Microsoft Surface 3 - Manual (Page 13)

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the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) standard. The Surface Pro 3 supports PXE boot through the docking station or
Surface Ethernet Adapter. Your reference computer is likely to boot to the hard disk first, so you often need to change
the boot order in the system firmware to boot to the boot media containing the alternative operating system. Most
computers, including Surface Pro 3, provide a boot menu that enables a device to be selected at startup. Details of how
you select your boot media on Surface Pro 3 are shown in
Chapter 3 .
Once an image file is created, it is stored on local or network storage so that it can later be transferred, or deployed, to
the destination computers. This step also involves the alternative operating system provided by boot media, but is
effectively the reverse of a capture step, whereby the data in the image file is read and then written to the disk on the
new computer.
Sysprep and Generalization
The result of both the imaging and cloning procedures is a set of virtually identical computers. While in many ways you
want the destination computers to be identical to the reference computer, you don’t want everything to be identical.
For example, you don’t want the same computer identification and possibly the license/product keys (depending on the
type of license) on multiple computers.
The Windows operating system maintains an identifier which enables each Windows computer to appear as a unique
and individual computer when connected to the network. This Security Identifier, or SID, if identical between two
systems can produce conflicts with networking software. This is similar to the way you cannot have two computers with
the same IP address on the same network. A notable example of software that conflicts with an environment with
identical SIDs is Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
Another scenario where a destination computer and reference computer differ is where there is a variation or change in
the hardware configuration. This variation can be a small change, such as using a discrete graphics card rather than the
onboard graphics card, or it can be two completely different models of computer where almost every device differs.
Drivers from the reference computer could cause conflicts in the destination computer or even result in the computer
being unable to boot.
Since a captured image will be identical to the reference system (including SID and licensing data), this data must be
removed before it can be deployed. The solution is to use the System Preparation Tool (Sysprep), which is a utility
designed to assist with deployment and creation of images. Sysprep works in conjunction with Windows Setup to reset
an existing Windows environment to a state in which this information can be regenerated for each new system to which
the environment is deployed. This process is known as Generalization. When Sysprep runs, it removes the undesired
configuration and information from the system, then reboots to a phase of Windows Setup known as Windows
Welcome or the Out of Box Experience (OOBE).
Note: If you don’t run Sysprep, the system is not considered unique, and therefore is not compliant with Microsoft
support policy.
The purpose of the OOBE is to present the user with the same welcome screen and prompts as he/she would experience
during a typical Windows installation/setup. As expected, the OOBE experience prompts for basic information like
computer name, workgroup or domain, and product key.
In some cases you want your users to experience OOBE. An example is those cases where the domain or workgroup of
the deployed computers may vary, or where the product key will change for each computer and will require it to be