Sysprep operation with and without the -mini option

[Guest]

Hi Folks,

I need some clarification on the functioning of sysprep.exe. I'm currently
working on a hardware image (Windows XP SP2) that is intended to be deployed
to multiple machines (all of the same HAL type). I'm using a third party tool
to take an image of the workstation configuration and the third party tool
runs sysprep in advance of taking the image. I'm using an OEMPNPDriversPath
statement in sysprep.inf to install drivers during the first boot after the
image is deployed.

It currently appears that if sysprep was invoked from the third party
utility (which doesn't specify any parameters for sysprep) then the
oempnpdriverspath is completely ignored. If the sysprep is performed manually
on the image with the -reseal and -mini parameters then the driver
installation seems to go ahead ok.

I've used sysprep.inf and the oempnpdriverspath many times successfully in
the past, the only difference here would appear to be the third party utility
invoking sysprep.

My questions are:-

Does running sysprep without any parameters cause the image to not perform
hardware detection on first boot after image deployment ?

If sysprep can truly run without any parameters, what does this default mode
of operation do differently to sysprep -mini ?

I'm still part way through my investigations on this, having spent the day
tearing my hair out writing and re-writing a sysprep.inf file again and again
and comparing this against other scenarios which have worked well! Any hints
or tips would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance,

Gareth

 

[Vincent Xu [MSFT]]

Hi,

For your first question:

Based on my experience, if you run sysprep without parameters , it will
launch a GUI to proceed.

For your current situations, I have following articles for your references:

How to add OEM Plug and Play drivers to Windows installations
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254078/en-us

You cannot install programs with unsigned drivers in non-interactive mode
in Windows Server 2003 or in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840257/en-us

OEM plug and play drivers do not install from a Sysprep image
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;285933

Hope this helps.


Best regards,

Vincent Xu
Microsoft Online Partner Support

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