# folder redirection failure when xp installed through WDS image



## ramanaonweb (Oct 8, 2009)

1) Install windows on a new system. Join to the domain, use the domain administrator account to install applications, get GP settings to have WSUS update the system (we also have my documents redirected)

2) Run sysprep with -mini and -reseal

3) capture image

4) push image back down to another system

5) Upon logging into the freshly imaged machine as a regular domain user the only previous known location of 'My Documents' was the network location belonging to the domain administrator account, and as such cannot be touched/redirected by the regular domain user.



Is this an issue of having a domain configuration that WDS can't handle or am I setting up improper file permission/GPO configuration on the local machine before sysprepping/imaging?



My only thought is to complete step 1 from above but then take the system out of the domain and delete all domain profiles before running sysprep.



Since the folder redirection happens by GP, the location of the redirected folder cannot be changed to a local folder with user accessible permissions before running sysprep.





UPDATE:

Using an image from a system that has NOT been joined to the domain also causes grief with our folder redirection.



When pulling down the image, booting the machine and then joining it to the domain causes My Documents to not want to be synchronized properly due to a time-out looking for the domain controller.



Getting around this by disabling the "Media Sense" feature of XP then brings about more problems which I have yet to remedy, specifically any files located on the local "My Documents" location (desktop.ini, My Pictures, etc) will cause an "Invalid Security Descriptor" ID.



Again, do these sound like an incorrectly configured domain or just growing pains in the WDS system?

help me in solving this problem


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## peterh40 (Apr 15, 2007)

1. No, images must NOT be joined to the domain before imaging otherwise the SIDs will conflict with other PCs in the domain and nothing work work properly. 

Use SYSPREP ini to tell it which domain to join and ask user to enter a unique computer name before it can be joined to the domain.

Its nothing to do with WDS more likely the configuration of the image -before- it was put on to WDS.


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