Imaging Question

NightShade03

Hey all have an imaging question. I have recently setup a FOG server here and am using it to test image upload/deployment. It works great if the machines are all the same however I need the flexibility to be able to do multiple machines with different hardware. I have seen that sysprep is suppose to rip out the drivers but I can't seem to figure out how this is done. I've tried tutorials through Microsoft's sight and using some of the command line switches but I seem to be stuck at this moment.

CompuTron99

Have you tried using the sysprep.exe /pnp command? /pnp will make the system search for Plug 'n Play devices on the next reboot.

NightShade03

The problem is that I need to rip out the drivers before I find them.

kalebksp

Can you explain how you're deploying images now and what you need to be able to do differently?

There is the -clean option, but in general sysprep isn't used to remove drivers, it's used to remove and regenerate the SID so that it can be deployed to multiple similar computers (ideally identical).

NightShade03

At my last job we used to use SCCM and when it captured an image it would strip out all drivers, then run sysprep, then capture image. This way you could deploy that single image to any computer and it wouldn't BSOD. Then as a post-imaging process we would load the correct drivers.

At my new job I'm using FOG (just an open source imaging solution) that uploads images ok but I can only deploy to the same make/model because it doesn't strip out the drivers. This would require me to have an image for every different type of hardware I own which is point-less. I know there is a way to do it because do it with Ghost all the time.

kalebksp

Is this for XP or Vista? I've never deployed Vista, so I wouldn't be much help if that's the case.

NightShade03

Windows XP being deployed across 2-3 different vendor products (HP, Dell, Lenovo) over probably 20 different makes/models


Clearly no one bothered to think of uniform purchasing in this company...

kalebksp

In my experience the two main things that cause bluescreens when imaging a computer are wrong mass storage drivers or wrong HAL.

If all your computers are all similar enough to use the same HAL you're lucky. Changing the HAL is not technically supported by Microsoft. If you do need to change the HAL the easiest free way I've found to do so is use MySysprep, which essentially modifies the sysprep.inf file based on the type of processor right before mini-setup is run.

As for the mass storage drivers, run "sysprep.exe -bmsd" before your run -reseal. This will build the mass storage section of sysprep, which will allow the computer to find the correct mass storage driver.

This is all based on what I remember when creating my imaging scripts, so there may have been some other voodoo I used to get my environment working to my liking.

kalebksp

I forgot to mention that you have to have a [SysprepMassStorage] section in your sysprep.inf for -bmsd to work.

NightShade03

Alright thanks for the advice I'll have to give it a try.

This was easier when I had SCCM and a team that did nothing but desktop engineering all day everyday....now I'm 1 of a 2 man department and doing everything on my own.

dratnol

When I create images, I just run sysprep with the reseal and run mini setup options. I create a folder structure at the root of the C:\ drive that contains all of the drivers for the different models of computers I have. Next I modify the registry to point to all of these paths to look for the drivers. The registry key is DevicePath and is located at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion.

When the image is deployed and restarted, mini setup will run and install the proper drivers. Right now I have one XP image that will work on HP dc7600, Gateway 4000/4100, Dell GX260, GX270, GX280, GX445, GX455, GX620, and a few other models. I did spend a fair bit of time getting this setup but the time savings now is significant.

NightShade03

Alright so I've gone a completely different route now and seem to be at a dead end again. I setup WDS on a Win2k8 server and WAIK as well. Got my boot images and capture image setup too. The problem is that the capture image isn't working because the network drivers are being picked up by the WinPE image. I know how to integrate drivers into the WinPE image however I can't seem to get the right drivers into the image to make it work. I have all IBM equipment at the moment which uses the yukon drivers for the nic.

BTW - the documentation for WDS setup, customization, and etc is horrible...