Systems Deployment

I can't find the source right now but I remember reading somewhere on Microsoft's support site that you should not install the Recovery Console in your base image but instead install it during mini-setup with:

winnt32.exe /cmdcons /unattend

The reason given had something to do with security identifiers IIRC and it was a scenario that was not properly being handled by sysprep.

If your using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 you can easily accomplish this with bootcfg.exe which is standard on these systems now. If its Windows 2000 the easiest approach I've come up with has been to use WMI through a vbscript to update the boot configuration.

HTH,
Michael

dem3tre,

If you can find that MS article about not installing the recovery console on a base image, it would be greatly appreciated.

I also have a "Tips and Tricks" entry here at AppDeploy that advocates making it a part of the base, and I certainly want to correct or remove it if is considered against best practices.

Craig --<>.

Ok, went through my logs and came across:

KB308402: "The password is not valid" error message appears when you log on to Recovery Console in Windows XP

Looks like the article was recently updated too.

Thanks,
Michael

Thanks again, dem3tre.

I edited the "Tips and Tricks" submission I made at http://itninja.com/blog/view/application-reboot-requirements-in-xp5 to include the valuable information you provided.

I am also chuckling at how difficult I sometimes make what is very simple. One more search on the "countdown" issue I mentioned reminded me that this can be reset from the command line:

bootcfg /timeout [desired_value]


Craig --<>.