Sysprep for Windows 7 and Windows XP Professional

The following article was developed for using Sysprep with Windows XP Pro. Windows 7 has a very simple process built into the installed Windows 7 program. We follow this procedure when working with Windows 7. You may still want to review the procedures to use with certain models of HP/Compaq computers so that their images are compatible with other models of computers - check LBA assist vs Bit-Shift in the following descrition of Sysprep for Windows XP Pro.

Create a fresh install, license the computer, perform all updates, perform a system clean and defragmentation, check that all drivers are installed so that the computer would be ready to send to a client.

Right click on the start button - select Windows Explorer - C: drive - Windows - System32 - Sysprep Folder - Sysprep - Select System Out of Box Experience (OOBE) - Generalize - Shutdown Option - Shutdown and click Okay. The computer will run Sysprep to create an image of the hard drive. Be certain to copy the image to a server, another drive, a hard drive duplicator, etc. Do not start the computer and boot to the hard drive or the program will be reinstalled on the hard drive you just sysprepped. You can read the reminder of the article that refers to the system of copying drives but we no longer user an .ini file. The process is much, much simpler.


When a computer is booted with the imaged drive installed, it will install Windows 7 and all programs on the new drive. Windows 7 can be licensed at the time of installation or at any time within the next 30 days. The original license has been deactivated at the completetion of the sysprep procedure.

Sysprep for Windows XP Pro

Sysprep is a tool furnished by Microsoft to enable users to deploy computer systems to a large number of computers. A web site www.vernalex.com has further refined the sysprep process. For anyone wanting to find out about the options of setting up and using sysprep, I recommend the site as well as the information included on the Microsoft website or XP installation CD under tools for deployment.

Sysprep is a program that reduces all of the installed programs on a hard drive to an image. The image can be copied to another hard drive. Once the hard drive is installed in another computer that is booted, the computers will begin installing all of the programs that were on the Master Computer including all of the updates. This can be a tremendous time saver. The new computer will look for the drivers needed to complete the installation. We will discuss the ways of providing the drivers later. I have the sysprep procedure deactivate Windows so that after the installation on the new drive, Windows will need to be activated.

This simplified version has been developed to allow users to get up and running quickly and easily. If you prefer other options than the ones I have selected, you can find out how to change them through visiting the vernalex web site. Many of the tools suggested on the vernalex web site have been incorporated into this simplified version and a big thank you is given to the developer who has helped all of us.

The Microsoft Registered Refurbishers (MRR) can download the zip file at the end of this paper, copy it to the root directory of the Master Drive and be ready to go.

1. Set up your Master Computer with all of the programs and updates you want to include in your image. If using AVG anti-virus include the setup file but do not install it until after it has been sent to the destination computer. Activate Windows XP so that you can do all of the updates. Office XP can be installed and updated, Adobe Flash and Reader and Java can all be installed and updated. After running sysprep, Windows XP will be deactivated automatically.

2. Do a disk cleanup and defragment the hard drive.

3. Go to device manager (right click my computer- properties, hardware device manager) and click on computer. The driver listed should be Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC. If you have any other driver listed you will need to change it to this one. This interface is the most likely to be accepted by a variety of different makes and models.

If you need to change the driver, right click on the listed driver -Update Driver Install from a list- Select Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)PC.

4. Download the sysprep.zip file at the end of this page. I copy the unzipped folder to my flash drive so I can install sysprep easily. You will need to edit the sysprep.ini file before running sysprep so you can customize it to your program. Unzip the file. Copy the sysprep folder you have downloaded and paste it in the c:\ drive root directory so that you can see c:\sysprep

5. Open the sysprep directory. You will want to edit the sysprep.ini file with notepad.

a. In this version I use InstallFilesPath=d:\i386 I put the WindowsXP CD in the cd drive and allow the computer to find any needed files unattended. In another version, I copy all of the .cab files from the XP cd into the c:\sysperp\i386 directory and then set InstallFilesPath=c:\sysprep\i386. Either way works fine.

b. If you want an administrative password, insert it between the marks.

c. The TimeZone=4 This is set to Pacific Standard Time. Edit the number for your time zone.

d. ProductKey= This is very important! Use the product key from your Windows CD.

e. FullName=User or whatever name you want.

f. OrgName= Insert the name of your organization

g. ComputerName=* This setting will allow the program to assign a random name to your computer so you won't have network conflicts.

h. We set our display settings to 800x600

i. You may want to set your AreaCode=for your local area or you can skip it.

j. The SysprepMassStorage files have been generated by vernalex and should not be changed.

k. Save the changes in the sysprep.ini file. Save the Sysprep folder including your changes to a flash drive.

6. Make a copy of the Master hard drive. Run Sysprep on the copy so that you will be able to update the Master Drive in the future without having to start all over with a fresh install. Do not Sysprep the same drive multiple times. Once sysprep is run the entire configuration is reduced to an image file.

After making a copy of the pre-sysprep hard drive, run sysprep by starting the computer, then going to start run c:\sysprep\sysprep.bat and press enter. Following the screen prompts. The process may take up to 40 minutes as the vernalex system of shutting down processes and finding drivers takes some time. After sysprep finishes the computer will shut down on its own.

IMPORTANT! Do not allow the computer to boot up with the image file. It will just reload the image on the same computer. Just to be sure boot to the bios and disable the boot to the hard drive. You can boot to the CD drive or a server so that you can make copies of the drive with the image file. Make a copy of the hard drive that has been sysprepped.

Software programs that can be used for cloning include: Ghost, Acronis and Clonezilla Live. Both Ghost and Acronis are licensed for one computer and one backup. I have another tutoral in using Clonezilla Live - a free program that can be downloaded from http://www.clonezilla.org. I highly recommend it. Please note that Clonezilla Live can copy from a smaller drive to a larger only. Start your Master Hard Drive using a smaller hard drive that you will be loading on your client computers.

The computer with the new imaged drive will install the programs upon booting. It will also look for the necessary drivers. You can collect your own set of drivers over a period of time and save them on a CD, flash drive or server. When installing the programs you can edit the Sysprep.ini file to point to the location where the drivers are located.

Another solution is to download a file called 100,000 drivers and create a drivers DVD. There are a couple of drawbacks to this system as the file is very large and the computer would need to have a DVD drive. There are external DVD drives or you could save the drivers on an external USB 2.0 drive or a server.

Note about HP/Compaq computers. HP/Compaq computers normally have a bios setting for hard drive operations that is different than other makes and models. For greater compatibility boot HP/Compaqs to the bios and check the hard drive settings. They typically have hard drive settings of "bit shift". Use the right arrow and change the setting to "LBA Assist". You can now use the same image to do Dells, Compaqs, etc.

Adapted by Nurul Hammamy, S.Kom
Teknik Komputer & Jaringan SMK Informatika Wonosobo
CP: +6281327400766