Recommendation for reformating new Dell systems.

[Gepost]

Okay, I just got a bunch (38) new Dell systems for work. They have W2K and Office XP. I am thinking I want to reformat and make two partitions and clean up the Dell stuff. I really like two partitions as some of my users save stuff on their hard drives and not on the network. I just had to reinstall an OS last week and just reformated C drive and left the rest alone.

Also, if I do reformat, I am thinking about setting up one computer with all my software, then ghosting the drive to a second hard drive, then attaching it to all my other computers. I wonder though, if I will have to change any of the registration numbers. I have MS volume license numbers for my software, but will I still have to change any to attach to a W2K server?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

 

[Confused]

After you have installed one computer and installed all software, get the sysprep off of the W2k server CD (i believe) or the internet and then run it on the pressped system. This will remove any computer names, ip address, cd keys etc that will cause errors when more than one is present. Then when you ghost it to the next computer, you will set up computer name, and CD keys etc. It doesn't take too long (~5 mins) for each computer but then you know there are no conflicts.

I helped do this at the school where my mum works last summer on about 60 computers, and it took 3 of us about 2 hours to do

Hope this helps

Confused