Sysprep

Sysprep has changed significantly for Windows Vista. Additional details about how Sysprep works in Windows Vista is available in the Sysprep Technical Reference .

In previous versions of Windows, Sysprep was made available in the Windows OPK, Windows CD Deploy.cab, or, in the latest service pack, the Deploy.cab file that you can download. For Windows Vista, Sysprep is included on every installation in the %WINDIR%\System32\sysprep directory. You must always run the version of Sysprep that was included in that version of Windows and you must always run Sysprep from the sysprep folder.

Sysprep for Windows Vista is independent of the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). You can create a generalized x86 Windows image and transfer that image to any x86-based operating system. 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista require separate images.

The sysprep.exe /reseal command has changed to the sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe command. OEMs are required to run the sysprep /oobe command before delivering a computer to an end user.

Factory mode is renamed to Audit mode.

Settings in Sysprep.inf are replaced with settings in the Unattend.xml answer file.

Sysprep includes updated command-line options.

Previous Sysprep options Windows Vista Sysprep options

-audit

No change

-factory

Replaced by the /audit option.

-mini

Replaced by the /oobe option.

-reseal

Replaced by the /generalize option.

-nosidgen

Remove security IDs (SIDs) by using the /generalize option.

-reboot

No change

-quit

No change

-noreboot

No change

-clean

Deprecated

-bmsd

Deprecated

-activated

If the SkipRearm setting is specified, reset activation by using the /generalize option. Use the SkipRearm setting to remove licensing-specific information from a Windows operating system. For more information, see the Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC component in the Unattended Windows Setup Reference.

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