Windows XP Sysprep Mass Storage Image Deployment

[Billy]

I am deploying an image to multiple computers in our building, and
will be updating and tweaking this image for the next few months. Our
company uses Dell brand computers. The computers we have are as
follows:

GX 1
GX 150
GX 260
GX 270
Latitude CPx
Latitude D-600
Latitude D-400
Latitude C-600
Dimension L800r
Dimension L866r
Dimension 4400
Dimension 4600

The problem I have is finding the Mass Storage device string for the
Sysprep.ini file. Also, keeping future expansion in mind and new
computers arriving to be imaged, is there a way to detect PnP drivers
remotely or is there a frequently updated site with strings for
Sysprep.ini. I tried running pnpids to no avail on Windows XP.
Thanks.

Bill

 

[Steve Maser]

I am deploying an image to multiple computers in our building, and
will be updating and tweaking this image for the next few months. Our
company uses Dell brand computers. The computers we have are as
follows:

GX 1
GX 150
GX 260
GX 270
Latitude CPx
Latitude D-600
Latitude D-400
Latitude C-600
Dimension L800r
Dimension L866r
Dimension 4400
Dimension 4600

The problem I have is finding the Mass Storage device string for the
Sysprep.ini file. Also, keeping future expansion in mind and new
computers arriving to be imaged, is there a way to detect PnP drivers
remotely or is there a frequently updated site with strings for
Sysprep.ini. I tried running pnpids to no avail on Windows XP.
Thanks.

Bill

Did you run "build mass storage devices" from the command prompt?

When I set up my image, I went to the command prompt and typed:

sysprep -bmsd


and

You will also need to add the following into the sysprep.inf file at
the end is where i put it.

[Sysprep]
BuildMassStorageSection=Yes

[SysprepMassStorage]


This worked for us. We built our image on some older Dell machine 18
months ago and have had no problems installing it on every machine you
have listed here.

- Steve

 

[Mike Kolitz]

Billy,

The company I work for has many (not all) of those models of PC, and we've
never had issues with the Mass Storage drivers. Are you using the -pnp
switch on Sysprep? I've seen that cause problems with detecting the mass
storage drivers correctly.

--
Mike Kolitz MCSE 2000
MS-MVP - Windows Setup and Deployment

Remember to check Windows Update often,
and apply the patches marked as Critical!
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect

 

[Rob]

I don't know much about these machines, but what sort of drive controllers
are in them that don't have drivers included in the XP distribution? Doing
a quick search, it looks like at least the ones I looked at are IDE systems.
You don't need to include any special mass storage drivers if that's the
case.

 

[Guest]

On Windows XP all you have to do is in the sysprep.inf file change Build Mass Storage = yes and it will fill in everything.

 

[Billy]

I am sure that at least a few of these computers are ATA or SATA mass
storage drives. Also, The IDE drives we have tried give us the
infamous BSOD, and the image cant be completed. IS there a generic
IDE mass storage driver that can be used accross multiple machines?
Is the same true for ATA or SATA drives?

-Bill