> There are command line utilities you could use to do this. Here is an example:
>
> SET /P NEWNAME="Please enter the new computer name: "
> NETDOM RENAMECOMPUTER %COMPUTERNAME% /NewName:%NEWNAME%
> NETDOM JOIN %COMPUTERNAME% /Domain:mydomain.local /UserD:DomainUser
> /PasswordD:Domainpassword
>
> You'll have to download netdom in the Windows XP SP2 support tools.
> Unfortunately I have just found and article saying that Vista has a bug with
> NETDOM. Fortuantely there is also a private hotfix you can get from MS
> Support.
>
> See this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932173>
> Cheers,
> Jeremy.
> "sc" wrote:
>
> > Background:
> > I have Vista installed as a Guest onto a Virtual PC 2007 VM. I want to
> > customize it, sysprep it and then distribute it to our QA team. In XP and 2K
> > Pro i was able to do this in such a way that the VM would launch mini setup
> > and prompt users for a Host Name the first time the VM was launched after
> > being distributed. All other settings were automated by the sysprep process
> > including Joining the VM to the 2k3 Domain after being given a Host Name.
> > Apparently the Vista Sysprep process has been altered in such a way that it
> > wants to join the domain BEFORE allowing the user to specify a host name.
> > Microsoft has confirmed this as the problem and tells me i must develope a
> > script to solve the issue. Unfortunately i know NOTHING about scripting.
> >
> > What I Need: So what plan to do is have Sysprep auto assign a hostname and
> > auto join a workgroup. I then would like to have a script auto run after the
> > first auto logon that prompts the user to rename the Host Name and then auto
> > Joins our domain with that newly specified hostname.
> >
> > Is this possible?
> >