Creating a standard image.

[sLiDeR]

Hi All,

Quick question......

When creating an image, I have different makes & models of PC's. Although they are all intel chipsets, can I make one standard image that will be accepted by all??

Will it just mean installing multiple drivers on an image etc...

Cheers

[Geoff]

It mainly depends on the HAL.

[Halfmad]

It's difficult to get one image to fit all, I have a few which work between several models but mostly by luck rather than good planning on my part! Oddly enough my Optiplex 745 image works perfectly on a Latitude D620 and an Opliplex 210L.

Its a tough one. When using Ghost I use a base image for each hardware config. When recieving new PCs I Ghost one with a current image and see what happens. At best XP Boots and I just install the correct drivers, or XP will boot into safemode, and again just install drivers.

At worst XP just BSODs in a loop and that means complete new image from scratch.

[FN-GM]

What you can do is if you have lots of different modals is make an image back it up using windows backup. Install XP on the other machines and restore the backup.

[DMcCoy]

I just add more drivers to my sysprep base image and adjust any reg entries (to remote icons for drivers etc). After I have discovered the right set of drivers I can produce an updated master image that works for all machines again.

[GrumbleDook]

Because we load all our software onto the image ready to go we tend to do an image per room until we have a consistent image base. At the moment this means 13 different images but that is not too much of a worry really. We can deploy software via GPO when needed and then build it into a fresh image when needed.

[gnarlyc]

What I found was that an image built on a uniprocessor PC (no hyperthreading or multiple cores) works fine on both uniprocessor PCs and multiprocessor PCs. We do lose some speed on the newer PCs, but the non-hyperthreading PCs are almost all gone now. We will rebuild the images soon. We have basically no problems with different hardware other than that. Using sysprep.ini to add paths to more drivers works really well for us.

There's also a neat little program called Sysprep Driver Scanner - http://www.vernalex.com/tools/spdrvscn/index.shtml. This will inject driver paths into the registry. We have started using this to inject the paths for a network share that holds all non-network card drivers. (The NIC drivers work better if they are on the local drive. )

Alan

[sLiDeR]

Nice one guys. Thanks very much.

[plock]

I also push an image out, then using Windows Repair Console on the XP CD to correct driver issues and so forth.

That’s proven to work well over time.

[john]

I also push an image out, then using Windows Repair Console on the XP CD to correct driver issues and so forth.

That’s proven to work well over time.

I have done that before and its very sucessful and quick at times.

[Biggles77]

Stole this from someone on a private forum for school techs (thanks Denman).

Open IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and then Right click on the "IDE Controller" and select "Update Driver", select "Install from a list or specific location". Choose "Don't search" and then select "Standard dual channel" from the list.

Haven't tried it myself yet but others have and swear by it.

[Nick_Parker]

What I normally do is Ghost it, and as soon as it's finished running the Ghostwalker app, put the XP CD in, and at some point (I'm afraid I don't remember the exact point off the top of my head) you reinstall windows over the current install, and this will reinstall all the drivers critical for Windows.

However, you will have to reinstall things like IE7...

[Michael]

This is one area (apparently) Vista is superior in, although I haven't tried it in practice as yet. Can anyone confirm it?