Creating an image of Windows XP

[lhanxe]

Hey guys,

I'm a newbie here,.
I heared about tech support and learned that there are professionals and great teachers here.

Got a problem installing a new OS for computers. You know it wastes time doing the installation of XP. (inputting of those data required).

Can anyone help me guide install from an image of XP.
What should i do first?

I appreciate every help and suggestions.
thanks.

 

[Samstoned]

can only do this if the 2 machines are the same
mostly the MB and cpu
thats what the activation protection is all about
look in the original , settings and file tranfer wizard.
acronis true image may help
or do you want to make a iso of the original disc

 

[lhanxe]

so i should have a two identical machines. With same Memory and CPU?
Imaging will not help me with this. We have different computers here.

But sir, do you know how is that sysprep?
I just wanted to automate my installation everytime that there is a need of rush.

thanks for your help.

 

[Bishop]

well imaging is a tricky thing. technically you should have one image for each hardware type to cut down on any blue screens that may occur from HAL issues. if you have two different machine types just make two different images. The way to go is with sysprep. Sysprep will create a unattend.txt (or winnt.sif) you can customize. Sysprep is great to use, but dont use ghost to save the image use microsoft's imgdeploy. Way better, a little more of a learning curve but not so bad. You are going to need to make a WinPE disc with imgdeploy on it. Check this out: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302577&sd=tech
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/sa/benefits/winpe.mspx
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=43536&DisplayTab=Article

oh the article about Bart's PE is very useful. if you are IT staff, this util cd is a must for you. it will get you out of so many jams. its a bit of research, but i definately recommend sysprep to prepare the machine then using imgdeploy to capture then restore the image. good luck.

 

[Char_X]

Got a problem installing a new OS for computers. You know it wastes time doing the installation of XP. (inputting of those data required).
Can anyone help me guide install from an image of XP.

Hello.
First of all: do you just want to have an opportunity to restore windows with all programs and settings on your single computer in case of need?
Backup software will help you in this case.
There can be several ways to create OS image:

1) The most simple is to create an image of system partition and save it on the other one or rather on another hard drive.
2) You can also clone the whole hard disk by copying partitions to another hard disk.

I can help you imaging with the help of the program, which I use (True image).

In case of disk cloning just connect new drive to the old machine and run Clone Disk in ATI.

In case of partition imaging use Backup option. It can do incremental, differential or full backup. It is not important what option to use, they are noted for result archives size and ways of restoring. I prefer incremental backup. It also need to create bootable media - when system crashes you will be able to boot from it, run True Image and run Recovery option under it.

If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask.

can only do this if the 2 machines are the same
mostly the MB and cpu
thats what the activation protection is all about
look in the original , settings and file tranfer wizard.
acronis true image may help
or do you want to make a iso of the original disc

You are not totally right: ATI can make image of partition or whole HDD and save in on other HDD and the only requirement is to have larger (or equal) size of HDD you are cloning on.
Of course there can be different difficulties with hardware compatibility on new comp if it has other configuration but it can be solved by installing proper drivers.

 

[lhanxe]

All those information make sense, i learned a lot.
I would make my question more detailed again.

1. I have a P4 1.7 GHz with 256 mB RAM, 40 GB HDD which i used to make an image of Windows XP

2. On the other hand, I got a P3 800 MHz with 256 MB HDD and 20 GB HDD

3. Using an image with no.1 i will copy (OS) XP on no.2 (so that i will not follow the xp installation again)

Question:
Possible or not?
If possible, how?
I dont mind if i will encounter problem with my device drivers coz i could always reinstall it, just a running windows xp to another computer using one image would help resolved my problem.

 

[qryptiq]

http://www.gc.peachnet.edu/www/wbeck/W2KXP.htm

yes it's possible, but not simple.... go to the link on title for further instructions:

Building and Ghosting a Master Windows XP Image (i only have one post and can't include links just yet)

This discusses how to make a master image for different platforms. In your case you have two different platforms - a P4 and a P3 - there are different chipsets, video, and nic. Your master boot image will contain all that information so that when you image either machine you won't get a BSOD.

 

[mickzer]

qryptiq,

The post you're replying to is two years old.

mickzer.

 

[qryptiq]

qryptiq,

The post you're replying to is two years old.

mickzer.

haaa.... i guess i was taken by the topic and nothing else.....this just happens to be the topic which brougth me to the site to begin with....

i'll pay more attention

 

[mickzer]

Don't worry about it. I'd say 90% of us have done it at one time or another.

mickzer.