Now you’ve got everything set up, you’re ready to actually run Sysprep. This is the easy bit. Simply go to the Sysprep folder you created, and double click on “Sysprep.exe.”
This will bring up the “welcome” dialog. Click OK. You will then be presented with one of 2 boxes, depending on which XP Sysprep you’re using. They’re a bit different, but they do the same thing.
Basically, check the boxes marked “Minisetup”, and “pre-activated” (“Use Mini Detup, and “Don’t reset grace period for activation” possibly, depending again on version.).
Make sure that the “Shutdown mode” is set to “Shutdown”.
Click “Reseal”
Sysprep will now run-it may be quick, it may take a while…don’t worry. You’ll have the “Sysprep is Working” box to keep you company-go and read a book is my suggestion!
That’s it!
Once your PC has finished and shut down, you’ve got a sysprep’d hard drive, and now you can burn it to CD, or if you have a home network you can move the image to another PC.