Microsoft® Windows® Desktop Deployment Resource Kit

Automating Mini-Setup

Fully automating Mini-Setup can be difficult. The culprits are FullName and Computer-Name, both in the [UserData] section, and JoinDomain in the [Identification] section. You can’t set the first two values in Sysprep.inf because it replicates them to every computer on which you install the image. This isn’t a hardship for the user name, but it’s a no-go for the computer name, which must be unique for every computer on the network. There are three ways to handle this:

• Set a default user name, such as "Valued Employee," and allow Mini-Setup to generate a computer name. By setting ComputerName=*, Mini-Setup generates a computer name based on the organization name and computer’s Media Access Control (MAC) address.

• Use a script ...