Imaging a Hard Drive for Windows Environment Deoployment

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wavewerx

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
284
I'm looking for a step by step guide or a quick run down of the best way to setup an image of a Windows computer for quick deployment. I don't need a mass deployment of machines. I originally looked into Windows Deployment Services and will use that when my company of ~35 computers and 3 servers decides to go Windows 7 but this is more for one computer at a time.

I'm looking for something I can pop into a new machine with a fresh install of XP Pro, ready for me to type in the new product key, with my companies software pre-installed software as well. Ideally, I'd have a few DVDs/Hard Drives/Thumb Drives for different departments - HR / Engineering / Administrator / Generic - so when we get a new employee in that area and purchase a new computer I just have to pop the disc in a dump the image. Or if I need to do a quick reformat and reinstall for some reason I can do the same.We use the same line of Dell machines so hardware won't be a problem.

Suggestions?
 
First keep in mind this is hard to do (with XP) if every machine has a different hardware configuration. What I use at work as Active Hard Disk Image. If I'm setting up a lab of 30 identical computers, I create one and set it up how I want. They have a boot cd that you dump an image of the disk onto another disk or spanned CD set. Then boot the next machine with the disc, drop in the first CD then boot the next etc and just kinda create a chain if you want to do more than one at a time.
 
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