I figured I’d share how I do my Hard Disk Drive Images. I use Norton Ghost 2003 because it doesn’t require an install, if you boot with the CD and it works with Win 98, NT, 2000, XP and Linux.
Anyway I do the following:
- Fresh install of XP
- Get Service Packs (if not on the CD)
Create Image
- Drivers for the Motherboard and Hardware
- Get all updates
- Tweak settings in Windows
- Folder Options
- Search Options (I disable XP’s Rover the animated dog and set some other options)
- Set options in Internet Explorer
- Taskbar Options
- Start Menu Options
- Desktop Options (screensaver, theme, effects, resolution, …)
- Add/Remove Windows Components (get rid of MSN, Outlook and any other Windows components I don’t need)
- Accessibility Options (turn off StickyKeys)
- Automatic Updates settings
- Firewall settings
- Virus Protection settings
- Sound Options
- any other Windows settings (I think I covered them all above)
Create another Image
Install the following plugins, codecs and applications (if necessary):
- Adobe Reader
- Flash Player
- Shockwave Player
- Java Runtime Environment
- Quicktime
- Xvid
- DivX
- Indeo Codec
- DVD Player Codec
- CD/DVD Burning Software
- Drivers for Peripherals (printer, scanner, …)
- Anti-Virus
- Anti-Spyware
- Firewall Software
- Izarc
- 7-Zip
- Firefox
- Crimson Editor
- Tweak Options in these plugins, applications as needed
Create another Image
At this point I may add other software, depending on how I plan to use the setup and then create another Image. I will also tailor various settings or leave off certain things I won’t need on the install as well. Basically this is what I do for using my ComBox and setting up my drives for it. The great thing about Hard Disk Drive Images, is that if I need to reinstall the OS at some point I can much faster than starting from scratch. It also allows me to setup other drives or setups slightly different but based on the other core images I made previously.