Ris Deployment of Sysprep'd XP Image

[Min0]

We are currently using third party imaging solution for the deployment of XP
Machines within our Domain however we have decided that the licensing cost
for addtional clients is unreasonable and wish to use Ris to deploy our
image "as is". Since I do not yet fully understand RIS I may have mis
interpreted what this service actually does ? What I want it to do is simply
"dump" the current image onto a workstation where this has been requested.
The image I have created takes of SID change, Join Domain (Correct OU, not
the default), runs some installations in text mode from cmdlines.txt etc.
Once joined to the domain the new machine reboots and installs assigned
Software.

I dont want to use RIS for anything other than Image Casting.


Is this possible ?




Win0

 

[Shenan Stanley]

We are currently using third party imaging solution for the
deployment of XP Machines within our Domain however we have decided
that the licensing cost for addtional clients is unreasonable and
wish to use Ris to deploy our image "as is". Since I do not yet fully
understand RIS I may have mis interpreted what this service actually
does ? What I want it to do is simply "dump" the current image onto a
workstation where this has been requested. The image I have created
takes of SID change, Join Domain (Correct OU, not the default), runs
some installations in text mode from cmdlines.txt etc. Once joined to
the domain the new machine reboots and installs assigned Software.

I dont want to use RIS for anything other than Image Casting.


Is this possible ?

If I might suggest an alternative:

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

 

[Min0]

Hmm, interesting... So far..

If I might suggest an alternative:

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

 

[Min0]

Thanks for the link.

The following statement I read in the documentation is somewhat dated with
the advent of features now available in the current version of sysprep.
Additionally, it has always been "possible" but sometimes difficult, to
effectively build hardware independance into ones images. Refer the
following statement re: Disk Cloning..

But it is usually a bad idea. Never mind that imaging provides poor support
for non-uniform hardware; the big problem is that it creates a maintenance
nightmare.

The image I am currently deploying has replaced 4 separate NT4 Images we
were using and intalls onto 4 different Hardwar Platforms without an error
in Device Manager on first boot ! Yes, I was shocked and stunned too..I'm
further going to expand this with automatic hal replacement to enable me to
deploy the same image onto our Laptop Fleet. All this stuff "was possible"
in the past but just too difficult for those of us that have to learn this
stuff in a couple of days, test for a week or so, and then deploy into an
Organisation. It appears that all has changed.

I'm still interested Open RIS however I prefer to stick with the pre-imaged
/ sysprep prepared cloning method as it works flawlessly.. The other success
enabler is now the ability to deploy "bare" images and deploy the relevant
Software via Group Policy assignment. Software compatibility with XP is
another issue or should I say nightmare...

Regarding the maintenance side of things, nothing could be easier now. We
never need to modify the base OS we simply update Group Policy / Deployed
apps. OS patching is handled by SUS (Just !) for the moment.



If anyones interested..





Min0

 

[Patrick J. LoPresti]

You are lucky that a single image works for you. Even with the
current sysprep, you need one image for each type of Hardware
Abstraction Layer (HAL) used in your environment; see
<http://support.microsoft.com/?id=828287>.

Group Policy does help with the application deployment problem. But
it has two issues of its own:

1) You can only deploy MSI files (or am I wrong?).

2) It requires Windows servers. Some people prefer Linux (or
FreeBSD or Solaris) in the server room.

If imaging works for you, that's cool. And yes, you should be able to
use RIS to deploy your images. But we are not likely to close up shop
on the Unattended project just yet .

- Pat
http://unattended.sourceforge.net/