beautypg.com

8 creating a master image, 1 preparation of the master operating system, 2 online vs. offline imaging – Acronis Snap Deploy 4 - User Guide User Manual

Page 68: Creating a master image

background image

68

Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2012

8 Creating a master image

To be able to deploy a system, you need to create the desired system configuration and then to save

an image of the system’s hard disk or volume to a network folder, detachable media (such as a USB

drive) or removable media (such as a DVD).

This section describes how to create a master image by using Acronis Snap Deploy 4.

In addition, Acronis Snap Deploy 4 can use any of the following files as a master image:

Backups created with the Acronis True Image, Acronis Backup & Recovery 10, and Acronis Backup

& Recovery 11 product family, including password-protected backups

Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) files

For information about deploying an image, see “Deploying a master image” (p. 80).

8.1 Preparation of the master operating system

In the Acronis environment and Windows Preinstallation Environment (any case except the

command-line mode (p. 134)), Acronis Snap Deploy 4 automatically configures each of the deployed

systems by using the deployment settings you specify.

Alternatively, you can prepare a master operating system by using the Microsoft System Preparation

Tool (Sysprep) before creating the image of the system. Acronis Snap Deploy 4 does not configure

the deployed systems in this case.

The Sysprep tool is designed for corporate system administrators, original equipment manufacturers

(OEMs), and others who need to deploy and automatically configure operating systems on multiple

machines.

After an operating system that was prepared with Sysprep is deployed to machines, Sysprep

configures settings that are normally unique to each machine. In particular, Sysprep does the

following:

Generates a unique security identifier (SID) for the new machines

Initiates Windows mini-setup for Plug and Play devices

Applies the machine name, domain or workgroup membership, and other settings specified in

the Sysprep.inf answer file

You can either download Sysprep from the Microsoft Web site, or extract it from the deploy.cab file,

which is located on the installation disk of Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows

Server 2003. In Windows Vista, Windows 2008, and Windows 7, the Sysprep tool is located in the

folder Windows\System32.

Important: If you are planning to use Sysprep, we strongly recommend that you read articles about Sysprep and

disk duplication in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

8.2 Online vs. offline imaging

You can create the master image in either of these ways: