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I am trying to set up 20 identical computers the same.

I have one computer set up exactly how it needs to be. Updated drivers, 6+ hrs of Win updates, Applications, etc...

What are the next steps to apply to other 19 computers?

Any help is appreciated.

Cool Shape
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    Possible duplicate of [Where can I find a beginner's guide to using sysprep for deploying Windows 7?](http://serverfault.com/questions/93177/where-can-i-find-a-beginners-guide-to-using-sysprep-for-deploying-windows-7) – Daniel Jan 21 '16 at 22:26
  • I'm surprised that answer got so many upvotes, that guide has a couple of flaws. – Jim B Jan 21 '16 at 22:34
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    Didn't read it actually. I trusted the upvotes :D – Daniel Jan 21 '16 at 22:40
  • If the 20 computer are identical and it's a one time job, I wonder if you could simply use sysprep to generalize and clone the hard drive with really any tool that is quick and easy, without having to use MDT and WDS. – Daniel Jan 21 '16 at 22:43
  • Yeah they are all identical. The first one took 6+hrs to set up. See comment below, drivers, updates, applications, etc.... I planned on applying and activating the 20 licenses after each had the image or deployment...? – Cool Shape Jan 21 '16 at 22:44
  • You don't need a server (per se) you do need somewhere to store the image. As long as you do not have anything installed you could sysprep the machines but if you are doing any customization at all its far far simpler to build a deployment using the tools rather than spend time editing an unattend file in an attempt to keep sysprep from changing things. In your case I'd probably spin up 2 hyper-v VMs using an eval server edition on one of the laptops, capture the image and create MDT media on a USB stick. Once that's done you can deploy the temp laptop with your final build. – Jim B Jan 21 '16 at 23:52

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What you want is a deployment, not an image. Deployments are the OS plus any apps required for the users. You can deploy windows using the similarly named Microsoft deployment toolkit. Search in your favorite search engine for details on how to deploy (via USB, pxe etc). As an example see http://blogs.technet.com/b/danstolts/archive/2010/03/11/deploy-windows-7-the-easy-way-using-wds-mdt-and-aik-step-by-step-video.aspx

Jim B
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  • Hmm... Thanks Jim B. So, I watched some of that video and I don't have a server. I have 20 computers and 20 licenses. The first computer took awhile to set up (installing a couple apps, all the windows updates 5+hrs, and some other misc stuff). Do I need a windows server for this? – Cool Shape Jan 21 '16 at 22:43
  • Once you installed the apps you'll have to test to see if they survive a sysprep. If it took 5 hours somethings gone horribly wrong. You can do the updates per machine post deploy had you used MDT to develop your final image(or if you were in a business environment simply include them in the deployment. – Jim B Jan 21 '16 at 23:56