Can you easily ghost a Windows 7 installation like you can XP?

Stormster

Stormster

Stormster

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I'll try and keep this short and sweet.

A friend of mine has been asked to build a number of identical systems at work and asked me if there's a quick way of sorting the software...

They'll be running Windows 7 pro.

I know a good while back I had to build some identical systems for someone and did the first drive, XP pro, drivers, nero etc.. didn't activate it so I could change the product code though.

So, I used norton ghost 2003 I believe, hooked blank hard drives one by one into the master PC, booted from the CD, copied local disk to disk for all drives, put them in their machines, changed the product code, PC name, activated it, all done.

Can anything similar be done for Windows 7 systems? If so, would only the product key and pc name need changing? I'm no expert.. lol :)

Also, finally, if it can be done - what software would be ideal for the task?
 
Yes, I find that only Acronis 2010 does Win7 properly, older versions don't seem to ghost it properly.
 
Sounds interesting. Do you literally direct it to the second drive in the system and go from there?

Can anyone confirm if all that'd need to be changed is the product key and PC name so they're not identical? As I assume they'll all be going on the same network. Yes it will be Windows 7 pro too, so thats good if it's got it's own built in tool as 16 hard drives would need an identical image on to saves doing them one by one! :)

Cheers for any more help and to those who've helped so far :)
 
IF you want to start mucking about with product keys, computer name and presumably (pro/ultimate) the SSID then you'll have to sysprep it prior to imaging.

P.S. Folks it's called imaging or cloning, you can't Ghost with Acronis. That's like Dysoning with a Hoover!
 
Backup before you sysprep too, then when you know it works, create another backup just after you run sysprep (ie when the PC goes to reboot or shutdown, but don't let it start Windows again afterwards until after an image has been created).

If the breasts all point vertical, then you can restore to your original backup (the one done before any sysprepping) and make any changes needed before trying again. :)
 
I don't really understand whats involved with sysprep.. is it essential? These machines can happily just go into windows, all configured with drivers etc and then it's job done. Isn't sysprep related to stuff like new laptops for example, asking a few user preferences before first boot?

Is the SSID related to wireless? Like I say, I'm no expert these days whatsoever.. just want find a quick and easy solution as it looks like I'm drafted in to help :)
 
For our training machines we have 3 operating systems on each, for Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010. What we ended up doing was building the 3 operating systems as Hyper-V Machines without the Hyper-V tools then sysprepping them, installing a VERY basic Windows 7 install on the machines themselves (not even bothering with drivers, simply disk in, boot, next next done.) Copy the 3 VHD files in then set the machine to boot from one of these VHDs instead of the base OS. Native VHD booting is a feature introduced with Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2. Works like a charm.
 
SSID for wireless and SID (an identifier on a network) are very different things. Generating a new SID was needed with XP on a domain though I honestly couldn't say if it's needed for Win Vista or 7 machines.

Sysprep also generates a new SID (or did with XP).

How many machines are there? If you don't really know what you're doing with sysprep, it might just be quicker to do each PC manually. If you're looking into a shortcut for setting up multiple PCs for use within the same network, then you'll likely need to play with sysprep.

Of course, learning to use sysprep (which is hardly difficult at its most basic) could be a tool you use to further yourself. Knowledge of tools like it can go a long way with employers if you're looking to work in IT, be it technical or network.
 
Would it be possible to change the SID if neccessary once the machines are up and running after the images have been created does anyone know?
 
You can have a go at this (still uses sysprep), but I make a backup first.

There was NewSID, but that only works up to XP by the looks of it, and Microsoft don't support it.
 
Microsoft don't want folks using NewSID anymore, they want you to Sysprep instead. Although I must admit I only ever used NewSID when there was a problem.

Bit annoyed at having no option now though :)
 
Thanks for the link this is gay :D So that could be done whilst the machines are up and running. Good to know.

We're gonna go ahead and start tomorrow so 15 of the 16 machines are 100% identical component wise in every way... gonna do those and do the other on it's tod.. will try this backup thingy, better get googling for a guide in the morning!

Thanks for all the help thus far! :)
 
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