How to Sysprep Windows

2007-07-11 james 23 comments

Every time I need to set up a bunch of virtual machines, I have to go back and look up where to find the Sysprep tool and how to use it. Here are the details so I can find it in the future…

In case you haven’t encountered Sysprep before, it is a tool that allows you to create a base OS image (including Windows, Office, Visual Studio, or whatever other applications you want) and then re-package it. You can then create cloned disks (or just copy the whole thing) and when you boot the new disk, it is like booting Windows for the first time, except with all your software installed. You get to choose a new computer name, SIDs are regenerated, etc.

Each version of Windows requires the correct version of Sysprep. Where do you find the correct version of Sysprep? On your install disks in <DVD>:\Support\Tools\Deploy.cab. Although System Preparation tool for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Deployment claims to install the Sysprep tool, I’ve never been able to make it work on my system. So don’t bother wasting your time. Go to your original install media and grab the file from there.

Creating the Sysprep Image

Open <DVD>:\Support\Tools\Deploy.cab and extract setupcl.exe, setupmgr.exe, and sysprep.exe to C:\Sysprep. (N.B. C: is your system drive. If you installed Windows to another drive letter, use that drive letter rather than C:.)
Run setupmgr.exe from C:\Sysprep.
The Setup Manager wizard starts. Click Next…
Create new… Next…
Select “Sysprep setup”. Next…
Select the correct OS version… Next…
Select “No, do not fully automate the installation”… Next…
Enter Name and Organization, Time Zone, Product Key, and Workgroup or Domain. The other settings can remain defaulted. Note that you don’t want to specify the computer name since you will be creating multiple computers from the base image and you don’t want to specify the admin password, even encrypted. If the sysprep program can extract the password from the answer file, so can any hacker worth their salt. Click Next… through to the end.
Finish… Save to C:\Sysprep\sysprep.inf. OK…
Wait while Setup Manager finishes. Cancel… (Yes, odd way to exit a program that has completed successfully.)
Run sysprep.exe.
Click OK.
Ensure that “Don’t regenerate security identifiers” is UNCHECKED. You want to regenerate the SIDs when each new clone boots.
Click Reseal, OK to confirm that you want to regenerate SIDs, and wait for the system to shut down.

Creating a Cloned Server

If you’re using VMWare Workstation, create a linked clone of your Sysprepped server. (You can also create a new linked disk using VirtualPC using File… Virtual Disk Wizard and then creating a new VM using the linked disk.)
Change any VM settings such as memory. DO NOT change number of processors from 1 to 2 as the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) for uni-processor vs. multi-processor Windows is different. Your system will blue screen if you do this.
Boot the cloned server.
The Windows Setup wizard will appear. Next…
Accept the license agreement. Next…
Enter a new computer name and administrator password. Next…
Windows will boot and you can log in with the administrator password you just entered.
When prompted, click “Yes” to update your product activation.
Select “Yes, let’s activate Windows over the Internet now”. Next…
Select “No, I don’t want to register now; let’s just activate Windows”. Next…
OK…
Update this server… to go to Microsoft Update.
Once you’re ensured that your patches are up-to-date, you can close the browser and click Finish… then Yes… on the dialog to start using Windows.

You should now have a fresh copy of Windows. You can create as many cloned servers as you need for your mini-network.

Miscellaneous none

#1 | Written by SteveC about 16 years ago. Reply

John, thanks for putting up the details here, saved me a lot of time and head scratching

Cheers,
SteveC.
#2 | Written by SteveC about 16 years ago. Reply

Oops, sorry James … can’t find an edit comments option 🙁
#3 | Written by Francois about 15 years ago. Reply

Thanks for posting this. Great fast and easy to use instructions for sysprep!
#4 | Written by D1Q4 about 14 years ago. Reply

dear james,

how if we want to create template image windows 2008 server??? is it still using sysprep or different method??
- #5 | Written by James about 14 years ago. Reply
  
  You can still use sysprep.
#6 | Written by Hug about 14 years ago. Reply

after when system shutdown and what else.
the procedure is half way done , how to start the image , how the system regconise the new info from the sysrep.ini file so much info that are in this presentation.
- #7 | Written by James about 14 years ago. Reply
  
  @Hug – Sorry, but I don’t understand your question. Could you try to rephrase it?
#8 | Written by Mario about 14 years ago. Reply

James,

I believe I might be able to rephrase Hug’s question for him, or at least come close.

“after when system shutdown and what else.” (After the system completes sysprep and shuts down, what happens next?)

“the procedure is half way done ,” (The process (of cloning) is only half complete.)

“how to start the image ,” (How do I actually create the image/clone?)

“how the system regconise the new info from the sysrep.ini file so much info that are in this presentation.” (There is a lot of information entered into the sysprep.ini file, how does the new system read and apply this information to the clone when it boots up?)

I hope that helps.
#9 | Written by Danny O'Neill about 14 years ago. Reply

Many Thanks James, this saved me a great deal of time.
#10 | Written by debarun bhattacharjee about 14 years ago. Reply

thank u very much for detailing it easily.
#11 | Written by Jason S about 14 years ago. Reply

When I go to reseal the imaged server it is throwing out an error that states:

There is an incompatibility between this tool and the current operating system.

Unable to continue.

Any advice?
- #12 | Written by James about 14 years ago. Reply
  
  Never seen this error. I would try asking on Server Fault.
#13 | Written by Chris about 14 years ago. Reply

sysprep.ini has to be in the sysprep-folder where the sysprep.exe is (under 2k8+ you have to create an unattendend.xml with WAIK).

after sysprep with the shutdown option you can make a disk-image … and then just start up the pc
#14 | Written by adari about 14 years ago. Reply

In cloning a working windows 2008, I run sysprep on windows 2008-the command created some files in a folder – (i selected generalize with shutdown option). after successful shutdown i enabled the undo disks in VPC settings. i ran the vm to create, while running the vm – got this error… ‘windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware’ and keep on restarting.

I lost a working vm, please help me on this!!!.
Note – Windows 7 is the host machine, windows 2008 is a VM.

Regads,
adari
#15 | Written by James about 14 years ago. Reply

@adari – No idea what could be wrong. A detailed error message would help. Plus I’m just a developer who uses VMs and sysprep in my programming work. I don’t claim to be an expert. I would recommend asking on Server Fault.
#16 | Written by scottrell about 14 years ago. Reply

“DO NOT change number of processors from 1 to 2…” Does this mean I’ll need two vm templates if I’ll need both single processor and multi-processor server vms?
#17 | Written by James about 14 years ago. Reply

@scottrell – I haven’t checked whether Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 still use separate uni-processor and multi-processor HALs. (Windows XP, Windows Server 2000, and Windows Server 2003 definitely did.) Safest to create a single image for a multi-processor HAL and then use that for all your builds – both uni- and multi-processor VMs. The uni-processor HAL took some shortcuts (for instance, skipping locks when modifying certain kernel data structures) to improve performance as it knew that only one CPU would be present. This is why a uni-processor OS will BSOD when run with multiple CPUs – internal kernel data structures become corrupt.
#18 | Written by scottrell about 14 years ago. Reply

OK, thanks, that clears it up. Is there a known test to get a BSOD, or should it blue screen at boot up? I just added a 2nd processor to my Win2008 Ent x86 server vm and it came up without a complaint. (using vSphere 4 as the host OS for the vm infrastructure)

Since re-installing 2008 is relatively fast and easy on a vm (just a short afternoon), I may just set up my template as a two processor machine anyway.
#19 | Written by scottrell about 14 years ago. Reply

So far, everything I’ve seen on the web is that the uni-proc HAL is gone from Vista on up, perhaps that’s really Vista SP1 on up. I’ve also seen in several recommendations to enable Detect HAL in the vm (msconfig, Boot, Advanced).
#20 | Written by James about 14 years ago. Reply

@scottrell – When I tried it years ago – I believe with Windows Server 2003 – the VM booted after changing from one to two CPUs, but BSOD’d after a few minutes. It wasn’t immediate, but it happened fairly quickly. I checked Windows Internals 4th Ed (which covers up to Windows Server 2003) and it still has separate uni-/multi-processor HALs. I seem to remember Microsoft eliminating the uni-proc HAL for Windows Vista/7/2008, but a quick google didn’t turn up a definitive answer.
#21 | Written by Andrew about 14 years ago. Reply

Very helpful post. Thanks!
FYI: I changed my Windows Server 2008 R2 VM from 1 processor to 4 processors a few hours ago and have not seen a blue screen yet.
#22 | Written by Adel about 14 years ago. Reply

hey james thx for the info
i was wondering if u want to create multiple cloned images, u meant that we can simply copy and paste the .vhd and use it in different new VMs?
thx
- #23 | Written by James about 13 years ago. Reply
  
  You can copy/paste the VHD files, but I personally prefer to create linked clones. Linked clones requires less hard drive space as all linked clones share the same base image.

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