Windows – What happens if you don’t sysprep an image

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I've been researching WDS and other imaging tools, and the best practice seems to be to sysprep the master machine before imaging.

However, where I've been working they simply build a machine then use Ghost to create an image. I asked them about sysprep, and they said it just causes problems. They've been doing it this way for years, and it seems to be working.

Is sysprep necessary? What can happen if you don't sysprep?

NOTE: I'm currently deploying XP, but if there are issues specific to Vista/7 I'd be interested to know what they are.

Best Answer

Sysprep allows you to do the following:

  • Generates a new computer SID
  • Set a new computer name
  • Clear out event logs
  • Run mini setup to deal with hardware differences

Sysprep isn't necessary, as long as you change the SID and computer name. It's also a good idea if the hardware you're deploying to is the same or similar.

There are tools that you can use to change the SID so you don't need to run sysprep.
Ghost has a utility called ghostwalker. There's also NewSID which is a sysinternals tool.

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