Preparing the Image for Deployment - Windows Server Essentials
To prepare your Windows Server Essentials image for deployment to other computer hardware, run sysprep.exe to generalizes the image and shuts down the server. When the image is deployed on other computers, the initial configuration will run.
Note
All modifications to the image must be complete before you run sysprep.exe. For more information about sysprep, see System Preparation (Sysprep) Technical Reference.
To prepare the image
Open an elevated command prompt window. Click Start, right click Command Prompt, and then select Run as Administrator.
Run the following command to reset the registry key so that the customer will have the full grace period before the server becomes noncompliant.
%systemroot%\system32\reg.exe add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ServerInfrastructureLicensing /v Rearm /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
Run the following command for sysprep.
%systemroot%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /generalize
Important
If you plan to create server recovery media, you must capture the image and create the recovery media before Testing the Customer Experience - Windows Server Essentials. For more information about capturing an image, see DISM - Deployment Image Servicing and Management Technical Reference. For more information about creating recovery media, see Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) Technical Reference.
Related topics
Testing the Customer Experience - Windows Server Essentials