Ubuntu needs a "sysprep"-like tool, like Windows has

[Subharo Bhikkhu]

This is a feature request. It's a brand new thing that would probably be a package of its own.

Microsoft has a well-known, long-standing, somewhat-dodgy administrative tool called sysprep that puts a Windows machine into a newish state ready for use by some new user. It's especially useful just after you've imaged/cloned a Windows machine, to give it unique qualities like new hostname (you don't want two machines on your LAN with the same hostname). More background info on sysprep is at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sysprep

We need a tool that would put the machine into this ready-to-hand-off state. This tool I'm proposing (which acts like sysprep) would do this.
I wish Ubuntu had a graphical, wizard-like tool for this.

Here are the use cases:

-Freegeek (http://freegeek.org), System76 and Dell all sell computers with Ubuntu pre-installed. Actually, Freegeek gives Ubuntu computers away for free if you'll just work as volunteer in their recycling facility for 24 hours! (shameless plug). All these resellers of Ubuntu will definitely want an easy way to allow their customers to just power on their machine, be asked a few questions like: their chosen hostname, username, Real name, set a password, timezone, and then be able to log into their newly created account.

-Say I have an older computer with Ubuntu installed and want to sell it to a friend. Ubuntu's free licensing allows me to let that friend continue using that Ubuntu. But I have alot of my own personalizations and data on that machine (which of course I've backed up before selling it). And I don't want my friend to continue using my username and account. I want to just have a nice sysprep-like tool offer to nuke my old account, do some magic, and power off the machine. Then upon next boot, ask the next person who powers the machine on to create a new account (plus set timezone, and optionally ask for a new hostname to be set, for an extra touch of personalization). Then my friend could power the machine on for the first time and be asked to create a fresh username (ie. an account with admin privaleges). This friend would have a shiny new default desktop and feel like they are using a brand new computer, and not have to go through the trouble of freshly installing Ubuntu.

In summary, please make it easy for these resellers, and all future resellers to put an Ubuntu machine into a state where it can be easily handed off to a new owner.

[Subharo Bhikkhu (subharo)]

Oh yeah, a third use case:

-imagine you work in the IT department of a large corporation that saves time by cloning Ubuntu desktop machines: just after you've managed to clone an Ubuntu machine, you want to hand it off to a new user. And the freshly cloned machine needs to have a new hostname or there'll be a clash on the LAN. So ask the next person who powers the machine on for a new hostname, as you want to be nice and let the user choose their own hostname (and enforce that it's not on the LAN already by trying to resolve that hostname).

[Subharo Bhikkhu (subharo)]

There are deeper system implications for use case number 3: After cloning a system, the UUIDs of the disk partitions will be different. The partitions might be different: for example the root partition might have been /dev/sda1 on the original machine, but on the cloned machine it might be /dev/sda2. Plus, UUIDs need to be adjusted by this potential new tool both in /etc/fstab, plus in /boot/grub/menu.lst (so that update-grub will do the right thing if the kernel ever gets upgraded in the future by the user). If the UUIDS and partition device names (like /dev/sda1) are not adjusted correctly, the system will probably be rendered unbottable after the next reboot after a new kernel is installed. That is to say, by default, after cloning, the post-install of upgrading the kernel will try to update grub and do a bad job.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

System76, for one, are already using the facility we already provide for this, namely oem-config. See the "Text mode install for manufacturers" menu item on 7.04 CDs, and similar items on earlier versions, all the way back to 5.10.

Some of your comments would be useful enhancements to oem-config (which is also "somewhat-dodgy"), though.

[Loye Young (loyeyoung)]

Dustin,

My company is a system builder, and we run into similar issues. I made a suggestion in Bug #191417 that oem-config automagically write a preseed file so that subsequent installs could be replicated easily. Would that accomplish what you are after?

[linux.girl (girllinux26)]

Hello,

I know this thread is a bit old, but I am running into the same issue and was wondering if there have been any news since the "sysprep problem" was raised?

If no news, any suggestions regarding an effective way to deploy ubuntu images without having to do all the small post install configs manually (i.e., hostname, username, etc).

Thanks,

linux.girl

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

For a brand new idea, you should create a blueprint. Since this doesn't describe a bug in ubiquity, I am closing it.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

Actually, I think this is fix released. Since this bug was opened, oem-config mode provided by ubiquity fully satisfies the requirements outlined in this bug report.