That all depends on what you want for software.
We have 16 W98 motherboards and 9 WXP motherboards in distribution. The W98
images at least are now frozen for development.
I build our images up in three stages.
Windows XP.sp2, patched and with full driver support.
A `BASE' image with all necessary minimum OS configurations, added OS
software not included in the normal install, local gp, antivirus, about 80
printer drivers, ms windows installer cleanup utility, sysprepped and ready
for generic use. This base image is identical in all security and features
as the final fully loaded image except that it has no software loaded
outside the OS, A/V and MSWICU. We also use centralized storage for user
files. Mandatory profiles. yadda yadda yadda.
The next image contains all common mandatory software preloaded in specific
order. About 150 pieces.
Just-In-Time, On-Demand, site specific and task specific SW that can be, is
deployed by GPO, otherwise it is added manually onsite by a technician.
We are in the process of converting as many of our installs as possible to
msi/mst packages that can be deployed by GPO, but that will be a slow
process.
Even though we have Gb fibre to each site, with 16 member servers as msi
deployment repositories, given the size and number of deploys that are
potentially possible to 80 sites and about 5000 XP clients, we will still
create the common approved image with as much software as possible
preloaded, we will probably use the msi/mst to expedite creation of any new
images in the labs before that new image is approved. These final images
are remastered annually. The latest contained 45-60 new programs per
motherboard... depending on the age of the migrated image.
