Configuring 25 Windows Xp boxes at once?

Recently, my school got all new computers in our CISCO lab, and since I seem to be the alpha-geek of the school, it's become my responsibility to configure them all properly. Since doing the same thing 25 times will drive me nuts (and take up all my spare time for the next month of so), I' de figure I'll ask you guys if you know any methods of configure them all at once besides ghosting a good setup and installing it on each. They are all running Win XP Pro, and I have admin privs on each of them. Any input would be really appreciated.

seatch unattended install, here is snips that could help...

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=3770036&postcount=3
http://unattended.msfn.org/
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1158/ part1
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1167/ part2

If that's not enough continue the search your self..try "unattended install" on google you should get something there too

if you want to learn it there is a great tut at micrsoft technet with virtual computer and instructions

its pretty much install 1 and configure then copy x ammount of times

Symantec Ghost

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...sf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=418&page=6

Make a master install. Create an image. Back image up for future use. Ghost said image multiple times.

9mm, that's the option I pitched at them, but they get all freaked out about it not having the correct serial number, which as they are a school and did buy 25 Win XP Pro licenses, I can understand. This looks tempting, and might be an effective solution when combined with Ghost.

Tekko, does a unattended install work off multiple CD's? The school only has cd-rom drives in the computer not dvd-rom's, thus forcing me to make it cd-only.

Clockless, I didn't know you could telnet to configure the computers, but i doubt that would fly. Anything that looks the least bit advanced resulted in them harassing me (the sad thing is, they have an IT department, which is comprised of 3 guys who talk big and do little, and an lady that threatens sexual harassment any time anyone questions why she's on the IT dept.) about "hacking their network.

Microsoft OPK (OEM Preinstallation Kit).
This is the procedure used by manufacturers to install a standard image and leave the insert of the PID and activation up to the enduser.

Use sysprep and GHOST.

If all you're looking for is configuration after installing XP, look at X-Setup Pro. Version 6 is free if you can find a copy of it. It allows you to configure just about anything on the system, including logins and such, and mas a macro mode you can use to save every last change you've made to a file, which you can then load onto another computer and make those same changes again.

BTW - If you can get permission to fold on them, that'd be really cool.

Keiron said:

but they get all freaked out about it not having the correct serial number, which as they are a school and did buy 25 Win XP Pro licenses, I can understand.

Click to expand...

I thought as long as you have purchased the correct number of licenses, and can prove it, It didn't really matter what key is used. Is that correct? Either way, the Key can be changed after install, and setting up an unattended install saves them from purchasing Ghost/etc.

What exactly do you need to configure on each machine. Is it software, or just system properties...or both?

Numbstruck said:

What exactly do you need to configure on each machine. Is it software, or just system properties...or both?

Click to expand...

Software, accounts (student and admin), bookmarks, the whole deal more or less. We tried to do it one by one, but the other students I was "in charge of" trashed the computers in under a day, so I got stuck doing it solo.

Sysprep will allow you to change the PID and license key of every machine you image. If you are on a Active Directory domain or have a w2k3/w2k server box floating around, you could also try RIS.

As for creating accounts, a simple script could do that, and also you could do the same to run a batch of programs at the same time. Office can also use an unattended script where all you do is copy the setup files to a read only share and use a simple command to run it.

Drop me a PM if you want more information.