AppNote: Sysprep, Add-on Images, Application Objects, Oh My!

Novell Cool Solutions: AppNote
By Matthew Warden Whited

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Posted: 4 Mar 2005

Create Syspreped Image

Using Microsoft Sysprep allows you to create an image that will port to another system and will install the proper drivers for that system while maintaining a common configuration for all of your workstations.

Create and configure your base Image with applications that are common to your entire business
Configure "Default User"

Run and configure each application as you would like the settings to be for your users
Copy your profile and registry to the "Default User" profile
Grant read & file scan to "Everyone" for "Default User"

Using "Device Manager" change the "Computer" kernel to most common type for all of your systems (check with Microsoft for more details, but I recommend "ACPI_PC" or "Standard PC"
Install "Sysprep" from Microsoft (found in deploy.cab on with Windows XP CD-ROM) to c:\sysprep
Create a text file named "C:\sysprep\sysprep.inf". It should contain:

SetupMgrTag
[Unattended]
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    DriverSigningPolicy=ignore
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS
    OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\WinXP\Video;Drivers\WinXP\Audio
    ;Drivers\WinXP\Network;Drivers\WinXP\USB;Drivers\WinXP\SYS
    TEM;Drivers\WinXP\wnic;Drivers\WinXP\modem;Drivers\WinXP\m
    ouse;Drivers\WinXP\monitor;Drivers\WinXP\keyboard;Drivers\
    WinXP\other;Drivers\WinXP\other2;Drivers\WinXP\other3;Driv
    ers\WinXP\other4;Drivers\WinXP\other5"

[GuiUnattended]
    AdminPassword=*
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    OEMDuplicatorstring="PUT YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME HERE>"
    TimeZone=35
    OemSkipWelcome=1
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

[UserData]
    ProductID="<PUT YOUR PRODUCT KEY HERE>"
    FullName="<PUT YOUR NAME HERE>"
    OrgName="<PUT YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME HERE>"
    ComputerName=CHANGEME

[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode=1
    AreaCode=614

[Sysprep]
    
[Branding]
    BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[Proxy]
    Proxy_Enable=0
    Use_Same_Proxy=0

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Sysprep] 
BuildMassStorageSection=yes 

[SysprepMassStorage]

Replace "<PUT YOUR PRODUCT KEY HERE>" with your MS Windows XP product key
Replace <"PUT YOUR NAME HERE>" with your Full Name
Replace "<PUT YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME HERE>" with your Business Name
Run "c:\sysprep\sysprep.exe -BMSD" to rebuild the mass storage driver list (save this version of sysprep.inf for future use)
Run "c:\sysprep\sysprep.exe"

Check "NoSIDGen", "PnP", "MiniSetup", "Pre-activated"
Set "Shutdown" to "Shutdown"
Click "Reseal"

After the system shutsdown boot into ZENworks preboot services (I like PXE boot the best)
Create a system image

Change <VOLUME NAME> and <IMAGE NAME> to meet your needs

Create Add-on Image for markers and driver sets

Marker sets are used to identify to "Application Objects" what add-on images have been deployed to a workstation by testing for the existence of "marker" files that you add to the add-on image. A marker file should just be an empty file that can be placed in a folder with a known common name to uniquely identify that add-on image.

Create a new Add-on image using "ZENworks Image Explorer" (sys:\public\zenworks\imaging\imgexp.exe)
Use the following structure for your driver and marker sets

Partition 1
	Drivers
		APPS
		BRAND
		BUILDING
		MODEL
		ROOM
		WinXP
			audio
			keyboard
			modem
			monitor
			mouse
			network
			other
			other2
			other3
			other4
			other5
			system
			usb
			video
			wnic

Save this as a model to create other add-on images from
To create a driver set import the driver files into the various folders in the add-on image
Add marker files for "BRAND" and "MODEL" to identify the system type
You may want to create marker sets for Building and Rooms in your organization. Create these as add-on images by placing markers in the "BUILDING" or "ROOM" directories
Save Driver sets with the prefix "drv_" and Building / Room sets with the prefix "bldg_"

Create Application Objects and Add-On image using ZENworks Snapshot

Create non-healing application objects with all files being distributed as an add-on image. This is not a good idea for small, on-demand applications, but works very well for large applications such as Autodesk Design Academy or Microsoft Visual Studio. Don't worry about the non-healing applications because you can always just reimage the workstation.

Use "ZENworks Snapshot" to create a snapshot difference of installing an application
After adding this as an "Application Object" to your eDirectory / NDS tree create an add-on image using Image Explorer that places the files in the correct location on the hard drive

The Application Object to Add-On image in ConsoleOne only creates a NALCache folder on the hard drive and still takes a lot of time to deploy to the workstation once imaged. I recreate the full placement of files on the hard drive including add the %USER PROFILE% items to the "Default User" profile. This allows for much faster and smoother deployment of large applications to and workstation with your syspreped image.

Add a Marker file in "Partition 1\Drivers\APPS" to uniquely identify this add-on image
Save the file name with the prefix "app_"
Remove the "Application Files" from the "Application Object"
Add a requirement for the existence of the marker file in step 3
Associate this Objects as force run to all workstations (If you have a very large deployment you may want to limit this to workstation groups)

Create a scripted Workstation Image object

With the Workstation Image objects you can create a scripted image. This script can us almost any A shell command as well as interfaced with some of the different ZIS utilities from Novell for a very powerful and easy to use distribution of images.

ZISNAME=`zisview Name`
IMGSVR=10.130.135.6


if test ! $ZISNAME; then 
   echo -e "No image-safe data found." 
   echo -e "Assumed to be a new workstation.\n" 

   while test ! $WSNAME; do 
      echo -n "Enter the workstation name: " 
      read WSNAME; 
   done; 

   if test $WSNAME; then
      zisedit -c
      zisedit Name=$WSNAME;
   fi
else
   WSNAME=
   echo ""
   echo "Computer Name: $ZISNAME"
   echo ""

   echo -n "Change Name (Enter Name to change leave blank to skip): " 
   read WSNAME
   
   if test $WSNAME; then
      echo "Name Changed to $WSNAME"
      zisedit -c
      zisedit Name=$WSNAME;
   fi   
fi 

echo ""
echo "Building List"
echo "----------------------"
echo "aml      Amalgamated Place"
echo "ecc      Eastland Career Center"
echo "fcc      Fairfield CareerCenter"
echo "<anything else>   Skip Building Set"
echo ""
echo -n "Enter Building: "
read WSBLDG;

if [ "$WSBLDG" = "ecc" ]; then
   IMGSVR=10.130.135.6

   echo ""
   echo "Room List"
   echo "----------------------"
   echo "2002      MO"
   echo "2003      AS"
   echo "2004      IM"
   echo "2005      IS"
   echo "2006      BF"
   echo "1113      DD"
   echo "<anything else>   Base"
   echo ""
   echo -n "Enter Room: "
   read WSROOM;

elif [ "$WSBLDG" = "fcc" ]; then
   IMGSVR=10.130.139.6

   echo ""
   echo "Room List"
   echo "----------------------"
   echo "1360      LO"
#   echo "1630      CS"
   echo "<anything else>   Base"
   echo ""
   echo -n "Enter Room: "
   read WSROOM;

elif [ "$WSBLDG" = "aml" ]; then
   IMGSVR=10.130.131.1
   echo "No Room List"

fi

echo ""
echo "Computer Model"
echo "----------------------"
echo "gx260      Dell Optiplex GX260"
echo "gx270      Dell Optiplex GX270"
echo "gx280      Dell Optiplex GX280"
echo "gwsolo      Gateway Solo 1450"
echo "thpdg40      IBM Thinkpad G40"
echo "<anything else>   Skip Driver Set"
echo ""
echo -n "Enter Model: "
read WSMODL;


echo "Loading Base Image"
img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/sysprepd

if [ "$WSMODL" != "" ]; then
   echo "Loading Driver Set"
   img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/drv_$WSMODL
   if [ "$?" = "59" ]; then
      echo "Warning Bad Driver Set"
   fi
fi

if [ "$WSBLDG" != "" ]; then
   echo "Loading Building Set"
   img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/bldg_$WSBLDG
   if [ "$?" = "59" ]; then
      echo "Warning Building Set"
   fi
fi

if [ "$WSROOM" != "" ]; then
   echo "Loading Room Set"

   if [ "$WSBLDG" = "ecc" ]; then
      echo "Eastland CC Room $WSROOM"
      
      if [ "$WSROOM" = "2002" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Thomson_Course_Technology_SAM_2003.zmg
   
      elif [ "$WSROOM" = "2003" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Thomson_Course_Technology_SAM_2003.zmg
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Intuit_Quickbooks_Pro_2003.zmg
   
      elif [ "$WSROOM" = "2004" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Thomson_Course_Technology_SAM_2003.zmg
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Adobe_Photoshop_7.0.zmg
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Macromedia_Studio_MX_2004.zmg
         echo "Add Adobe Premiere Set Here"
   
      elif [ "$WSROOM" = "2005" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Thomson_Course_Technology_SAM_2003.zmg
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Microsoft_Visual_Studio_6.zmg
   
      elif [ "$WSROOM" = "2006" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Thomson_Course_Technology_SAM_2003.zmg
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Intuit_Quickbooks_Pro_2003.zmg
   
      elif [ "$WSROOM" = "1113" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Autodesk_AutoCAD_2002.zmg
         echo "Add Autodesk Design Academy set here"
   
      else
         echo "No Room based Images"
      fi
         
   
   elif [ "$WSBLDG" = "fcc" ]; then
      echo "Fairfield CC Room $WSROOM"
   
      if [ "$WSROOM" = "1360" ]; then
         img rp $IMGSVR //$IMGSVR/pxe/app_Thomson_Course_Technology_SAM_2003.zmg

      else
         echo "No Room based Images"
      fi"
   
   elif [ "$WSBLDG" = "aml" ]; then
      echo "Amlagamated Room $WSROOM"
         echo "No Room based Images"
   
   fi
fi

reboot

Reader Comments

Good info, but it is possible to add comments to your imaging script? Thanks!
That's just great....
very well done
This has to be the most useful tip I've ever used. After many frustrating hours trying to sysprep an image to go from a uniprocessor to a multiprocessor pc, finally achieved success. Many thanks.
It's great, but how on earth do you create the add-on images from Application Objects? As the AppNote says, the Imaging option on the Common tab only makes an image that adds the files into the NALCache, so how do you convert all of the files back from .FIL files to put into an image file for distribution?
About the make an Add-on image without using the NALcache location. loaded Image explorer on the station I created the image on and then drag/dropped the files into a custom image. It works cleanly and is pretty fast. For some folders such as Windows\System32 you may want to still use NALcache for them. You can just removed the other files from the application object and then your good to go. I have used this solutions to deploy Autodesk AutoCAD 2002 and 2005 as well as MS Visual Studio 6 and .Net. It works GREAT. -Matthew Whited.

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