Sysprep & "Computer Name" change
Hi,
We just finished creating a new single image for our planned XP Pro rollout. After getting the machine all ready we ran Sysprep, pulled up the image to our Ghost server and pushed it out to a test machine. Everything worked great except for the Machine Name - Sysprep assigned the machine a random name, not the name that the machine had previously. This is a big problem for us since each of our machines has an asset tag with a 4 digit number. We use DT to denote desktops followed by the state & asset tag # - so an sample desktop in NY would be called DTNY1000. If a machine has this name before we upgrade it, it must have this same name after we push out the new image to it.
We tried adding the "Configuration" tab to the Clone Task on the Ghost Console but the Ghost console loses connectivity to the client at some point after it pushes out the image. I suspect that when Sysprep gives the computer this random name, that's when the Ghost Console loses connectivity to it.
Anyone have any ideas on how we can get the machine to keep its name after pushing out the new image to it?
Thanks in advance.
FYI - here's the portion from our sysprep.inf file refering to the computer name:
[UserData]
ProductKey=@@@@-XXXX-@@@@-XXXX-@@@@
FullName="Name"
OrgName="Organization Name"
ComputerName=*
We just finished creating a new single image for our planned XP Pro rollout. After getting the machine all ready we ran Sysprep, pulled up the image to our Ghost server and pushed it out to a test machine. Everything worked great except for the Machine Name - Sysprep assigned the machine a random name, not the name that the machine had previously. This is a big problem for us since each of our machines has an asset tag with a 4 digit number. We use DT to denote desktops followed by the state & asset tag # - so an sample desktop in NY would be called DTNY1000. If a machine has this name before we upgrade it, it must have this same name after we push out the new image to it.
We tried adding the "Configuration" tab to the Clone Task on the Ghost Console but the Ghost console loses connectivity to the client at some point after it pushes out the image. I suspect that when Sysprep gives the computer this random name, that's when the Ghost Console loses connectivity to it.
Anyone have any ideas on how we can get the machine to keep its name after pushing out the new image to it?
Thanks in advance.
FYI - here's the portion from our sysprep.inf file refering to the computer name:
[UserData]
ProductKey=@@@@-XXXX-@@@@-XXXX-@@@@
FullName="Name"
OrgName="Organization Name"
ComputerName=*
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Answers (6)
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Posted by:
Gilmore33
18 years ago
I believe if you set the ComputerName="No Value" in the sysprep.inf file, during mini-setup you will be prompted to supply a computer name. The draw back to this is, the min-stup process will not continue until you supply the hostname.
Hope this helps...
Hope this helps...
Posted by:
Aladdin
18 years ago
Gilmore - I am not sure if you need to put "no value" at that line but I know that if you leave it out, that's what will happen...which we didn't want because we wanted the rollout to be fully automated.
Anyway, we figured out our problem - we needed to have the Ghost Client installed on the machine. We thought that having the Ghost Boot Partition was enough but apparently having the Boot Partition & Ghost Client enables the Console to keep the connection until Sysprep is done and then proceed with the Configuration portion of the task which renames the machine.
Hope this helps others out there.
Anyway, we figured out our problem - we needed to have the Ghost Client installed on the machine. We thought that having the Ghost Boot Partition was enough but apparently having the Boot Partition & Ghost Client enables the Console to keep the connection until Sysprep is done and then proceed with the Configuration portion of the task which renames the machine.
Hope this helps others out there.
Posted by:
kick
18 years ago
I use a utility called wsname to rename workstations post-clone and post-minisetup.
Cmdlines.txt is used to call a script which in turns calls the utility. It's simply fed a flat
file that maps MAC's to Computer Names. It's also integrated into the image, which is
handy.
Cmdlines.txt is used to call a script which in turns calls the utility. It's simply fed a flat
file that maps MAC's to Computer Names. It's also integrated into the image, which is
handy.
Posted by:
cserrins
13 years ago
Here is the webpage for WSNAME: http://mystuff.clarke.co.nz/MyStuff/wsname.asp
Is there something in particular you were looking to do, mwebbcg?
Corey
Is there something in particular you were looking to do, mwebbcg?
Corey
Posted by:
scriptingninja
12 years ago
To randomly create computer name use the * in your answer file.
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