Using Sysprep to Clone images of Windows 2003 Server - Problems with Netwrok Adapters

[morkmeister]

I've been exploring the use of sysprep to help me in deploying cloned
images of an instance of Windows 2003 Server, Standard Edition.

I am deploying this image onto different private LANs on very similar
hardware. I want the IP addresses to be fixed in the cloned images.
I'm not concerned with duplicate IP addresses, names, or SID's because
these image will be running on completely independent networks with no
interconnectivity.

I've tried a few different solutions, but I can't prevent Sysprep from
clearing the IP addresses for all of the adapters. Is there a way to
keep all of the current networking configurations that exist before I
run sysprep? I don't want the mini-setup to run network configuration
at all if possible. I even have one of the adapters (the wireless
card) disabled before running sysprep, and after I run sysprep, that
card is re-enabled.

Also, I have a loopback adapter defined in the master image that I
would like to keep on all clones of that image. Running a 'sysprep
-reseal' seems to delete this adapter. Is there anyway to prevent
this?

I've created a sysprep.inf file to allow for unattended setup of the
cloned image on the receiving machines. For the most part, things are
working fine with exceptions in the setup of the network adapters. I
know I can force the setup of 1 of the pnp network adapters using the
inf file, but since I have multiple adapters, this doesn't really work
for me.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mork

 

[Brian]

yes. if you dont care about dupicate sids dont use sysprep, just clone it