Faster, Clean Wipes

[PCBrandon]

Hi all,

I am basically in charge for this summers clean up of my school's technology labs (about 450 computers in total). I have Windows XP CD's for each of these computers, but I -really- do not want to have to stick it in for each one and manually re-do them all.

So, what I am asking, is an easy way to get them all done relatively simple. I have Norton Ghost 2002, and I'm thinking about creating an image of a workstation rebuilt with just drivers and critical updates installed. Overall there is about three different computer models at the school (so I'll have three different images I assume). Now, these computers will eventually be on the domain, but I don't think I can make an image of a computer on the domain and successfully restore it on another without having to re-add it to the domain. Then there is the issue of having them named the same as the computer that the image was created from.

So basically all I would do is restore the image on each of the workstations, then change the computer name to something unique and then add it to the domain, and I'm pretty much done. Is this the best way to go about it? Also, is it legal? I have legal product keys on each tower, would I just have to enter that product key into each machine after the restore, even though the image would be created off a machine that was already activated?

Also, how would I restore the images? Could I store the image on the domain server and just grab it during boot so I don't have to create a CD with the image for each computer I want to restore in one pass?

Any tips would be great. If Norton is the wrong way to go or you have a better solution, let me know. Money isn't a issue, just don't recommend a product that costs over $2,000.


Thanks!

[EzyStvy]

How to use the Sysprep tool to automate successful deployment of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;302577

How to use Sysprep with Windows Product Activation or Volume License Media to deploy Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;299840

Description of New Features in Sysprep for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;282190

Unsupported Sysprep scenarios
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;828287

[PCBrandon]

Thanks for the information EzyStvy. So it appears that I have to purchase a volume license in order to skip having to enter in each individual key on the towers... because even if the image is of a activated Windows installation it'll reset the activation and installation ID?