Automating Win7 deployment

[jwall]

We are migrating our network from Novell eDirectory / ZENworks 7 to Active Directory and I am grappling with Sysprep for the first time and having some trouble doing what I want.

 

It might help to know how we deploy workstations with eDir / ZEN now so:

 

I create the workstation image with apps and configs I want, then run a vbs script that that enables AutoAdminLogin for a specific local Windows user account, copies 4 more vbs files (Phase 1 thru 4) to C:\, and creates a runonce to run Phase1 on the next boot. Then I restart and upload my master image.

 

When this master image boots up on the destination machine it logs in as the user I specified and runs Phase1.vbs. The first thing Phase1 does is determine its IP (to know which school it's at), names the machine as specified in a txt file on the schools server, then set Phase2.vbs to runonce, followed by Phase3 and so on. When Phase4 runs it disables AutoAdminLogin, reboots and we have a local Windows account configured for that particular school, ie homepage, screensaver, Novell client settings etc, ready for our users.

 

Using ZENworks, when our users log in with thier eDirectory credentials they are automatically logged into this local Windows user account so they have the homepage, screensaver etc that we have configured.

 

The problem I'm having right now with sysprep is naming the machines according to a txt file on the server. I have set my answer file to do an AutoAdminLogin to the local Administrator account but do I need to login as a domain user in order to get a txt off the server? If this is the case then the next problem becomes how do I login as a domain user when the machine is not in the domain yet? I'd like to be able to script / automate the computer object creation as well and specify where to put it in the tree (ie not the Computers container).

 

I should add that we are thinking of using FOG (I haven't looked into WDM, are there any benefits over FOG?) for imaging until we get around to looking at System Center. Any help would be appreciated.

[MicrosoftTechy]

You will need to specify a username and password to connect to server if your local pc is not part of the domain yet, you could create a script to map a drive to the location of the txt file? and within the script give an account so it can map. then change your other script to grab the text file from (DriveLetter):\mytextfile.txt

 

SCCM is the best for windows deployment by far!

[jwall]

Thanks Jack, I'll look into that. Question, what happens if I rename a workstation after it's been added to the domain? Does it cause problems or would the computer object just end up being different than the computer name?

[MicrosoftTechy]

No Problem, Nothing you can change the computer name after it has joined the domain, but i would not suggest doing this with every computer your deploying. set the name then add it

[jwall]

Got the mapping working, that's one thing out of the way. Looks like the dsadd computer command will allow me to add the computer to OU I want so I should be off to the races