Creating Clean, Streamlined Images

Novell Cool Solutions: Tip
By James Davey

Digg This - Slashdot This Posted: 29 Oct 2004

When creating ZENworks images for distribution to multiple workstations, there are a number of steps that should be followed prior to sending the image up to the network that will insure the image is clean and streamlined. The following is a document that we distribute to all our techs to enable them to create the best image possible. It has helped us avoid some common problems that sometimes occur when these steps are not followed.

Steps for Creating New Images

1. Always start with a clean workstation to make your image from. Do not use one that has been previously used by others.
2. Install the latest client and appropriate service packs.
3. Delete all files in all TEMP folders.
4. Go into Control Panel\Users and Passwords and remove all users that may have logged into the workstation. Only the administrator, guest (if desired), and your user account should be there. Then go to C:\Documents and Settings and remove all profiles except yours, Administrator, All Users, and Default User, if it is visible.
5. There is a hidden folder C:\NALCACHE. Do not delete the folder, but delete all files and subfolders within. This will ensure that no old NAL distributions remain in the image that may affect the new one. Be sure to hide these folders again when finished.
6. Unregister the workstation by running unreg32 (zen 3.2) or zwsreg -unreg (zen 4).
7. Empty the Recycle Bin.
8. Run c:\winnt\system32\cleanmgr.exe. This will clean up obsolete and temp files and compress rarely used files resulting in a smaller, cleaner image.
9. If the image is to be used on multiple hardware platforms, use the SYSPREP utility from Microsoft to prepare the image just prior to creating the image file.

Following these steps will help avoid common ZENworks and NAL problems with newly imaged workstations, and will make your image smaller as well. After imaging a workstation, be sure to rename it to whatever you want as soon as possible so that when it imports, it will have the correct name and you won't have to go back and change the workstation object name.

If you have any questions you may contact James at jdavey@glenbrook.k12.il.us

Reader Comments

• Good stuff. You can automate the cleanup. Run "Cleanmgr.exe /sageset:1". Select the items you want Cleanup Manager to handle. When you press OK, those preferences will be recorded iin the registry. Run "cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:1" to have Cleanup Manager automatically run using the preferences you defined in the previous step. I copy those registry keys as an add-on image.

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