The official Sysprep utility is located in thefolder C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep of the Windows 7 environment. There are some tips that I can give you to assist you both with the use of the Sysprep utility and creating unattend.xml files and then proceeding from there.
The first tip is aligned with Captain Doufos’ recommendation to use use the
Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK), which includes WSIM (Windows System Image Manager) to create unattend.xml files, or an answer file. The Windows Automated Installation Kit or Windows AIK includes several utilities that can help make using the official Sysprep utility easier than ever. Windows AIK also includes ImageX which is the Microsoft cloning utility that creates file based images (.wim) allowing the images to be modified after their creation to apply updates, new drivers, or applications.
The second tip is to use
Audit Mode to customize the system and 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.
The final tip I will leave you with is to use the
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) that combines all of the official tools above into a single workbench interface that can help automate the entirety of the process. Additionally, it is 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.
Jessica
Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro
