Use disk image to build identical pc's?

[bagua 0]

Hello,

 

I am building 6 identical computers which will operate on XP PRO. They will all also use the same initial software. My question is: can I use a program such as Ghost 2003 or 9.0 to create a disk image and copy this to the other harddrives in order to avoid having to do a complete installation on each one. If I do use an image or clone, will I still be able to activate each pc individualy. I appreciate any advice.

[AndyFair 0]

You will still be able to run each PC fine, as long as they're all identical.

Bear in mind, though, that they'll all have the same serial number, so unless you've got the corporate edition of XP which doesn't need activating, you'll need to change serial numbers before you activate, otherwise you may have problems - I think this is an option in the activation screen?

[ScinteX 0]

Also bear in mind that some things will need changing after you have built a new box... such as the Computer name. I guess it's only a pain if these machines will be on the same network.

 

I'm sure theres some other network-related changes that might need to be made- I can't remember them off hand however it's all about making the PC "unique".

[theefool 0]

Won't the computer SID need to be change also? Newsid?

[peterh 1]

Ideally, run SYSPREP before imaging the computer so that hardware or sid specific information is removed and then you can guarantee it will work on other computers.

Sysprep is available in Deploy.msi file on XP CD.

 

[Exxccessive 0]

Make sure all PCs are identical...

 

I used Ghost for cloning and everything went fine.

And it also helped me to determine which PC is not working well (i.e. Bad ram, MOBO etc.). the only work left to do is renaming the PC. Thanks for the SYSREP info Peterh.

 

[theefool 0]

Ah, yes, sysprep. Newsid was for NT4. Getting things mixed up in my head.