When you image a computer with Vista and Windows 7 and sysprep the image, the local administrator account becomes disabled. This can create a problem if the computer is not joined to a domain as you are shutout from access unless you have another account.

To alleviate this problem, before uploading the image with a sysprep:

1. Make another account, give it a password and put it in the local administrators group.

2. Test the account to make sure it works.

3. Upload the image with your imaging tool of choice and sysprep

4. If for some reason, you forgot to do this, you can use a utility to enable the local administrator account and blank out the password. The one I use is “Offline NT Password and Registry Editor.”  Directions and downloads can be found here.