Question : Problem: Sysprep issues

I recently configured an XP Pro SP2 workstation as desired, copied the configured profile to the Default User profile and verified that this worked by logging in with a new account and noting that the profile created has all the same configs and settings as the source profile.  The problem came after I sysprepped (sysprep XP)  the box and created a ghost image.  When I restored the image to a new box however I found certain settings had reset to default.  Specifically, System Restore was enabled whereas I'd turned it off prior to creating the image.  There were several other similar issues.  Is there anything else I need to be doing to prevent this issue from recurring?

Answer : Problem: Sysprep issues

Check out this entire thread - I think it has the answer you need:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/12009443/m/191002646731

Here is an exerpt from that thread:

not too elegant but works..

c:\Sysprep\i386\$oem$\cmdlines.txt:

[Commands]
"c:\sysprep\rdu.cmd"

c:\Sysprep\rdu.cmd:

rd /s /q "c:\Documents and Settings\Default User"
xcopy "c:\PreInstall\Default User" "c:\Documents and Settings\Default User" /E /I /H
goto:EOF

basically, once you are happy with Default Profile, make a copy and save it somewhere, in the above example c:\PreInstall folder.

(you can nuke PreInstall folder at the end too if you want)

Make a batch in Sysprep folder that replaces default profile generated by mini setup with your preconfigured one, add batch file process at the end of mini setup.