[SoCoSA/discuss] Replicating a Win XP install to other computers

[Trevor Benson]

It depends on the environment. Is there a domain (Like MS Active Directory), or not?  If there is that brings complications like SID and such into the mix, also whether you clone joined machines or prejoined.  If you don’t have a domain that takes a whole lot out of the worries area, and opens up just duplicating disks and manually changing hosts.

Trevor

> -----Original Message-----
> From: discuss-bounces at socosa.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at socosa.org]
> Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 5:14 PM
> To: SoCoSA
> Subject: [SoCoSA/discuss] Replicating a Win XP install to other computers
> 
> I'm part of a volunteer group helping to upgrade a Novato
> elementary school's computer lab to new Win XP Pro machines. (I
> tried to get them to consider Linux, but no dice.) We have 31
> brand new Dell machines sitting in boxes and we're now trying to
> decide on the best way to install the software. Each machine will
> need to have a number of programs (KidPix, Oregon Trail, Math
> Arena, anti-virus, etc.) installed. As none of us in the
> volunteer group relish the idea of doing a dozen or more installs
> on 31 machines, some kind of imaging solution looks to be the
> best way to go. We'd do a full install on one of the Dells, then
> clone that machine's hard drive to all the other machines (they
> all have identical hardware).
> 
> What does the SoCoSA crowd suggest? Norton's Ghost used to be the
> only game in town, but I hear it sucks now. Acronis' True Image
> seems to be far better these days. Partimage
> ( http://www.partimage.org/ ) is another possibility, but it's
> unclear how well it will work with NTFS. Some time ago I had
> heard about SystemImager ( http://www.systemimager.org/ ) and it
> came to mind for this project, but that appears to be Linux-only.
> And last, but not least, there's always good old "dd", possibly
> in conjunction with gzip.
> 
> The computers will be networked. Would it be better/faster to put
> the "golden" image on a server and clone it to the other machines
> over the network, or should we get our hands on some USB drives,
> put the"golden" image on them and take them from machine to
> machine?
> 
> What other factors need to be considered? As for licensing, I
> think we'll be OK. Each machine does come with its own license.
> 
> Another installation option might be an automated install (for
> example http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ ), and I can see where
> that might be the way to go for a very large number of machines,
> but it might be overkill for our 31 machines.
> 
> I also understand Microsoft has some tools to help with cloning
> drives, but I know nothing about them. Do any of you?
> 
> Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> A.
> 
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