On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 2:53 AM, Tom Noble
<tomnoble5@live.co.uk> wrote:
To whom it may concern,
I am wondering if debian could do the following for me:
I have a group of test PC's that require re-imaging each time (and I don't want to be using a server to do this). The process also needs to be automatic.
Can debian:
Login automatically?
pam
Install a windows image to another partition?
dd
Install programs on the image that has just been created?
maybe. you can look at doing this in a few ways. you might look at using wine (don't use it so i can't comment further on the validity of this process) or a virtual solution that is configured to use the partition and install that way. with the virtual won't be fun to play with in this environment as you generally put their 'tools' on your guest so that it plays right with the mouse and other events which you won't want to do. the other thing is that you'll have limited scripting ability with the virtual without their 'tools'. however, you could copy any script onto the partition before you boot the virtual and add the script to the RunOnce registry key (see below for info on reading and writing the registry from native linux). the other idea for hacking around with your guest is using the rpc / psexec tool within nmap to do things once the machine is booted.
the other method is slightly more technical. it pretty much involves dismantling the installer and doing it manually. ie, copy files to where they need to be and then write registry settings (i found a perl script a while ago -
regp.pl iirc - that read the registry and could be modified to write data). now, this will be the hardest part - you've got four registry files for system and another four for each user (iirc). you'll need to go through and figure out what logic they use to write keys and other settings and where they are written and replicate them (which sounds really fun).
Boot into that windows install?
if you're going to keep your debian install on the computer, just modify the grub config and 'grub-install' and 'reboot' - done. if not, you'll be putting the mbr on the computer when you dd the image. which, if you do intend to keep debian on that computer, watch out what you do with dd.
Then once I have restarted the computer and it has loaded back into debian:
overwrite the install with a different image
not quite sure i get this part.
oh, if you boot the computer in a virtual vs physical, you'll have to figure out drivers with the virtual vs physical (i'm sure there's tons of docs for this with people using bootcamp / parallels and the likes).
you've also got to deal with windows licensing. now, this is a debian list, so i'm going to try not to go into too much gory detail over this, however when you build your image, you'll have to do it with the right windows version. and, when you install windows on the computer, you'll have to buy an actual seat for that computer (cal). the oem sticker on the box is not valid for putting the version of windows you'll need to use when doing imaging on that computer. if you're installing vista / 7, look into using a kms (i don't really think you have a choice).
.... seriously, hacking around with windows internals and scripting it is some of the funnest stuff you'll do as a sysadmin. i mean, i'll do it if you pay even 4/5 of my salary. and it's about a month long project from building the image to getting it working like that. :)
also, i wouldn't use debian for this purpose. win vista / 7 has imagex or you can use ghost. look into pxe and setting up an image server for that. if you need any pointers on this project you can email me off the list about windows specific issues and i'll tell you what i remember (mainly xp, ghost, and landesk) of which, i haven't touched any of it in the past year (been doing perl).