, by entering the command
"netsh winsock reset", and I did that, and I think it wanted a restart
after it was finished, but it didn't fix this problem.
If I set the IP address, DNS, netmask and gateway to static IP's, then
the network adapter works fine and I have working lan and internet
access.
I see nothing in the event logs that would indicate a problem with the
network adapter.
There is one Microsoft kb that might be relevent:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884564
===============================
This problem occurs because of a mismatch in the computer name and the
name that the RPC service expects. This mismatch may occur if the
computer name is changed by using one of the following methods:
* The Microsoft System Preparation (Sysprep) tool was used to
create the Windows XP image that you used to start the computer.
* You change the computer name during the Windows XP Out of Box
Experience.
* One or more of the following conditions are true:
* You disconnect the network cable during the Windows XP
Out of Box Experience.
* You do not restart the computer after the Windows XP
Out of Box Experience has completed.
* You open Disk Management.
To work around this problem, restart the computer at least one time
after the Windows XP Out of Box Experience has completed, and before you
open Disk Management.
=============================
This system is basically configured as a stand-alone system. It's
configured as part of the default workgroup (named "workgroup") - not
part of a domain.
I don't know if I successfully completed the OOBE or not. I might have
killed it when it first started running. At one point I located it on
the drive and re-started it, but it just seemed to display some html
crap that was of no consequence. If the OOBE was supposed to perform
some additional system configuration or setup, then I don't know if it
did that, or how I can invoke it again to do it.
On the master drive, I turn off a LOT of services to increase the
performance and decrease external vulnerabilities of the system.
Naturally, I don't have any critical service turned off that would
render the master system inoperable in any way.
Are there any services that MUST be on (or set to automatic) for the
sysprep session to function correctly? I've already discovered that for
some reason, telephony is one such critical service.
Any idea what's going on here?