only see HAL.DLL for different system types

[Guest]

Hi everyone, first post....
Like many of you, I am pulling my hair out to limit the images for my company.

Background:
All Dells
laptops: c400,c600,c610,c640,d400,d600
pcs: gx200,110,150,260,270

Looking to do 1 image for laptops, 1 for desktops prior to
GX270\hyperthreading and 1 for gx270s and above.

Know how to sysprep, know about sysprepmassstorage and know how to place a
directory with extra drivers for sysprep to use too.

Running DeployCenter
Have a clean build process for XPsp1, office and plugins

Issue:
I am not clear on the whole Hal stuff. Know that different Hals for on
image is a no no. I started checking the Hal types using device manager and
checking the "Computer" property. I see different computer descriptions such
as ACPI MultiProcessor PC vs Standard PC BUT all show HAL.dll as the driver.
Can someone explain? I have been reading a TON of info. from many posts, MS
docs and personal webpages but have not seen anyone talk about this Hal.dll
issue.

Also, A lot has been said on how to shrink the amount of images a person
has but I can not find good VBS scripts to help with the process like finding
Hal types. Can anyone assist?

 

[Guest]

Hello William,

I will do my best explain the hal.dll file name. there are several hal types
and when the setup program detects the hal type it knows which hal to rename
to hal.dll.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

the article above will explain each hal type and when all is said and done
windows uses hal.dll as its primary name, even if the hal is not a standard
hal type.

example:

on my dell pc it uses the following type "ACPI Multiprocessor PC", ACPI APIC
MP HAL (Halmacpi.dll) when setup is complete halaacpi.dll is renamed to
hal.dll.

you can verify this by checking the properties on the hal.dll, look at the
version tab and select "Original File Name" and the value will show
halmacpi.dll

The article has information about using sysprep.

Gp

 

[Guest]

Thank You Garyp

The post and link was helpful. As usual, I don't know why M$ does not
document important details such as Hal.dll is the primary name and could be
using a different driver. I have the 1700 page XP resource kit and did not
see that info.

Now I have to work on scripting appropriate chipset installs and creating
auto-installs for system specific utilities.

I am slowly crawling out of my noob status for deployment methods and am
grateful for the help.