hello- i am in need of some guidance regarding imaging hard drives with ghost 2003, and using sysprep with XP. i am trying to set up the computer lab in the school i work for. i have a source machine set up the way i want. can i just format the hdd's from the destination pc's, install them into the source machine (one at a time, of course), run sysprep, and then use ghost to clone the hdds? this is my first attempt at doing this kind of stuff, so please excuse my ignorance :) and, if i'm way off here, any suggestions on a better way to do this would also be appreciated! thanks in advance for the help!

Hey Derek, Not sure if I understand correctly but essentially this is what you wan to do. It's been a while since I did this but the basics are here. 1. Install Windows XP on 1 PC. Sysprep it, restart and GHOST it (do not let the system boot to the desktop before ghosting or else you need to run sysprep again) 2. Once you have ghosted the machine, you will have to choos e a way to deploy the image to the other PCs. If it fits on a CD, great. If not, Ghost accross a network might work for you as well . Hope this helps.

With regard to the hardware abstraction layer (HAL), all pcs must require the same HALs "A hardware abstraction layer is a layer between the physical hardware of a computer and the software that runs on that computer. The function is to hide differences in hardware and therefore provide a consistent platform to run applications on." This refers to whether the pc is ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) compatible (does the pc switch itself off upon shutdown (ACPI)or go to safe to switch off screen(non ACPI)?) and whether its single or multi processor. see: look in device manager in system properties. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=298898 With regard to sysprep tool the latest version is in the deploy.cab and can be downloaded from : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&DisplayLang=en or found on your xp cd: \Support\Tools folder Description of New Features in Sysprep for Windows XP: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;282190 general info: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...;302577&sd=tech for settings info: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documen...cd_sys_jbtw.asp Troubleshooting: http://support.microsoft.com/search/defaul...sfxSearch_Query Basically download the deploy.cab from MS. copy all files in it to a new folder on root of C drive and run sysprep.exe (make sure you shut down all running apps etc. first) Make sure shutdown is selected at dropdown menu at bottom and none of checkboxes ticked. Then click Reseal. Sysprep will run and pc will shutdown. You can then Image the Hd to a new drive. I use norton ghost from system works 2003. Here i normally use a ghost boot floppy created before syspreping. Having already fitted new clone Hd on system making sure its already recognised by bios and windows. i usually format and check the disk for errors before any of this to be safe. Using the boot floppy enables you to run ghost without restarting the pc running windows etc. Or image onto a onto a dvd if you have a burner. The dvd should have all the necessery files to run ghost on another machine. As said before when you when you restart clone drive in new pc you have to put key in etc. Not sure how it will work with regard to the drivers in new pc or those for the chipset on the motherboard if they differ from thr original etc. Just a note you might want to make a compressed image of the system before syspreping on another drive or patition so when all is done you can easily then return your original drive to its pre sysprepped state. You could avoid using sysprep altogether by just cloning from one drive to the next, but the new cloned xp will only then boot if the original HD is present on the system. Otherwise it hangs on boot up. (Note that i have tested this on a corp edition using ghost doing disk to disk cloning directly the whole drive to the whole drive of the new HD without sypreping and all worked well without the hang on bootup. When choosing partition to image i got the hang, this may be because it copies the volume id on the disk i still need to check but it worked for me. The HDs were the same manufacturer bur one was 8gb the other 13gb.) hope this helps you.

The above links in full in the inverted commas. "http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=298898" With regard to sysprep tool the latest version is in the deploy.cab and can be downloaded from : "http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7a83123d-507b-4095-9d9d-0a195f7b5f69&DisplayLang=en" or found on your xp cd: \Support\Tools folder Description of New Features in Sysprep for Windows XP: "http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282190" general info: "http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302577&sd=tech" for settings info: "http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/all/deployguide/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/windowsserv/2003/all/deployguide/en-us/acicd_sys_jbtw.asp" Troubleshooting: "http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?Catalog=LCID%3D1033%26CDID%3DEN-US-KB%26PRODLISTSRC%3DON&Product=&KeywordType=any&Titles=false&numDays=&maxResults=25&withinResults=&Queryl=sysprep&Query=sysprep&QuerySource=gsfxSearch_Query"

All good info above but I think that the hal can be off by a known amount. Who knows that amount is unknown.

I think the IDE controller is the main concern. As long as they are the same, there should not be a problem. I hear if they are different, sysprep might fail.