Cloning Windows 2000 and XP machine

[craizie]

Does anyone have a good method of cloning Windows 2000 and Windows XP proffesional on multiple computers. I've performed the cloning on NT machines using Norton Ghost software however it appears that Windows 2000 and XP are most sensitive to the different hardware components/devices, that are in the seperate machines, and doesn't boot up properly after a clone is performed on that machine. Any suggestions from anyone that has performed the same task is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[browolf]

the official way to do it, is using sysprep

quote:
The Windows 2000 System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) Version 1.1 enables administrators to prepare Windows 2000 System Images as part of an automated deployment. Sysprep 1.1 is an update to Sysprep 1.0 and adds the ability to reduce the number of images required in a deployment by supporting multiple mass storage controllers.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/sysprep/default.asp

i've heard you can also do it by removing the ide devices in system/hardware before cloning. but i havent tried it.

Sysprep makes a machine ready to be put on a network. ===============
Security Forums

http://www.security-forums.com

 

[pytchley]

If you have a Windows 2000 server with DHCP you can install RIS. You then save your image to the server using riprep.exe. This strips the SID and saves a clean image.
To retrieve the image you must have a PXE compiant NIC and a RIP disk created with rbfg.exe. Boot the pc using the disk and hit F12 when prompted. Go away and make a coffee or 2 and depending on the answer file and a few user inputs the pc will reboot. No need to worry about SIDs as new one is installed.