How to set individual user settings during batch install

[misve]

Hello all!

I’m looking for a solution that automatically creates local user accounts when installing using NetRestore, but I have not found any solution. Is there any? Of course, any solution based on NetBoot or NetInstall is fine 😉

My problem is:

I have 200+ computers (MacBooks) and a list of users – one to each of the computers. This list is in Excel format (or CSV or TXT if I wish) and contains Name, Short Name and Password. The list also contains the MAC-address and serial# for each computer/user. I now want to use NetRestore/NetBoot/NetInstall to install a standard environment on each of the computers (i.e. MS Office 2004, FileMaker 8 and some other applications), and after that (or during the installation procedure) the account information.

As I understand from reading the documentation for NetRestore PHPServices, it is possible to do some individual settings to each of the computers by using the MAC-address as identification tag. It is also possible to add custom fields to the database.

So, it seems that it is possible to use NetRestore to clone an image to each of the computers and after that add some individual settings.

I guess that it is as easy at it looks in NetRestore PHPServices, but how do I add those fields:

Name
Short name
Password

Is there a solution? During the installation procedure I use a Mac OS X Server 10.4.7, but after that the computers are used under serverless conditions. This makes it possible to use OD/WGM during the installation phase. Maybe this is a way to go?

Thanks in advance,

Mikael

[Q]

I had the same problem.
Even thogh I today know how I can do it, the easier way would be to create a user on the master disk image and then use a script based on netrestore to rename that user to the name of the actual user.
Does this help you a bit?

[Author]

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