windows 7 custom image

[deca300]

Hey everyone,

I want to get some tip on how to do the following.

I have 10 PC's all running exact same software.
I want to setup one install all the apps, office 2010 and some custom stuff, configure everything and do all updates, including windows.

Then make an image of the installation then just install it on the rest of the PC's.
So I don't have the mission of installing all the extras again and doing all the updates.

Is this possible? how do you do this?

Please any help?

Thanks

 

[Asha'man X]

It's easily possible. I am a network admin, so I use Microsoft's tools to do the job - Sysprep, Windows Deployment Services, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, Windows Automated Installation Kit and others to get the job done.

For a small setting like yours though, you could set up your machines, run Sysprep and then image with a free tool like Clonezilla, or a paid 3rd party product from Acronis. That should get the job done.

 

[ponder]

http://bora.bilg.in/blog/os_and_software/12/preparing-a-custom-image-of-windows-7
http://magalan.co.uk/Create_a_Custom_Windows_7_Image_For_Network_Installation.html
https://www.google.co.za/webhp?sour....r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1583&bih=912

 

[ch@rge]

If the PC's have the same hardware, then Clonezilla is a great tool to copy across to multiple computers (You can use it across a network - be careful when doing this though)
http://clonezilla.org/

 

[deca300]

Thanks people! I used clonezilla! worked great!

 

[WinOutreach2]

That’s awesome to hear that things went smoothly. If in the future you will be doing this sort of deployment again, you might find it worth it to look into the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) that Asha'man X mentioned. With it, you can capture your customized image with the applications and drivers you know will be the same across your organization, then as new systems come and go add new drivers and software to the image. You can even capture a completely vanilla installation and customize the applications and drivers applied to the system when deploying, which can be quite useful if you have mixed hardware or configurations.

Learning the deployment technologies and tools is of huge benefit to any IT pro. Some other tweaks you might be interested in are customizing the default profile in Windows 7 through Audit Mode by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 when Windows Setup prompts for a username and computer name then running Sysprep with a configured answer file after customizing, and altering the default user profile image, located in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\. Setting the theme, wallpaper, and user icons can produce a very professional looking environment for the end user and save significant time over customizing each one individually.