There are few recommendations I can make that may assist you in achieving your end goal. Ultimately, the solution which best fits your scenario is best determined by testing.
The first suggestion and most scalable solution would be considering utilizing
Active Directory Domain Services. Having workstations as part of a domain with AD in place would prevent the need to run the settings below.
Next, there are a few ways in which the administrator account can be enabled. There is a wonderful TechNet Wiki
Enable / Disable the Local (Hidden, Built-In) Administrator Account in Windows 7 that provides the steps to 4 ways you can activate the admin account as well as the TechNet library resource
Enable and Disable the Built-in Administrator Account. Also, as can be seen in
this forum thread from TechNet, Jasonkoh uses the following script added to specialize pass within his XML file:
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="
http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<RunSynchronous>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Order>1</Order>
<Path>net user administrator /active:yes</Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
Regarding the process of enabling automatic login on the Windows 7 machine, the TechNet library article
AutoLogon offers an XML example of how to set autologon properly.
I realize you are currently using sysprep and Acronis; however you may also want to consider the use of the
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). MDT is completely free and many find it to be extremely beneficial as it combines all of the official Microsoft tools (
Sysprep,
Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK), and
Windows System Image Manager (WSIM)) into a single workbench interface that can help automate both the imaging and deployment process. WSIM might come in very handy for you as it streamlines the process of creating XML files. The
Step-by-Step: Basic Windows Deployment for IT Professionals provides some wonderful guidance on the process of creating an answer file with WSIM. MDT is also compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2, which means learning one utility to do all of your deployments. Furthermore, it is exceptionally useful in creating “universal” images as it can easily add or remove drivers or applications from the deployment images.
Just as another tip, you can also use
Audit Mode to customize the system should you need to perform customizations to the default profile. By allowing you to log into the system as Administrator, Audit Mode can significantly simplify the customization process. In order to customize the default profile in both Windows Vista and Windows 7 you will need to make your customizations in Audit Mode, and then run Sysprep with an answer file that has the
copyprofile setting enabled.
Jessica
Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro
