Ok this takes time but is well worth it.
you will need to create two seperate images, one for laptops and one for desktops. you can create one image for the two but it sent me round the twist and took me the best part of three weeks solid to resolve.
Ok so for desktop. (I'll use the GX280 as an example as this is our standard desktop)
Install the base OS, patches, AV, applications etc etc
expand the sysprep utility from the XP CD to c:\sysprep
expand all the drivers for ALL machines that you want to image from the corresponding Dell resource CD's if you want them left on the machine after the sysprep then create them create them at root level, if you dont then copy them under the c:\sysprep directory.
in device manager change the driver for your primary controller to the default microsoft driver (you may sometimes need to change hal.dll to a standard PC but more often than not
Switch off system restore at this point.
Run setupmgr and select your settings
see this post
for info on how to add OEM drivers to the sysprep.inf
Run sysprep select tick the boxes for detect hardware, make sure dont regenerate security ID's is left unticked, select mini setup if required. in the drop down box select do nothing for when sysprep has completed
click reseal
after it has completed, shut down the PC. reboot and create image as normal.
It does as bcastner take a lot of doing to sort out, but it is my preferred method of desktop/laptop deployment as opposed to unattended installs.
hope this helps
