Reinstalling the system is not a fun thing: First, you have to sit in front of the computer desk and honestly answer the questions raised by the Windows installation program. After installation, you can't be idle. You also have to install drivers, applications... It is roughly estimated that it won't be done in less than half a day! Maybe some friends will say, use Ghost, which is fast and convenient, and the system will be restored in less than five minutes. But that's only local backup. If you restore it on someone else's machine, it will definitely "not fit in". The reason is very simple: the configurations of hardware, system, and network cannot all be exactly the same... But after reading this article, you can easily create a universal key. Any machine can easily use the Ghost recovery installation method, and you can install Windows XP in more than 10 minutes!
I. Prepare well
Install Windows XP and use Windows Update to upgrade to the latest system patches (including service Pack 1 and other latest Hot fixes). Also install the required applications. But don't be greedy, because installing applications in the C drive is not a recommended practice, and it will also cause the Ghost image file to be too large.
II. Slim down Windows XP
Whether you need to burn the final Ghost image file to a CD or not, you should slim down Windows XP to minimize the size of the Ghost image file as much as possible. The main items that can be cut are as follows:
1. System file protection cache
It is located in the C:\WINDOWS\System32\Dllcache directory. We just need to run "sfe.exe /purgecache" in the command prompt window to delete it.
2. Empty the page file
Right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties". In the opened "System Properties" dialog box, select the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings" button under "Performance", in the opened "Performance Options" dialog box, select the "Advanced" tab, and then click the "Change" button at the bottom right to open the "Virtual Memory" dialog box. By default, the virtual memory file is saved in the installation directory of Windows XP. We just need to select the "No paging file" option below and then click the "Set" button. Restart the computer and the virtual memory file will be deleted. Note that after making the hard disk image file, reset the virtual memory.
3. Turn off the system restore function
In the opened "System Properties" dialog box, select the "System Restore" tab and check the checkbox in front of "Turn off system restore on all drives".
4. Other methods
We can also use other conventional "slimming down" methods such as deleting help documents, deleting unnecessary input methods, font files, etc. to further reduce the size of the partition where Windows XP is located.
III. Operate on the drivers
Since the Windows XP Ghost file we are going to make is universal, the hardware configuration of the target computer must not be exactly the same as the current computer's configuration. Therefore, we need to delete the device drivers on the current computer.
1. Delete ordinary drivers
① Enter "devmgmt.msc" in the "Run" dialog box and press Enter to open the "Device Manager" console window.
② Find the network adapter, right-click on the name of the network card device under it, and click the "Uninstall" menu item in the pop-up menu.
③ Then use a similar method to uninstall device drivers such as Universal Serial Bus controllers, video game controllers, graphics cards, sound cards, etc. Note here that if the system prompts that a restart is required, must not restart the machine, so that the system won't reinstall the drivers on its own.
2. Update the ACPI property
Then we need to change the computer's ACPI property to Standard PC. This is because if there are different types of ACPI in the target computer, the newly cloned target computer will not be able to achieve soft shutdown of the computer and may crash after the first boot! The change steps are as follows:
① In the Device Manager console window, right-click on "Computer" → "ACPI Uniprocessor PC", and click the "Update driver" menu item in the pop-up menu;
② In the opened "Hardware Update Wizard" dialog box, select the "Install from a list or specified location (Advanced)" option and click the "Next" button;
③ In the next page, select the "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install myself" option and click the "Next" button;
④ Then select the "Standard PC" option, and follow the screen prompts all the way to Next. Just when it finally prompts whether to restart, must not restart!
3. Update the IDE controller property
The final operation on the device drivers is to change the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller. This step is very important, because as we all know, different motherboards, such as Intel, Nforce 2, VIA, etc., have very different drivers for the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller and cannot be universal at all!
① In the Device Manager console window, right-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller, Intel (R) 82371 AB/EB Bus Master IDE Controller, and click the "Update driver" menu item in the pop-up menu;
② In the opened "Hardware Update Wizard" dialog box, select the "Install from a list or specified location (Advanced)" option and click the "Next" button;
③ In the next page, select the "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install myself" option and click the "Next" button;
④ Then select the "Standard dual-channel PCI IDE controller" option, and follow the screen prompts all the way to Next. Just when it finally prompts whether to restart, must not restart!
IV. Prepare the main image file
Deleting the drivers on the "mother machine" doesn't mean it's done. This is because each computer has a unique security identifier (SID: security identifier). If the disk image is directly copied to other computers, then other computers will all have the same SID. Therefore, we need to use the Sysprep tool to remove the SID of the "mother machine" to force the target computer to generate a new SID.
1. Automatic answer file
When the target computer restores the cloned backup, the system will start a Mini-Setup wizard process, which will prompt us to enter specific computer variables, such as the administrator password, computer name, etc. But since the drivers are removed in the cloned backup, we cannot use the keyboard and mouse for interaction at this stage. However, we can create an automatic installation answer file to let this answer file automatically answer the questions raised by the installation program.
① Insert the Windows XP installation CD into the optical drive, and extract the DEPLOY.CAB file in the \SUPPORT\TOOLS\ directory to the C:\Sysprep directory;
② Then run the setupmgr.exe file in it. In the interface where the installation type is selected, select the "Sysprep installation" option;
③ Fill in the necessary information according to the screen prompts, keep clicking the "Next" button until finally entering the dialog box for saving the configuration file. Be sure to ensure that the final installation script path is C:\Sysprep\sysprep.inf.
2. Repackage
Now we can use the Sysprep tool to remove the SID of the "mother machine". It's very simple: run the Sysprep.exe program in the C:\Sysprep directory, then click the "Repackage" button in the opened window. Next, it will prompt that the SID will be regenerated when it starts next time. Click the "OK" button, wait for a while, and the computer will automatically shut down.
V. Clone the main image file
After the computer is shut down, we can use the Ghost 2003 boot disk to boot the computer, then click the "Local→Partition→To Image" command in sequence, specify the source partition as the C drive, then set the path and file name of the Ghost image file, and start the backup. After the backup is completed, we will have a universal Windows XP image file!
---------- Edited by willsort ----------
Moved from DOS Troubleshooting & Problem Discussion (Answer Room)
---------- Edited by willsort ----------
[ Last edited by willsort on 2005-10-14 at 18:33 ]
I. Prepare well
Install Windows XP and use Windows Update to upgrade to the latest system patches (including service Pack 1 and other latest Hot fixes). Also install the required applications. But don't be greedy, because installing applications in the C drive is not a recommended practice, and it will also cause the Ghost image file to be too large.
II. Slim down Windows XP
Whether you need to burn the final Ghost image file to a CD or not, you should slim down Windows XP to minimize the size of the Ghost image file as much as possible. The main items that can be cut are as follows:
1. System file protection cache
It is located in the C:\WINDOWS\System32\Dllcache directory. We just need to run "sfe.exe /purgecache" in the command prompt window to delete it.
2. Empty the page file
Right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties". In the opened "System Properties" dialog box, select the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings" button under "Performance", in the opened "Performance Options" dialog box, select the "Advanced" tab, and then click the "Change" button at the bottom right to open the "Virtual Memory" dialog box. By default, the virtual memory file is saved in the installation directory of Windows XP. We just need to select the "No paging file" option below and then click the "Set" button. Restart the computer and the virtual memory file will be deleted. Note that after making the hard disk image file, reset the virtual memory.
3. Turn off the system restore function
In the opened "System Properties" dialog box, select the "System Restore" tab and check the checkbox in front of "Turn off system restore on all drives".
4. Other methods
We can also use other conventional "slimming down" methods such as deleting help documents, deleting unnecessary input methods, font files, etc. to further reduce the size of the partition where Windows XP is located.
III. Operate on the drivers
Since the Windows XP Ghost file we are going to make is universal, the hardware configuration of the target computer must not be exactly the same as the current computer's configuration. Therefore, we need to delete the device drivers on the current computer.
1. Delete ordinary drivers
① Enter "devmgmt.msc" in the "Run" dialog box and press Enter to open the "Device Manager" console window.
② Find the network adapter, right-click on the name of the network card device under it, and click the "Uninstall" menu item in the pop-up menu.
③ Then use a similar method to uninstall device drivers such as Universal Serial Bus controllers, video game controllers, graphics cards, sound cards, etc. Note here that if the system prompts that a restart is required, must not restart the machine, so that the system won't reinstall the drivers on its own.
2. Update the ACPI property
Then we need to change the computer's ACPI property to Standard PC. This is because if there are different types of ACPI in the target computer, the newly cloned target computer will not be able to achieve soft shutdown of the computer and may crash after the first boot! The change steps are as follows:
① In the Device Manager console window, right-click on "Computer" → "ACPI Uniprocessor PC", and click the "Update driver" menu item in the pop-up menu;
② In the opened "Hardware Update Wizard" dialog box, select the "Install from a list or specified location (Advanced)" option and click the "Next" button;
③ In the next page, select the "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install myself" option and click the "Next" button;
④ Then select the "Standard PC" option, and follow the screen prompts all the way to Next. Just when it finally prompts whether to restart, must not restart!
3. Update the IDE controller property
The final operation on the device drivers is to change the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller. This step is very important, because as we all know, different motherboards, such as Intel, Nforce 2, VIA, etc., have very different drivers for the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller and cannot be universal at all!
① In the Device Manager console window, right-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller, Intel (R) 82371 AB/EB Bus Master IDE Controller, and click the "Update driver" menu item in the pop-up menu;
② In the opened "Hardware Update Wizard" dialog box, select the "Install from a list or specified location (Advanced)" option and click the "Next" button;
③ In the next page, select the "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install myself" option and click the "Next" button;
④ Then select the "Standard dual-channel PCI IDE controller" option, and follow the screen prompts all the way to Next. Just when it finally prompts whether to restart, must not restart!
IV. Prepare the main image file
Deleting the drivers on the "mother machine" doesn't mean it's done. This is because each computer has a unique security identifier (SID: security identifier). If the disk image is directly copied to other computers, then other computers will all have the same SID. Therefore, we need to use the Sysprep tool to remove the SID of the "mother machine" to force the target computer to generate a new SID.
1. Automatic answer file
When the target computer restores the cloned backup, the system will start a Mini-Setup wizard process, which will prompt us to enter specific computer variables, such as the administrator password, computer name, etc. But since the drivers are removed in the cloned backup, we cannot use the keyboard and mouse for interaction at this stage. However, we can create an automatic installation answer file to let this answer file automatically answer the questions raised by the installation program.
① Insert the Windows XP installation CD into the optical drive, and extract the DEPLOY.CAB file in the \SUPPORT\TOOLS\ directory to the C:\Sysprep directory;
② Then run the setupmgr.exe file in it. In the interface where the installation type is selected, select the "Sysprep installation" option;
③ Fill in the necessary information according to the screen prompts, keep clicking the "Next" button until finally entering the dialog box for saving the configuration file. Be sure to ensure that the final installation script path is C:\Sysprep\sysprep.inf.
2. Repackage
Now we can use the Sysprep tool to remove the SID of the "mother machine". It's very simple: run the Sysprep.exe program in the C:\Sysprep directory, then click the "Repackage" button in the opened window. Next, it will prompt that the SID will be regenerated when it starts next time. Click the "OK" button, wait for a while, and the computer will automatically shut down.
V. Clone the main image file
After the computer is shut down, we can use the Ghost 2003 boot disk to boot the computer, then click the "Local→Partition→To Image" command in sequence, specify the source partition as the C drive, then set the path and file name of the Ghost image file, and start the backup. After the backup is completed, we will have a universal Windows XP image file!
---------- Edited by willsort ----------
Moved from DOS Troubleshooting & Problem Discussion (Answer Room)
---------- Edited by willsort ----------
[ Last edited by willsort on 2005-10-14 at 18:33 ]
