Does sysprep reset the GUID?

[FN-GM]

Might sound a daft question but does sysprep reset the GUID of a install?

 

Thanks

[Crispin]

Found this:

 

Sysprep allows you to

install software and make other changes on a single computer system for

mass duplication to other computer systems without creating GUIDs...And

if you accidently create a GUID, it will reset it up to 3 times before

it will not reset it again.

 

here: WinXP activation, sysprep, open license, retail license - Windows XP Setup

 

not sure if that helps at all..

 

EDIT: on second thoughts the poster may be refering to SIDS

Edited March 2, 2009 by Crispin

[Ric_]

The GUID is generally hard-coded into the NIC/mainboard and cannot be changed (at least not without software specific to the system). By using this GUID (which should be unique to each machine) when a network is joined, the computers should all play nice.

 

Associated with the whole networking-side is the SID which is generated when the machine is installed with Windows. This is a software thing that needs to be reset if you image a machine - SYSPREP does this by default (although you can tell it not to).

 

A little more on the difference can be seen at windows server active_directory Difference Between ObjectSID & objectGUID

[FN-GM]

This is the GUID i am talking about Configuring Symantec AntiVirus for deployment as part of a drive image

[Ric_]

This is the GUID i am talking about Configuring Symantec AntiVirus for deployment as part of a drive image

 

Confusingly... I think that is talking about a GUID specific to Symantec Antivirus rather than the Windows GUID that we assumed you meant. In which case, SYSPREP will do sweet FA to it!

[FN-GM]

Confusingly... I think that is talking about a GUID specific to Symantec Antivirus rather than the Windows GUID that we assumed you meant. In which case, SYSPREP will do sweet FA to it!

 

Ah right, thanks ric

[Michael]

From reading your link, they are definitely two separate things. Sysprep focuses just on Windows; so that guide tells you how to prepare the image for Symantec before running Sysprep.

 

In my experience, deploying Anti-Virus or any type of security software as part of an image is a no-no. I remember the last time I tried it with Sophos. Absolute disaster. It was a lot quicker to deploy it to all new machines on the network through the Management Console.