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Comment: Published by Scroll Versions from space KNOW and version 7

Using the Windows sysprep utility you can prepare a machine to be deployed across multiple other machines.

Windows provides a handy utility called sysprep which allows you to prepare a master PC image that is configured and set up to be deployed across multiple workstations. By running sysprep, Windows prepares the machine so that when installed on a workstation, the System Admin is prompted for Windows Activation and environment configuration, as if the PC has been installed from scratch.

To prepare a PC to be syspreped, ensure that it contains all the applications and configuration you want the deployed systems to have installed. 

Note: Unless you have sufficient licenses for the machines you are deploying to, Reflect should be uninstalled from the PC that will be used for the base image. However, it is essential to have made a Windows PE based Macrium Reflect rescue CD on that PC first.

  1. Run sysprep:

    1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\sysprep.

    2. Run sysprep.exe.

    3. Ensure that System Cleanup Action is set to Out-of-Box Experience, and that Generailze is checked as below.

    4. Shutdown options are your choice, selecting Quit ensures the system does not reboot or shutdown automatically.

    5. Click OK.

      This prepares the machine so that it can be deployed to other PCs.

  2. Shutdown the PC and boot it to the Macrium Reflect rescue environment.

  3. Take an image of the PC using Macrium Reflect and store it to a USB device or a network location.

  4. When this is complete, you can deploy the image to the workstations you require.

  5. When the restore is complete, boot the new PC.

    Windows asks for a new license key and some environment settings.