WinXP Unattended Install and Default User Settings

[Martin Wilhelmy]

I work for a company that rolls out several PCs every week. We often
get new models (Different HALs) so Ghosting is not always an option.

We work with local profiles. So what I end up doing is installing a
fresh copy of WinXP, configuring a test profile that meets company
requirement. I then overwrite the Default profile of the workstation
with my test profile. Then I proceed to running sysprep, making an
image and rolling out my workstations.

My question is, is there any way to automate the process of installing
XP with *my* default corporate profile settings.

I've looked into the whole unattended install with an answer file but
there's just not enough options.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello Martin,
Use SP2 and make the changes to teh default administrator profile, then run
sysprep.
It copies the administrator profile over the default user profile.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

 

[Martin Wilhelmy]

I'm going to do that from now on. But my question really was, is
there a way to install XP the first time on a new machine (with a new
HAL) with my own customized settings (ie. Position of icons on the
desktop)

Microsoft Office 2003 allows such customization with Administrative
install point and the custom installation wizard. Is there an
equivalent wizard for Windows XP. One with more options than
setupmgr.exe.

If there isnt any, is there a scripting language of some sort I could
use to automate the tasks Im doing between installing XP and running
sysprep.

Thanks for all your help.

Hello Martin,
Use SP2 and make the changes to teh default administrator profile, then run
sysprep.
It copies the administrator profile over the default user profile.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

From: (e-mail address removed) (Martin Wilhelmy)
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment
Subject: WinXP Unattended Install and Default User Settings
Date: 24 Feb 2005 06:18:16 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com
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Message-ID: <[email protected]>
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I work for a company that rolls out several PCs every week. We often
get new models (Different HALs) so Ghosting is not always an option.

We work with local profiles. So what I end up doing is installing a
fresh copy of WinXP, configuring a test profile that meets company
requirement. I then overwrite the Default profile of the workstation
with my test profile. Then I proceed to running sysprep, making an
image and rolling out my workstations.

My question is, is there any way to automate the process of installing
XP with *my* default corporate profile settings.

I've looked into the whole unattended install with an answer file but
there's just not enough options.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello Martin,
There are a number of options documented in the help files in the
deploy.cab located in the support folder on the cd.
Icon positioning is not one of them, that has dependancies on the video
card being used, the resolution of the screen, and monitor being used.
It's not an exposed value to change.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

From: (e-mail address removed) (Martin Wilhelmy)
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment
Subject: Re: WinXP Unattended Install and Default User Settings
Date: 28 Feb 2005 10:20:14 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Lines: 66
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>

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Path: TK2MSFTNGXA02.phx.gbl!cpmsftngxa10.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTFEED02.phx.gbl!tornado.fas
twebnet.it!tiscali!newsfeed1.ip.tiscali.net!news.glorb.com!postnews.google.c
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Xref: TK2MSFTNGXA02.phx.gbl microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment:133564
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I'm going to do that from now on. But my question really was, is
there a way to install XP the first time on a new machine (with a new
HAL) with my own customized settings (ie. Position of icons on the
desktop)

Microsoft Office 2003 allows such customization with Administrative
install point and the custom installation wizard. Is there an
equivalent wizard for Windows XP. One with more options than
setupmgr.exe.

If there isnt any, is there a scripting language of some sort I could
use to automate the tasks Im doing between installing XP and running
sysprep.

Thanks for all your help.


(e-mail address removed) ("Darrell Gorter[MSFT]") wrote in message

Hello Martin,
Use SP2 and make the changes to teh default administrator profile, then run
sysprep.
It copies the administrator profile over the default user profile.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

From: (e-mail address removed) (Martin Wilhelmy)
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment
Subject: WinXP Unattended Install and Default User Settings
Date: 24 Feb 2005 06:18:16 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Lines: 16
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.162.176.39
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Trace: posting.google.com 1109254697 7019 127.0.0.1 (24 Feb 2005 14:18:17 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: (e-mail address removed)
NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:18:17 +0000 (UTC)
Path:

TK2MSFTNGXA02.phx.gbl!cpmsftngxa10.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTFEED02.phx.gbl!tornado.fas
twebnet.it!tiscali!newsfeed1.ip.tiscali.net!news.glorb.com!postnews.google.c
om!not-for-mail

Xref: TK2MSFTNGXA02.phx.gbl microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment:133346
X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment

I work for a company that rolls out several PCs every week. We often
get new models (Different HALs) so Ghosting is not always an option.

We work with local profiles. So what I end up doing is installing a
fresh copy of WinXP, configuring a test profile that meets company
requirement. I then overwrite the Default profile of the workstation
with my test profile. Then I proceed to running sysprep, making an
image and rolling out my workstations.

My question is, is there any way to automate the process of installing
XP with *my* default corporate profile settings.

I've looked into the whole unattended install with an answer file but
there's just not enough options.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.