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

[Trevor Benson]

I guess it depends on the product, but customizing accounts should have no bearing on cloning a system, if you are duping the drive.  If you are using ghost or other clone software it depends on if you tell it to copy user accounts along with the system.

I have easily used ghost to clone over 100 machines prejoined to a domain with the ghostwalker (SID converter) performing its task so you don’t have rogue systems with the same SID.  Although Administrator was really the only user on the system while copying since a domain was being used.  Running 100Mbps usually took between 5-20 minutes to clone sizes between 1.5GB to 3.5GB.

Its been awhile since I used the more recent versions of ghost, but for corporate and enterprise environments it works really nicely, plus makes restoring a system 'someone' screws up take about 15 minutes and then its back the way it was, no opening the box up and removing the disk to re-dupe it again.

Trevor



> -----Original Message-----
> From: discuss-bounces at socosa.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at socosa.org]
> Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: SoCoSA general discussion list
> Subject: Re: [SoCoSA/discuss] Replicating a Win XP install to other
> computers
> 
> Actually, we're not sure about AD, yet. We're trying to decide
> between a NAS and a real server. At one point, we were leaning in
> the direction of a NAS, but that may have changed. As I hear it,
> it's best not to create any accounts (other than Administrator)
> when setting up the original machine.
> 
> Another guy in the group who has a couple of test machines at his
> house has apparently had some success with Partimage, though he
> said you still have to answer a bunch of questions on first
> startup after a disk is cloned.
> 
> If anyone has a better idea, please let me know!
> 
> A.
> 
> 
> Trevor Benson wrote on Mon, 22 May 2006 10:59:34 -0700:
> 
> > 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.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> SoCoSA discuss mailing list
> discuss at socosa.org
> Your address: tbenson at a-1networks.com
> http://socosa.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> http://socosa.org/mailman/options/discuss/tbenson%40a-1networks.com