creating virtual machines with newsid

Introduction

When creating a Virtual Machine with the free version of VMWare, you have to install the Operating System from scratch each time. The better way is to create one standard base and then simply copy and paste the virtual hard drive file to a new VM folder.

When doing this with Windows-based computers, the only catch is to change the SID. The SID is a number that uniquely identifies a windows machine on a windows-based network. Having duplicate SIDs causes problems with different services.

The NewSid program from SysInternals has the ability to regenerate a SID. By placing this program in the RunOnce Registry key, it will automatically create a new SID for the computer on the first boot.

The Screencast

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