I used the following method to resolve the issue. After the image is riprep'ed and in the riprep'ed image folder that was created and reported the reparse notification I created a folder in: RemoteInstall\Setup\English\Images\Riprep_dir_name\I386\Mirror1\UserData\Winnt called RISupds. That folder contains an $OEM$ sub folder. In the $OEM$ folder I placed 3 files: cmdlines.txt Linkit.cmd linkd.exe linkd.exe is from the Win2003 server resource kit. in the riprep.sif file, under the "[unattended]" section it must contain at least the following: [unattended] OemPreinstall = yes InstallFilesPath = "c:\winnt\RISupds" The cmdlines.txt would be: [Command] "c:\winnt\RISupds\$OEM$\Linkit.cmd" The Linkit.cmd file would contain (all on one line): start /w c:\winnt\lRISupds\$OEM$\linkd.exe c:\winnt\assembly\gac_32\system.enterpriseservices\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a C:\WINNT\WinSxS\x86_System.EnterpriseServices_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_2.0.0.0_x-ww_7d5f3790 Now your reparse point that you need to recreate may be different, I need this for .NET Framework 2.0. You can change the paths, folder names, try variables as you like except the $OEM$ folder is required and the cmdlines.txt in that folder also. And the "InstallFilesPath" is required to point to the parent folder of $OEM$. Good Luck and I hope I didn't miss anything here, Duil