Well, it was a nightmare trying to figure out how to use Win7 Sysprep. The documentation is poor and the interface for creating the automated answer file (in xml) is horrible. I would have prefered the old text document version of an answer file and can’t for the life of me understand why they used xml.\u00a0 But they did, and the bull-dog in me wouldn’t let go of the fight to figure it out, even though it was not possible to charge my client for the effort beyond the first few hours. So I’m putting what I figured out here. I hope to keep this as simple as possible, but it’s such a mess that simple is going to be unobtainable I fear.<\/p>\n
The main value of using sysprep on a machine is that it can produce an install file with answers to basic questions and it can do more than just the basic install\u00a0 of Windows. A syspreped machine will allow not only additional software to be installed but also drivers and settings.<\/p>\n
For instance, we might want to have various utilities (defrag, maybe ccleaner, etc) and Office 2010 installed at the same time. A sysprep setup can install automatically with the right answer file<\/p>\n
This is a work in process, so if you’re viewing this statement know that it’s not done. I published it anyway just so I’d have easier access to it.<\/strong> I hope to have links and even a sample to copy, but it will take a few days to finish this article.<\/p>\n There are 11 steps to the creation of a custom unattended Windows7 install in it’s most basic form.<\/p>\n Thereafter, booting with Win7PE CD and running steps 10 and 11 is all that’s necessary to do a clean install on any other machine. If it all fails, there’s always that image you created in step 6 — you did create the image didn’t you? If it didn’t work then there was a failure in either the answer file or the sysprep stage.<\/p>\n \nNow for the details:<\/p>\n Gather: Create Technician’s computer by installing WAIK Alternatively, if you are just making a slightly different xml file, just copy the existing model and make changes directly with notepad. For instance, you might want to just change the product key or add\/change default user\/password.<\/p>\n Install on new machine:<\/strong><\/p>\n Boot new computer with Win7PE diskpart Change drive to mapped network location of Win7 CD files folder End<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, it was a nightmare trying to figure out how to use Win7 Sysprep. The documentation is poor and the interface for creating the automated answer file (in xml) is horrible. I would have prefered the old text document version of an answer file and can’t for the life of me understand why they used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nInstall disk for Windows version to be installed (need install.wim from \\source folder)
\nSample …install.xml file for the Windows version?
\nWindows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) DVD
\nWindows PE boot disk
\nTechnician computer (for WAIK)
\nModel computer (to install programs)<\/p>\n
\nCopy “install.wim” to root folder on Technician’s computer
\nOpen WAIK Management window
\nRight click in … window and direct to the install.wim file
\nAccept the creation of a catalogue of the install.wim file
\nWait 10 minutes for completion
\nOpen Walk-through file
\nFollow directions to create a new install.xml file
\nNote: there are two places for license keys. The first place
\nis for normal keys, the second place is for MAK keys. Don’t put
\nany in the first if you will be using a MAK key.
\n…..more about MAK key….<\/p>\n
\nMap network drive where Win7 CD files folder exists
\nClear and format the hard drive if you want\n<\/p>\n
\nselect disk 0
\nclean
\ncreate partition primary
\nselect partition 1
\nformat fs=ntfs label=”system”
\nassign letter=C
\nactive
\nexit<\/p>\n
\nChange directory to Win7 CD files folder
\nRun <setup.exe \/unattend:unattend.xml> or use whatever unattend file you created.
\nReboot
\nLogin
\nWindow appears — select OK to reboot to Out-of-box experience
\nAnswer a few questions, give computer a name
\nIf you are joining a Win2008 domain then open IE and type into address bar <connect> without the <> and follow those directions.<\/p>\n