WDS, sysprep.inf, and Mini-setup

See here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766320.aspx

Also sysprep is for creating the image. It looks for the unattended during install (if i'm not mistaken).

Sysprep.inf has to be in C:\sysprep.  Only Vista/7 supports unattend files on removal media.
You need to force Uniprocessor in the sysprep.inf, then modify hal.inf if you want to switch between single and dual core processors.  See http://www.leinss.com/uniimg.html
If it's a Dell PC, try putting the USB keyboard in the top 2 USB ports in the back.

aleinss, I have to disagree on the removable media part. I know I was able to load my image outside of WDS on another machine and then use my sysprep.inf floppy disk to automate the mini-setup, but this image was also a single core image as well. Do you know that the syntax is in sysprep distinguishing between dual and single core processors? Also, where would it go in the file?

I will try the keyboard suggestion, but I still want to get back to automating the minisetup. Thanks!

first like the previous post state for Windows xp sysprep.inf needs to be in the same dir as sysprep.exe.  In regards to installing winxp on a dual core machine, if you create your master image on a multi-proc machine your hal will be a multi-proc hal same thing goes for the single proc machines, you would just need to swap it out using WinPE plus some custom code prior to lanuch.  

Well... I will take that machine and boot it with Bart and navigate to the C:\sysprep folder and verify that the inf file is there, I am pretty sure it should be, but I am not 100%. Hopefully this is it because it would be an easy fix. Just copy the inf through bart and recapture up to the server so that I will not have to deal with this issue again. I will probably not be able to let you all know the results until tomorrow. Thanks for the input!

Ok here is what I found out... I looked on the hard drive that I imaged with WDS. The sysprep.inf file was one that WDS placed there, overwriting the one that was originally on there that I made. I guess that is standard procedure using this deployment method. So I guess my only option of an automated mini-setup is to get WSIM fixed so that I can tie an answer file to it. The problem is that when I select the image it says that it cannot find the catalog file. When I select yes to create one I get a parameter count mismatch error. If I cannot get this fixed then maybe I can keep the WDS from trying to use its sysprep.inf file. Not sure how but I really need to get this fixed!

Also, I tried the keyboard and mouse in the top ports and it was still unresponsive during the minisetup

WSIM is only for Vista based media, such as WinPE 2.0 and Vista itself.  You cannot use WSIM to create answer files for Windows XP.  However, you should check out this thread on Technet (long):

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserversetup/thread/d0b2a517-72a7-4bec-98b8-f695e7500323

The WinPE portion can be unattended by using an unattend file.

In terms of the keyboard/mouse not working: that happens on my PCs as well until they get to "find new devices" portion of setup.  If your minisetup is halting anytime before that, then the drivers for the keyboard/mouse might not be getting loaded.

Aleinss, i took my sysprep.inf file and overwrote the one that was in the sysprep folder and reloaded the image back up to the server. What do you know it works great now, it seamlessly goes through the minisetup without a problem. The only thing is this was I have to rename the computer after the minisetup is finished, but that is no big deal. Thanks for leading me to the correct solution.