Win7 Sysprep (renaming pc to serial number)

ColdAsIce · 4 Mar 2013 at 13:49

Hello everyone,

I am starting a new image on a Windows 7 machine, I used to use compname.exe to rename Windows Xp machines to the serial number and this also allowed me to add a small prefix such as "XY-Serialnumberhere"

Anyway, compname.exe doesn't work with Windows 7 and I am having trouble finding an alternative.

What do you system admins use for renaming computers?

L33 · 4 Mar 2013 at 22:59

wsname.exe

Usage: wsname.exe /N:$SERIALNUM

ColdAsIce · 5 Mar 2013 at 09:15

L33 said:
wsname.exe
Usage: wsname.exe /N:$SERIALNUM

Hey mate would I be able to put any text before the serial?

I like all my machines with JY- at the beginning. Helps indentify the site.

So JY-Serialnumber

winoutreach5 · 7 Mar 2013 at 20:29

You might want to consider building the Windows 7 image out using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit because you can use variables to insert things such as computer name as the serial.

In addition to the above, MDT acts as a common console and allows you to easily add drivers, applications and create task sequences to handle you desired preferences. For example, in this TechNet forums thread Michael Klitenberg provides a task sequence variable that will pull the mac address of a system and assign it as the computer name. In general, you would use the OSDComputerName variable to accomplish the kind of task you are describing.

The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit can be downloaded from the Deliver and Deploy Windows 7 page under the “Tools to Deploy Windows 7” section. MDT can even integrate with WDS which will allow you to multicast your deployments and push them out via PXE boot.

To become more familiar with MDT you might want to check out the following videos from the Springboard Series page on TechNet:

• Deployment Day Session 1: Introduction to MDT 2012
• Deployment Day Session 2: MDT 2012 Advanced

Another great video that I always recommend is Alphabet Soup Deployment: Understanding MDT, WDS, MAP, ACT, SCCM, and USMT.

I hope this helps and keep us posted on your progress!

Jessica
Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro