TS not holding Machine Name

[danny33]

Hello,

 

I have successfully captured an image of a W7 x64 computer that was joined to our domain. It deploys fine with a task sequence but every machine is named with the image name that was captured (RH-W7-Image) and not the computer name of the machine being imaged.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Dan

[anyweb]

first of all i'd recommend that you do not capture a domain joined image, this can cause issues with gpo's being applied to it amongst other registry specific changes, far better to capture a workgroup computer which can be domain joined in the deploy task sequence later,

 

as regards the name, do you have a Set Computer Name step anywhere in the deploy task sequence and what does it contain

[danny33]

No, there is no "Set Computer Name" step. I have Capture Windows Settings set to migrate computer name.

 

I tried a deployment with an image of computer that was not joined to the domain, but had it set to join in the TS. It did not keep the computer name or join the domain. Is there something wrong with the way I captured the image? I basically set the computer up with all of our standard software (did not join the domain) and then started up with WinPE disk with ImageX on it and ran this command:

imagex.exe /capture c: c:\rhw7.wim "W7 Pro SP1" /compress fast verify - This is the .wim I used for my OS Image. I did not sysprep the machine before i captured the image. Is this necessary?

 

Everything was perfect except for not joining the domain and keeping the machine name I had in the image.

 

Thanks,

Dan

[Peter van der Woude]

You indeed need to Sysprep the machine, because that takes care of things like the computername / SID's / Caches etc.

[danny33]

You indeed need to Sysprep the machine, because that takes care of things like the computername / SID's / Caches etc.

 

I'm just getting started with sysprep. Can you tell (or point to) the steps you take to sysprep a computer? I've done it, but obviously I'm not doing it correctly. Thanks.

[danny33]

I'm just getting started with sysprep. Can you tell (or point to) the steps you take to sysprep a computer? I've done it, but obviously I'm not doing it correctly. Thanks.

 

Twice now on two different computers, after sysprepping I've received the error on startup "Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer." (and that doesn't help).

[danny33]

Twice now on two different computers, after sysprepping I've received the error on startup "Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer." (and that doesn't help).

 

This is a known error when registry settings are larger than 8k. For me (and others) it was ESET anti virus software. The hotfix for this is included in SP1. I uninstalled the software and intend to install it in a TS later. This has been quite a process, but thanks for your help and guides, they are very helpful!