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Thread ID: 80599	2007-06-29 02:28:00	Is there a time-saving way to install XP on many computers?	george12 (7)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
564177	2007-06-29 02:28:00	I picked up 16 computers at the Turners auction on Wednesday - and they all need Windows XP installed - some Home, some Pro (but the PCs are identical). They have the COAs, however the CD I use doesn't require the COA (I enter it in AFTER installing, via the change key feature of WPA). This means the same CD image can be used for each PC. The thing is, it takes a good 90 minutes to install XP and get everything set up, and I don't want to spend 24 hours doing XP setups. I could burn 16 Windows CDs and run 16 simultaneous setups, but I figure there must be people used to dealing with rolling out 100s of computers that have an even better way?	george12 (7)
564178	2007-06-29 02:33:00	As long as all the hardware is exactly the same.. set one up, use ghost or acronis and copy away. just keep making copies of the original HDD to all the other HDDs and assuming the hardware is all the same, they should all boot normally with all drivers installed! I have done this for a school - 25 dell PCs. Sped the process up from a week to 2 days.:thumbs: EDIT. You'd have to do two installs, one home and one pro.	wratterus (105)
564179	2007-06-29 02:46:00	I picked up 16 computers at the Turners auction on Wednesday - and they all need Windows XP installed - some Home, some Pro (but the PCs are identical). They have the COAs, however the CD I use doesn't require the COA (I enter it in AFTER installing, via the change key feature of WPA). This means the same CD image can be used for each PC. The thing is, it takes a good 90 minutes to install XP and get everything set up, and I don't want to spend 24 hours doing XP setups. I could burn 16 Windows CDs and run 16 simultaneous setups, but I figure there must be people used to dealing with rolling out 100s of computers that have an even better way? Do you have a server? I've used Ghost in the past and it does the job. Not free though. You also need compatible network cards. You might spend a great deal of time setting up, but it is a useful disaster recovery tool. www.symantec.com Otherwise look here for more info: en.wikipedia.org	myke (7862)
564180	2007-06-29 03:46:00	I don't have a server as such. I have spare computers though. A system that took an hour or two to set up would be fine. How about this: Make an unattended file. Boot each PC up with BartPE, and start setup from that file - over the network. No CDs needed, nice and easy. Would that be easy enough to get going?	george12 (7)
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