Where do I find it then?
Sysprep is found on the Windows XP professional CD. Insert it, let it autorun and choose the option to explore or browse the CD. Go to the Support\Tools\ folder and find the file “Deploy.Cab”. Right-Click on it, and choose to extract all the files to a folder (I’d choose to extract to “c:\Sysprep”) on your hard drive.
What Now?
Firstly, you need to create an answer file for sysprep-why? Because it’ll make things quicker..:) Run “Setupmgr.exe”.
* Choose to Create a new file.
* Choose “Sysprep Setup”.
* Select your target platform-I use XP Pro, so I’ll go on as if that was picked.
* Follow the process through, answering all the questions and filling in the fields as you would during a normal XP setup.
* If you’re not sure about some bits, for instance the “run once” question, then don’t worry about it if you never use it in a normal setup.
* When you’ve finished answering all the questions, close Setup Manager
This will create a “Setup.inf” file that contains all of your answers. You now need to open this in notepad, and ensure that AT THE END of the file you have the following:
[Sysprep] BuildMassStorageSection=yes
[SysprepMassStorage]
If you can’t see these lines, add them.
Save it.
Go to “Start, Run”, and type “(Syprep directory)\sysprep -bmsd” (In our example: c:\sysprep\sysprep -bmsd) . This populates the mass storage section of sysprep’s inf file.
Reopen sysprep.inf and check it’s now been added to at the end-you should see a long list of things that weren’t there before. If you see this, great. Save the file again, and close notepad.