Is it possible to distribute a "fully equipped" windows OS? Flashing of sorts...?

Question

So I'm wondering i'f it's possible to make an image of a windows Acer Windows 7 PC with all configurations, programs and registry? I have a small business that requires the tedious installation of the same OS same programs and everything and I think there might be a way to do this faster. The only major problem that might prevent me from using a "master copy" on all of these computers is that they all have different specs, and manufacturers. eg: Acer Intel i5, Acer Intel Atom, HP Intel i5, HP Intel i3 etc... Is anything of the sort possible? I have a windows licence for each computer, I'm not trying to share a copy of windows.

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible to do. You will need an application like Symantec Ghost Solution Suite, and quite a lot of knowledge. With XP it was fairly easy - you created a 'master' setup on one computer, and then you load up a folder with all the drivers that the other models will need. The image is then created, and when applied tot he other machines, the mini setup picks up all the correct drivers. It takes quite a lot of time to track down the drivers and to get a good image.



Windows 7 changes things alot with the extra security, but you now need to run an unattended install script during the setup. That is the tricky part - I have tried several times, but never got it to work correctly.



Good luck.

Answer 2

Do you see the same manufacturer and specs over and over? I'm not too sure how to word it, but what I'm trying to get at is this: would it be possible/feasible to have more than one master copy? Have, I don't know, maybe 12 or 15 different master copies - one for each of the different types of computers you use.

Answer 3

Check this forum..

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/21978-Windows-7-OEM-Recovery-Partition-tools-creator-Free



the recovery tool is great.. I used it on 3 pcs saves me tons.. i feel your pain hope this solution works for you.