Acronis Snap Deploy 4 - User Guide - Manual (Page 27)

27 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2012
Using Microsoft System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) does not solve this problem, because Sysprep
permits adding drivers only for Plug and Play devices (such as sound cards, network adapters, and
video cards). As for the system Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass-storage device drivers,
they must be identical on the source and the target machines; see Microsoft Knowledge Base,
articles 302577 and 216915.
Acronis Universal Deploy technology provides an efficient solution for hardware-independent system
deployment by adding the crucial Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass-storage device drivers.
2.6.2 Acronis Universal Deploy general principles
Automatic HAL and mass-storage drivers selection
Acronis Universal Deploy searches the Windows default driver storage folders (in the master image
being deployed) for HAL and mass-storage device drivers and installs drivers that better fit the target
hardware. You can specify a custom driver repository (a network folder or a CD) which will also be
used for driver searches.
Tip: The Windows default driver storage folder is determined by the DevicePath value in the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion registry key. This storage folder is
usually WINDOWS\inf.
Manual selection of mass-storage device driver
If the target hardware has a specific mass-storage controller (such as a SCSI, RAID, or Fibre Channel
adapter) for the hard disk, you can install the appropriate driver manually, bypassing the automatic
driver search-and-install procedure.
Installing drivers for Plug and Play devices
Acronis Universal Deploy relies on built-in Plug and Play discovery and configuration process to
handle hardware differences in devices that are not critical for the deployed system startup, such as
video, audio and USB. Windows takes control over this process during the logon phase, and if some
of the new hardware is not detected, you will have a chance to install drivers for it later manually.
2.6.3 Acronis Universal Deploy and Microsoft Sysprep
Acronis Universal Deploy is not a system preparation tool. You can apply it to any system image
created by Acronis products, but you cannot apply it to images of systems prepared with Microsoft
System Preparation Tool (Sysprep).
2.6.4 Getting Acronis Universal Deploy
Acronis Universal Deploy is an add-on to Acronis Snap Deploy 4. It is purchased separately and has its
own license.
For information about purchasing Universal Deploy, visit the Acronis Snap Deploy Web page.
2.7 How to
How to image a machine without installing additional software to it?
Perform offline imaging (p. 69).