The System Preparation Tool (Sysprep.exe) in Windows 2000 prepares the master computer's hard disk to be duplicated. After you run Sysprep.exe on the master computer, you can use a third-party tool to capture the image and copy it to the destination computers. When the user restarts the destination computer, the Mini-Setup program appears, but requires very little input to complete. As mentioned earlier, you can also automate the completion of the program further by creating a Sysprep.inf file.

One of the primary functions of the System Preparation Tool is to delete security identifiers (SIDs) and all other user-specific or computer-specific information. New SIDs are generated when the destination computers are restarted after the disk image is loaded.

The following table describes the switches that you can use to customize operation of Sysprep.exe.

Switch Description
-quiet Runs with no user interaction
-pnp Forces Setup to detect Plug and Play devices on the destination computers
-reboot Restarts the test computer instead of shutting down
-nosidgen Does not regenerate SIDs on the destination computers