building 2 identical systems

[Crixus00]

Hi Guys,

Wanted to run something through with you.

I am building 2 identical PC's for my younger brothers for xmas which was ordered from Overclockers.

They each will require exactly the same O/S (i have 2 seperate licences), drivers, games and applications.

Is there a smart way i can install everything i need to on one pc and somehow copy the profile accross to the other? Or would i be better off not trying to attempt any shortcuts and go through the installion and update process manually for both?

Thanks

Steve

 

[RoEy]

Hi Guys,

Wanted to run something through with you.

I am building 2 identical PC's for my younger brothers for xmas which was ordered from Overclockers.

They each will require exactly the same O/S (i have 2 seperate licences), drivers, games and applications.

Is there a smart way i can install everything i need to on one pc and somehow copy the profile accross to the other? Or would i be better off not trying to attempt any shortcuts and go through the installion and update process manually for both?

Thanks

Steve

You could always ghost the 1st PC then use it for the 2nd.

RoEy

 

[AndyOcUK]

Yep.

Use Norton Ghost.

Then use this:

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/files/keyfinder.v1.51.zip

to enter the product key from you other license.

2 machines, 2 separate legal licenses...everyone's happy

 

[Garyj881]

You could always ghost the 1st PC then use it for the 2nd.

RoEy

...and use it as a back up disc

 

[Ch3m1c4L]

check out that ghost works with the mobo first, as otherwise you can end up with lots of issues where it cant load ghost, but has altered *** MBR to boot into ghost. the fix tools and other fixes did not work for me, ended up having to format I think....was due a good format anyhoo so didnt bother me

 

[Liquidfox]

Never had a problem with Ghost on a machine, use it frequently at work. It's even easier if both the machines are identical

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Build one machine, but don't activate it. Use Symantec Ghost (we use this at work) or Acronis True Image (my personal favourite) to take an image of the machine and then 'ghost' it to the other one. Activate the first one. On the second if it's going to be XP, choose activate over the phone and there's a button to change the product key. If it's going to be Vista, there's an option in the system properties to change the product key.

In fact with Vista (and XP SP2 onwards IIRC, or is it just Windows Server 2003?) you can install Windows without a license key, so you could build it completely, ghost and then activate both machines.