I have 10 PCs running XP HOME/SP3 in a small business I own. Each PC
has 3 active users (the admimistrator, a staff account, and a customer
account). The staff and customer accounts are all limited accounts.

I want to make all 10 PCs as identical as possible. This includes
screen savers, font sizes, and in-numerable other settings. Installing
identical versions of programs on all the pcs is a hassle, but I can
do it. Currently, the machines are not on a network.

Is there any way I can copy the configuration for the staff limited
account on one pc to the staff account on another PC without sitting
in front of a pc and manually setting up hundreds of individual
settings? All the PCs are absolutely identical. The only difference
I know about is the serial number on the licensed copy of XP/HOME.

"David" wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have 10 PCs running XP HOME/SP3 in a small business I own. Each PC
> has 3 active users (the admimistrator, a staff account, and a customer
> account). The staff and customer accounts are all limited accounts.
>
> I want to make all 10 PCs as identical as possible. This includes
> screen savers, font sizes, and in-numerable other settings. Installing
> identical versions of programs on all the pcs is a hassle, but I can
> do it. Currently, the machines are not on a network.
>
> Is there any way I can copy the configuration for the staff limited
> account on one pc to the staff account on another PC without sitting
> in front of a pc and manually setting up hundreds of individual
> settings? All the PCs are absolutely identical. The only difference
> I know about is the serial number on the licensed copy of XP/HOME.


Are the machines on the internet? If not, and they are truly identical in
hardware, set up one machine and clone it to all the others using a program
such as Acronis True Image. As long as they don't have to be updated across
the internet regularly with MS patches then there will be no issue even with
retail Home versions.

Now, if they are all from a major manufacturer like Dell their license
stickers on the back or bottom will be different but I would venture a guess
that their license key in the machine is identical especially if purchased
at the same time. Use Keyfinder from
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/old.shtml (download the 1.51
version for your XP use) and see if I am correct. If so even if they are on
the internet you won't have any issues with these pre-activated versions of
XP updating OK.

David wrote:
> I have 10 PCs running XP HOME/SP3 in a small business I own. Each
> PC has 3 active users (the admimistrator, a staff account, and a
> customer account). The staff and customer accounts are all limited
> accounts.
>
> I want to make all 10 PCs as identical as possible. This includes
> screen savers, font sizes, and in-numerable other settings.
> Installing identical versions of programs on all the pcs is a
> hassle, but I can do it. Currently, the machines are not on a
> network.
>
> Is there any way I can copy the configuration for the staff limited
> account on one pc to the staff account on another PC without sitting
> in front of a pc and manually setting up hundreds of individual
> settings? All the PCs are absolutely identical. The only
> difference I know about is the serial number on the licensed copy
> of XP/HOME.

Look into 'imaging'. That way you install *one* PC and get it setup the way
you want it and then take an image of it and apply to the other machines...
Perhaps changing the SIDs, definitely changing the names *(member of a
domain? no need to change the SID - they get new SIDs when they join the
domain.)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Shenan Stanley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:OX789$(E-Mail Removed)...
> David wrote:
>> I have 10 PCs running XP HOME/SP3 in a small business I own. Each
>> PC has 3 active users (the admimistrator, a staff account, and a
>> customer account). The staff and customer accounts are all limited
>> accounts.
>>
>> I want to make all 10 PCs as identical as possible. This includes
>> screen savers, font sizes, and in-numerable other settings.
>> Installing identical versions of programs on all the pcs is a
>> hassle, but I can do it. Currently, the machines are not on a
>> network.
>>
>> Is there any way I can copy the configuration for the staff limited
>> account on one pc to the staff account on another PC without sitting
>> in front of a pc and manually setting up hundreds of individual
>> settings? All the PCs are absolutely identical. The only
>> difference I know about is the serial number on the licensed copy
>> of XP/HOME.
>
> Look into 'imaging'. That way you install *one* PC and get it setup the
> way you want it and then take an image of it and apply to the other
> machines... Perhaps changing the SIDs, definitely changing the names
> *(member of a domain? no need to change the SID - they get new SIDs when
> they join the domain.)
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
Shenan, the OP said they were XP Home computers and not currently on a
network (can't join a domain anyhow ) Any network the computers would be
"on" with Home is a peer-to-peer network and the Workgroup name would be the
same with a clone of the first drive. The OP would need to change the
machine name if and when the OP puts the machines onto a peer-to-peer
network otherwise even the machine names can be the same. IIRC the IP
address is by default auto-assigned so even the IP address would be
different on each machine when booted up on a peer-to-peer network as long
as the OP does not assign a fixed IP address to the original machine.

LVTravel wrote:
> Shenan, the OP said they were XP Home computers and not currently
> on a network (can't join a domain anyhow ) Any network the
> computers would be "on" with Home is a peer-to-peer network and the
> Workgroup name would be the same with a clone of the first drive. The OP
> would need to change the machine name if and when the OP
> puts the machines onto a peer-to-peer network otherwise even the
> machine names can be the same. IIRC the IP address is by default
> auto-assigned so even the IP address would be different on each
> machine when booted up on a peer-to-peer network as long as the OP
> does not assign a fixed IP address to the original machine.

Good catch on "Home" - my bad.

NEWSID would change the name and SID.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Shenan Stanley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e3cs$(E-Mail Removed)...
> LVTravel wrote:
>> Shenan, the OP said they were XP Home computers and not currently
>> on a network (can't join a domain anyhow ) Any network the
>> computers would be "on" with Home is a peer-to-peer network and the
>> Workgroup name would be the same with a clone of the first drive. The OP
>> would need to change the machine name if and when the OP
>> puts the machines onto a peer-to-peer network otherwise even the
>> machine names can be the same. IIRC the IP address is by default
>> auto-assigned so even the IP address would be different on each
>> machine when booted up on a peer-to-peer network as long as the OP
>> does not assign a fixed IP address to the original machine.
>
> Good catch on "Home" - my bad.
>
> NEWSID would change the name and SID.
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>

Never used it on an XP Home installation. Guess it will work but don't
know. We all miss things plenty of times.

On Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:17:37 -0600, "Shenan Stanley"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>David wrote:
>> I have 10 PCs running XP HOME/SP3 in a small business I own. Each
>> PC has 3 active users (the admimistrator, a staff account, and a
>> customer account). The staff and customer accounts are all limited
>> accounts.
>>
>> I want to make all 10 PCs as identical as possible. This includes
>> screen savers, font sizes, and in-numerable other settings.
>> Installing identical versions of programs on all the pcs is a
>> hassle, but I can do it. Currently, the machines are not on a
>> network.
>>
>> Is there any way I can copy the configuration for the staff limited
>> account on one pc to the staff account on another PC without sitting
>> in front of a pc and manually setting up hundreds of individual
>> settings? All the PCs are absolutely identical. The only
>> difference I know about is the serial number on the licensed copy
>> of XP/HOME.
>
>Look into 'imaging'. That way you install *one* PC and get it setup the way
>you want it and then take an image of it and apply to the other machines...
>Perhaps changing the SIDs, definitely changing the names *(member of a
>domain? no need to change the SID - they get new SIDs when they join the
>domain.)
>
>--
>Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
I considered imaging, but I (at least initially) rejected the idea. I
do have a valid Microsoft license for XP/HOME on each of the 10
machines. But, if I were to image the hard drive on 1 machine & use
that image on the other machines, I would be duplicating the XP/HOME
s/n 10 times. While I do have 10 licenses, wouldn't it be some sort
of violation to have the same s/n on 10 machines?

David

David wrote:
> I considered imaging, but I (at least initially) rejected the idea.
> I do have a valid Microsoft license for XP/HOME on each of the 10
> machines. But, if I were to image the hard drive on 1 machine & use
> that image on the other machines, I would be duplicating the XP/HOME
> s/n 10 times. While I do have 10 licenses, wouldn't it be some sort
> of violation to have the same s/n on 10 machines?

Just like you change the name/SID - you could change the product key.

The Genuine Advantage Product Key Update Tool is only valid for
users attempting to change their current non-genuine Product Key
to a genuine COA sticker or genuine Product Key - all without a
reinstall!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Link...46&clcid=0x409

Not that this is the only method - but it is one from Microsoft.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html