Properly image a computer with Symantec Management Agent (Altiris Agent) installed

Products

Deployment Solution Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

What is the correct way to image a computer with the Symantec Management Agent (SMA) on it so that all of the computers do not have the same GUID?

After imaging a computer with Symantec Management Agent on it, all the computers now have duplicate GUIDs. How can this be corrected?

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Resolution

Run 'Prepare for Image Capture' task

With recent versions of Ghost Solution Suite and Deployment Solution, the need of manually cleaning up the Symantec Management Agent (SMA) when it is installed is no longer needed. The Deployment Solution 'Prepare for image capture' task is designed to automatically prepare generalization of the Symantec Management Agent. This task also includes Microsoft Sysprep to generalize the machine/OS.

Please refer to the following KBs:

KB 161011 "Preparing Windows 10 to run a 'Prepare for Image Capture' (sysprep) task using Deployment Solution 7.x/8.x"
KB 171149 "Preparing Windows 10 to run Sysprep through Ghost Solution Suite Capture Image Task"

Prepare for Image Capture will also remove the following:

c:\windows\AeXNSAgent.ini
registry value "DSUniqueID" under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent

Optional:

To remove additional data, the following can be done to manually clean up Inventory, Software, and NSE data:

1. Remove inventory.db. filescan.db from ProgramData\Symantec\Inventory Agent
2. Remove from the \Altiris Agent\ root folder the following files if they exist:
  - AeXAMSummary.txt
  - AeXPMSummary.txt
  - AeXProcessList.txt
3. Review list of assigned policies and ensure that unexpected policies are gone from endpoint prior to imaging (could also remove
4. Review list of NSE queue on agent side so this image does not include any NSEs in queue folder "\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Queue\<SMPSERVER>"

Additional Information

If you want to perform these steps manually, make the following changes:

(Early versions of Deployment Solution required the following manual changes before capturing a generalized image)

Stop the Altiris Agent service. It needs to still be set to autostart.
Open the Altiris Agent computer’s Registry Editor.
Delete the data located at the following three locations:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Machineguid
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\eXpress\MachineGuid
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\eXpress\NS Client\MachineGuid
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Client Service\LastUpdateComputerInfo (Note: This will exist when the AClient is installed.)
In the file system under install path\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Client Policies, delete the .XML file (there should only be one).
In the file system under install path\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\Software Delivery, delete all GUID folder files in this directory and the AeXSWDPolicy.xml file.
Remove folder and files for Inventory Agent in ProgramData\Symantec\Inventory Agent
Remove from the \Altiris Agent\ root folder the following files if they exist:
- AeXAMSummary.txt
- AeXPMSummary.txt
- AeXProcessList.txt
Review list of assigned policies and ensure that unexpected policies are gone from endpoint prior to imaging
Review list of NSE queue on agent side so this image does not include any NSEs in queue folder "Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Queue\<SMPSERVER>"
Shut down the computer and image it. Create the image before the Altiris Agent posts any event to the Notification Server. When the Altiris Agent requests a client config policy, a new unique Altiris Agent GUID will be created by the Notification Server and sent to the Altiris Agent. A new policy config XML will be sent to the client. The same Altiris Agent GUID is placed in three locations for backward compatibility reasons.