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Thread ID: 47454	2004-07-27 02:06:00	Anyone used this: Universal Imaging Utility?	braindead (1685)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
255661	2005-05-01 09:32:00	I've had a play with UIU2.0 and it rocks! It does more than just remove hardware drivers, it seems to reset the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) which was one of my biggest problems with deploying, and also pre-installs drivers for SCSI H/D's which is cool. I've used sysprep manually and it doesn't achieve nearly as much as this, it mainly does things like initiate the mini-setup to search for new hardware, reset user/machine details and rewrite SID's It comes with thousands of drivers as well (they seem to add an extra 250meg to the image, but means you don't have to search for drivers, insert CD's etc), my clones come out (and I have anti-virus, anti-malware etc software and my apps that I beta test installed before hand) 2 gig... It's got my vote! I tend to use the ACPI HAL for doing sysprep images (PCs that can't do ACPI aren't really desired where I work. This HAL works with most things except that you would need to redo the HAL to get Hyperthreading support i.e. Multipleprocessor HAL. There is an upgrade HAL option in sysprep but it looks like you need to know the desired HAL beforehand. You can also preinstall mass storage controllers with sysprep but you needly to manually stick in the PNPids in the sysprep,inf config file. Yeah the drivers would be handy. I just borrow folders of drivers for sysprep that others have stuck together and add in others as I find new hardware (the default ones in XP SP2 slipstreamed cover most older hardware). My image seems to work well on everything so far and it saves you a great deal of work. My work would be too tight to spend mony on licenses for UIU though :(	gibler (49)
255662	2005-05-06 10:31:00	Yeah, I have previously always reset my HAL to ACPI before making clones, and I agree, I only have 3 machines pre-1999 when they brought out ACPI, so those don't matter so much. When it comes to P4 HT's and other multi-core processors (I haven't got any multi-processors, but they would be included) - there can be issues running a cloned partition either in minisetup or when the machine reboots, I notice UIU detects the correct HAL to use and it's worked well on my machines... using Sysprep.inf to specify the HAL to use kind of defeats the purpose of a generic clone... I've seen the example sysprep.inf they include with the deployment tools for initialising SCSI drives, but have never tried it that way (yeah, I'm a chicken, it looks way too complicated...) I know what you mean, it always boils down to money, but for the amount of machines I use it with it's a small price to pay (and means I can stop compiling my set of drivers which was getting a bit of a hastle...) - from the UIU web site, it says places like Intel have saved millions by using it...	Cloner (5934)
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