Sysprep Overview

The Sysprep tool is typically used in the following scenarios:

Sysprep provides the following benefits:

• Removes system-specific data from Windows. Sysprep can remove all system-specific information from an installed Windows image. This includes the computer security identifier (SID). You can then capture the Windows installation and install that image throughout an organization.
  
  
• Configures Windows to boot to audit mode. Audit mode is a built-in administrator account that enables you to install third-party applications and device drivers, and to test the integrity of the Windows image.
  
  
• Configures Windows to boot to OOBE. Sysprep configures a Windows installation to boot to OOBE the next time that the computer starts. Typically, you configure a system to boot to OOBE immediately before you deliver the computer to a customer.
  
  

Sysprep has the following dependencies:

• You must run Windows Setup before you use Sysprep.
  
  
• You need an imaging tool to capture an image of the installation. The Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) image-capturing tool, third-party disk-imaging software, or disk-duplicating hardware devices are required for image-based setup. These products create binary images of a computer's hard disk. These products either duplicate the image to another hard disk or store the image in a file on a separate disk.
  
  

Note
When you copy Windows images between computers, the reference and destination computers may not have to have compatible hardware abstraction layers (HALs). The /detecthal option in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) enables a system that has already run Sysprep to install the correct HAL.

The following scenarios are not supported:

• Moving or copying a Windows image to a different computer without running the Sysprep /generalize command is not supported. You must prepare any method of moving a Windows image to a new computer by using the /generalize option together with the Sysprep command. These methods include imaging, hard disk duplication, and all other methods.
  
  
• Using a different version of the Sysprep tool to configure an image is not supported. You must use only the version of the Sysprep tool that is installed with the Windows image that you intend to configure. Sysprep is installed with every version of Windows. You must always run Sysprep from the %WINDIR%\system32\sysprep directory.
  
  
• Using the Sysprep tool on upgrade installation types, or to reconfigure an existing installation of Windows that has already been deployed is not supported. Sysprep must be used only to configure new installations of Windows. You can run Sysprep an unlimited number of times to build and configure your installation of Windows.
  
  
• Automating Sysprep by using a Microsoft-Windows-Deployment | RunSynchronous command in an auditUser configuration pass is not supported. However, you can use the Microsoft-Windows-Deployment | generalize setting to automatically prepare the computer for imaging after installation.
  
  
• The Sysprep VM mode is new for Windows 8. Running VM mode outside a virtual machine (VM) is unsupported. You cannot use VM mode to prepare a VHD for deployment to any computer.
  
  

Sysprep has the following limitations:

• The computer security identifier (SID) is only replaced on the operating system volume when you execute Sysprep. When Sysprep generalizes an image, Sysprep only generalizes the general partition. Therefore, if a single computer has multiple operating systems, you must run Sysprep on each image individually.
  
  If you apply multiple partitions, you can use the BCDBoot tool to copy boot configuration data to the system partition. For more information, see BCDboot Command-Line Options.
  
  
• In some cases, customized applications that you install before you recapture the Windows image may require a consistent drive letter. Some applications store paths that include the system's drive letter. Uninstallation, servicing, and repair scenarios may not function correctly if the system's drive letter does not match the drive letter that the application specifies.
  
  
• The Plug and Play devices on the reference and destination computers do not have to be from the same manufacturer. These devices include modems, sound cards, network adapters, and video cards. However, the installation must include the drivers for these devices.
  
  
• Not all server roles support Sysprep. If you run the Sysprep /generalize command against a Windows Server® 2012 installation that has specific server roles configured, those server roles may not continue to function after the imaging and deployment process. For more information, see Sysprep Support for Server Roles.
  
  
• If you run Sysprep on an NTFS file system partition that contains encrypted files or folders, the data in those folders becomes completely unreadable and unrecoverable.
  
  
• The Sysprep tool runs only if the computer is a member of a workgroup, not a domain. If the computer is joined to a domain, Sysprep removes the computer from the domain.
  
  
• If a computer is joined to a domain, and the Group Policy of that domain assigns a strong account password policy to the computer, all user accounts will require strong passwords. Running Sysprep or OOBE does not remove the strong password policy.
  
  

  Warning
  If you do not assign a strong password to a user account before you run Sysprep or OOBE, you may not be able to log on to the computer. We recommend that you always use strong passwords for your user accounts.