Sysprep is the Microsoft system preparation tool used by system administrators often during the automated deployment of Windows Server based operating systems. Sysprep is most frequently used in virtualized environments to prepare a system image which will be cloned multiple times.
Typically, a system administrator creates a template for a system build and customizes the operating system to their requirements. During the build process, the Operating System allocates the server with a unique SID (System Identifier). Each time you clone the system image/template, you will also clone the SID.
In a Microsoft Windows Server network, duplicate SIDs can cause problems. Issues such as WSUS incompatability, Volume Licence key activation problems as well errors in Microsoft Office products. Other non Microsoft products such as Citrix do not work correctly on environments with duplidated SID.
Sysprep.exe is located in the %WINDIR%\system32\sysprep directory on all Windows installations.As Per Microsoft Sysprep provides the following features:
- Removes PC-specific information from the Windows image, including the PC’s security identifier (SID). This allows you to capture the image and apply it to other PCs. This is known as generalizing the PC.
- Uninstalls PC-specific drivers from the Windows image.
- Prepares the PC for delivery to a customer by setting the PC to boot to OOBE.
- Allows you to add answer file (unattend) settings to an existing installation.
If a template, or system image is used, System administrators must run the Sysprep tool to clear the SID information. The Sysprep tool is usually one of the last tasks performed by a system administrator when building a server image/template, that way each clone of the template will generalize a new unique SID for every server image copied from the template and will prepare the server for a first time boot.
The end result is a System template that functions as a new unique build every time it is deployed.
