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Sysprep is the name of Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
's System Preparation Utility for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 operating system deployment.

rep was originally introduced for use with Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a Preemption , Graphical user interface and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or Symmetric multiprocessing computers....
. Later versions introduced for Windows 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
 and Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
 are available for download from Microsoft and included in the Windows CD. Windows Vista
Windows Vista

Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....
 marks the first version of Microsoft's NT operating system to include a hardware abstraction layer
Hardware abstraction layer

A hardware abstraction layer is an abstraction layer, implemented in software, between the physical Computer hardware of a computer and the Computer software that runs on that computer....
 (HAL) independent version of Sysprep in the "out of box" installation.

top deployment is typically performed via disk cloning
Disk cloning

Disk cloning is a category of software which copies the contents of one computer hard disk to another or into an "image" . Often, the contents of the first disk are written to an disk image computer file as an intermediate step, and the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image....
 applications. Sysprep can be used to prepare an operating system for disk cloning
Disk cloning

Disk cloning is a category of software which copies the contents of one computer hard disk to another or into an "image" . Often, the contents of the first disk are written to an disk image computer file as an intermediate step, and the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image....
 and restoration via a disk image
Disk image

A disk image is a single file containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard drive, CD, or DVD....
.

Windows operating system installations include many unique elements per installation that need to be "generalized" before capturing and deploying a disk image to multiple computers.






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Encyclopedia


Sysprep is the name of Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
's System Preparation Utility for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 operating system deployment.

History

Sysprep was originally introduced for use with Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a Preemption , Graphical user interface and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or Symmetric multiprocessing computers....
. Later versions introduced for Windows 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
 and Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
 are available for download from Microsoft and included in the Windows CD. Windows Vista
Windows Vista

Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....
 marks the first version of Microsoft's NT operating system to include a hardware abstraction layer
Hardware abstraction layer

A hardware abstraction layer is an abstraction layer, implemented in software, between the physical Computer hardware of a computer and the Computer software that runs on that computer....
 (HAL) independent version of Sysprep in the "out of box" installation.

Purpose

Desktop deployment is typically performed via disk cloning
Disk cloning

Disk cloning is a category of software which copies the contents of one computer hard disk to another or into an "image" . Often, the contents of the first disk are written to an disk image computer file as an intermediate step, and the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image....
 applications. Sysprep can be used to prepare an operating system for disk cloning
Disk cloning

Disk cloning is a category of software which copies the contents of one computer hard disk to another or into an "image" . Often, the contents of the first disk are written to an disk image computer file as an intermediate step, and the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image....
 and restoration via a disk image
Disk image

A disk image is a single file containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard drive, CD, or DVD....
.

Windows operating system installations include many unique elements per installation that need to be "generalized" before capturing and deploying a disk image to multiple computers. Some of these elements include:
  • Computer name
    Naming scheme

    A naming scheme is a plan for naming objects. In computing, naming schemes are often used for objects connected into computer networks....
  • Security Identifier
    Security Identifier

    In the context of the Microsoft Windows NT line of operating systems, a Security Identifier is a unique name which is assigned by a Windows Domain controller during the log on process that is used to identify a subject, such as a user or a group of users in a network of NT/2000 systems....
     (SID)
  • Driver Cache


Sysprep seeks to solve these issues by allowing for the generation of new computer names, unique SIDs, and custom driver cache databases during the Sysprep process.

Administrators can use tools such as SetupMgr.exe (Windows XP) or System Image Manager (Windows Vista) to generate answer files that Sysprep will process on new computer deployments.

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