Win XP Pro and Hardware

[badger1974]

Hey everyone!

I've just started a new contract working on an XP rollout for a client. They have about 100 PC's to upgrade from Win98 to XP Pro and told me they had developed a standard image and just needed assistance in planning the deployment and the physical rollout itself.

It now transpires that they have about 20 different models of unbadged desktops and half a dozen different laptops. They were planning to lay the same ghost image on each machine and then add extra drivers, copy the hal.dll etc to get them to work.

Now, I've been involved in about a dozen large corporate rollouts and have never come across this type of approach. I usually deploy a seperate image for each model of hardware, and in a medium/large business environment they tend to buy desktops in bulk (100's to 1000's at a time). This makes an OS upgrade easier as there is a common platform.

What is going to be the most stable way to deploy a build in this case?

My initial feeling is that there isn't going to be one image as the client thinks, but dozens - it's going to be down dictated by common motherboard chipset etc.

I have a feeling they are up against it here, however it means that my contract may run longer than I thought.

Any thought or ideas please.

PS - the client is a registered charity, and the option of a complete hardware refresh is not an option.

Thanks,

Andy

Thanks,

Andy

 

[rvnguy]

This is a bit obtuse, but try to follow along and I hope that I am clear enough..

with the several harware platforms you are correct in that one full image will not produce the desired result with XP...

Explain the differences to them as this is what probably happened with their old win OS, and XP & MS to be exact has tried to prevent piracy etc...etc...

Now for the obtuse solution, MS has a method to move an install when upgrading a motherboard. Essentially you perform install right up to the point where windows restarts...at this point shut down and take an image of this drive, a half to three quarter install. Use this image for the multi hardware platforms.

Yes not the greatest but will be faster than creating 20 images or so. And as a result you will still probably exceed your initial contract estimate.

The specific details for this are here:

How to replace the motherboard on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824125

If this is not clear please post back, post back with your decision anyway as there are others that could benefit.

Hope that you find this useful

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[kmcferrin]

I have not done this before, but I have been told by several large companies that you can build a single image for use on multiple pltforms as long as all of the hardware drivers and loaded into the image. It probably involves setting Windows to run a mini-install when the image is first booted to detect hardware differences. If I were you I would look on Technet (

http://www.microsoft.com/technet)

and see what kind of information they have for OS deployment. It should be possible if the images are built specifically for it, but it sounds like your customer didn't build them that way.

I would not proceed with the client's methodology though, as that sounds like a nightmare.

 

[BadFrog]

Ahh the inevitable scope creep! Interesting article there rvnguy. Have you had a chance to try that?

I would not proceed with the client's methodology though, as that sounds like a nightmare.

Ditto that.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[wolluf]

badger1974

some thoughts:-

In my experience, an XP image will boot 50% of machines with different hardware setup - and load correct drivers, if it has them. Nearly all cases where it won't boot (I say nearly - again in my experience its actually all cases), a repair reinstall will sort out the problem. Again, if windows doesn't have all drivers.... (though again, XP has very good driver coverage for older machines).

As has been mentioned, you can (I'm tyold, never tried it) build a 'fit all' image - but I don't know how long that takes to get right.

If I were doing this (I have, but on a smaller scale), I'd start by producing image for 'most common' machine type, load it to them, then try it on next most common - if it works continue, if not, repair & create second image for rest of this group - etc

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

 

[rvnguy]

Interesting article there rvnguy. Have you had a chance to try that?

I have done this on a mobo replacement...what I outlined is essentially an image right up to were XP sarts the driver install. Using this as the start point one would only have to insure that any strange drivers were available. If contained within the XP install disk it would proceed as if this install was started on this machine.

As has been mentioned, you can (I'm tyold, never tried it) build a 'fit all' image

What I suggested, is a 'fit all' image that just needs to complete with driver installation.

We are talking 100 PC's with 20 differing models, so essentially 5 of each type or 20 different images.

I just saw this as more efficient as you will be installing to thePC's rather than attempting to build 20 images.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[BadBigBen]

One way to accomplish that, and it is simple actually...

The IDE drivers need to be replaced with the standard XP drivers in the Windows DIR, then you need to reset them in the REGISTRY aswell...

Copy and Paste into Notepad then safe as xxx.reg (where xxx is anything you want) and double click to merge with the Registry...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\primary_ide_channel]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\secondary_ide_channel]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*pnp0600]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*azt0502]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="atapi"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\gendisk]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="disk"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#cc_0101]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_0e11&dev_ae33]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1039&dev_0601]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase \pci#ven_1039&dev_5513]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1042&dev_1000]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_105a&dev_4d33]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0640]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0646]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0646&REV_05]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0646&REV_07]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0648]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1095&dev_0649]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1097&dev_0038]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10ad&dev_0001]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10ad&dev_0150]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5215]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5219]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5229]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1106&dev_0571]
"Service"="pciide"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_1222]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_1230]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2411]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2421]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_7010]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_7111]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_7199]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="intelide"

;Add driver for Atapi (requires Atapi.sys in Drivers directory)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"Type"=dword:00000001
"DisplayName"="Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller"
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,61,00,74,00,61,00,70,00,69,00,2e,\
  00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00

;Add driver for intelide (requires intelide.sys in drivers directory)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IntelIde]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="System Bus Extender"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000004
"Type"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,69,00,6e,00,74,00,65,00,6c,00,69,\
  00,64,00,65,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00


;Add driver for Pciide (requires Pciide.sys and Pciidex.sys in Drivers directory)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PCIIde]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="System Bus Extender"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000003
"Type"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,70,00,63,00,69,00,69,00,64,00,65,\
  00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00

The Following Files need to be copied from the Original XP SP2 CD:

ATAPI.SYS
INTELIDE.SYS
PCIIDE.SYS
PCIIDEX.SYS

Create IMAGE and Powerdown now you can use that Image for implementation to different hardware...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."