Acronis Snap Deploy 4 - User Guide - Manual (Page 68)

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: