I am trying to clone a set of machines that run windows xp and are part of a domain. Ideally, I'd have a way to specify their name after imaging based on hardware ID and they'd automatically rejoin the domain.
It seems like the main option for something like this is sysprep, which at least prompts the user for a host name after imaging and allows you to store the domain administrator's password in plain text on the machine. This has some drawbacks, such as storing the domain adminstrator's password on the machine, and not automating hostname assignment.
Are there other alternatives that work better?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
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Why do you need to be able to store the domain admin's password on the local machine? The domain admin's account is only accessible when the computer is joined to the domain, and it will not be stored locally on that machine.
I am not aware of any ways that sysprep can be automated, but if anyone else here does, please let us know!
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Sysprep allows you to automatically rejoin a domain, but the only way this feature works is if you store the domain administrator password in the disk image in plain text.
Thanks!
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What you could do is set permissions on the text file with the domain admin's password so that only the local Administrator can read/write to and from it. I wonder if this would break sysprep, but it's worth a try.
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Ah, but the thing is that when minisetup runs, it gives the user the option to reset the administrator password, and I haven't found a way to disable that feature without disabling all dialog (such as changing the host name, which I actually want to let a non-administrator user do).
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Hi,
I am trying to clone a set of machines that run windows xp and are part of a domain. Ideally, I'd have a way to specify their name after imaging based on hardware ID and they'd automatically rejoin the domain.
It seems like the main option for something like this is sysprep, which at least prompts the user for a host name after imaging and allows you to store the domain administrator's password in plain text on the machine. This has some drawbacks, such as storing the domain adminstrator's password on the machine, and not automating hostname assignment.
Are there other alternatives that work better?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Why do you need to be able to store the domain admin's password on the local machine? The domain admin's account is only accessible when the computer is joined to the domain, and it will not be stored locally on that machine.
I am not aware of any ways that sysprep can be automated, but if anyone else here does, please let us know!
Sysprep allows you to automatically rejoin a domain, but the only way this feature works is if you store the domain administrator password in the disk image in plain text.
Thanks!
What you could do is set permissions on the text file with the domain admin's password so that only the local Administrator can read/write to and from it. I wonder if this would break sysprep, but it's worth a try.
Ah, but the thing is that when minisetup runs, it gives the user the option to reset the administrator password, and I haven't found a way to disable that feature without disabling all dialog (such as changing the host name, which I actually want to let a non-administrator user do).