Assigning Computer Names to Windows 2003 installations when using WDS

Here’s a tip that should save you some time (I spent several hours trying to figure this one out). When you deploy a .WIM image with Windows Server 2003 using WDS, you can have that machine take on the name you gave to it in Active Directory (when prestaging the computer). To achieve this, do the following:

1. Create a copy of the sysprep.inf file on the folder c:\RemoteInstall\Images\\\$OEM$\$1\Sysprep
2. Edit this sysprep.inf file and make sure you have the following lines in place:
   
   [UserData]
       ComputerName="%MACHINENAME%"
   …
   [Identification]
       DoOldStyleDomainJoin=Yes
   
   
3. Remove the file c:\Sysprep\sysprep.inf from the image (if necessary, mount it with imagex)
4. The next time you re-image the machine, the WDS client will place this sysprep.inf file inside the image, and will grab the name you gave to the machine in Active Directory when you prestaged it.