Automatic Computer Naming With Sysprep?

[Dan DeStefano]

Is it possible to automate computer naming using Sysprep? I know that during
an unattended installation, you can use a .udb file to assign computer
names. Is there a way this can be done using a Sysprep answer file? I have
not found out how to do this so far. When using Setup Manager to create a
sysprep.inf file, there is no option to create a .udb file for computer
names, yet when creating an unattend.txt file, this option is present. Is
this because unattended setup sets the computer name while the OS is being
installed and when using Sysprep, the OS is already installed and the
computer name would need to be changed? Could .udb files be used with
sysprep images?

Anyway, does anyone know of a way to automate the assigning of computer
names using a Sysprep image? Using any method - .udb file, script, etc.

Thanks in advance,

Dan DeStefano

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

Hi Dan

I wrote a program a while back (has two years flown by already?) that does
an automatic computer rename. It's called "compname" (original, huh?) and
you can get it from www.willowhayes.co.uk

This can generate a name by pulling information from many sources, including
the SMBIOS serial number (a.k.a. asset tag), date, a random element and
reverse DNS lookup (undocumented, but it's ?D).

I use the cmdlines.txt file in $oem$ as a launch point for this. The
program needs one reboot for the name change to take effect and you'll want
to script a domain join using netdom.exe after that reboot (requiring one
more reboot).

Hope this helps

Oli