How to Use Sysprep to Restore the Computer to an End-User-Ready State

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Sysprep is a tool designed for corporate system administrators, OEMs, and others who need to deploy the Windows® XP operating system on multiple computers. After performing the initial setup steps on a single system, you can run Sysprep to prepare the sample computer for cloning.

To manually restore the computer to an end–user–ready state with Sysprep:

  1. Click Start, click Run, and then type: cmd 

  2. At the command prompt, change to the root of the system drive (%systemdrive%), and then type: md sysprep 

  3. From the \Support\Tools\Deploy.cab file of the Windows XP product CD, copy Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe to the Sysprep folder you created.

  4. Remove the operating–system CD.

  5. At the command prompt, change to the Sysprep folder, and then type: sysprep –nosidgen with the parameters you select.

The computer will shut down automatically if it is ACPI–compatible. If it is not ACPI–compatible, a message appears telling you to shut down the computer when the process completes.

To automate the process of restoring the computer to an end–user–ready state:

  1. In the \$OEM$\$1 folder of your distribution folders, create a subfolder named \Sysprep.

  2. Add Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe to the \$OEM$\$1\Sysprep folder from the \Support\Tools\Deploy.cab file located on the Windows XP product CD. A Sysprep.inf answer file can also be created and placed in this folder, if needed.

  3. In your answer file, add the following line to the bottom of the**[GuiRunOnce]** section: %systemdrive%\sysprep\sysprep.exe –quiet additional parameters as required 

  4. After Windows Setup completes, the computer automatically shuts down if it is ACPI–compatible. If it is not ACPI–compatible, a message appears telling you to shut down the computer when the process completes.