GreenEnvy

We have a mix of KMS and MAK right now, working towards fully KMS. However those are only for our Win7 enterprise machines, we just use the OEM Pro licenses that the laptops and desktops come with for the vast majority of our machines. We only used Win7 enterprise to get bitlocker on the laptops, but since Win8 thats included in Pro so we don't need to buy enterprise anymore. We're not trying to upgrade any of those Win7 Enterprise machines right now, this discussion is just about clean installs on machines with Win8 pro licenses built into the BIOS. I got this working now, after running the file through the windows system imaging management app for 10586 (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/dn913721.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396#adkwin10), with no product key in the unattend file, and including the PID.txt file in Sources with the placeholder key, Windows installs and no longer shows the product key page.

Doubtful. You are using the OS made from Media Creator or another source? The normal (manual) method of installing Windows 10 from the Free Upgrade ISO is to skip the product key entry. When this is done, then it uses a runtime key. I can only imagine this is where you got your ISO from, as if you got it from any other legitimate source you'd have the correct Product Keys to put in the XML. I'm using the ISO I downloaded from the MS volume licensing website. It's the multi-edition Windows 10 iso, 10586/1511 build. We've now confirmed on several other computers we can clean install using this ISO a machine that had Win7 on it (but has a Win8 Pro key in the BIOS, as these are all business machines with downgrade rights). On all of them the machines activated right away on bootup, we didn't need to enter a key. So I just need to figure out if there is a way to bypass the screen that comes up asking for a key on first boot, as it holds up the automated install. We can just press "do later" and it finishes installing our apps and activates as I explained above, it's just annoying that it holds up the automated install.

Yea certainly the Win7 ones would either need to be upgraded or have their key manually typed in. Sorry i should have been more clear I just was asking about the Win8 ones, however since we cycle our computers every 3-4 years, we have very few machines left that don't have Win8 licences, even if we are running Win7 on many of them.

Hi all, We use PXE to deploy OS's right from media. Win7/8 install using an unattend.xml file then our apps are all installed via setupcomplete. This has been working well for a few years. I've got the same mostly working with Win10, but have one annoyance. We want to be able to clean install on laptops that are came with Win7/8, directly to Win10. This is now possible with the new Windows 10 10586 fall update build that was released officially last week. I've tested this, and with a Win10 pro placeholder in the pid.txt file, Windows 10 installs ok. On first boot, before setupcomplete runs, the "It's time to enter your product key" message appears. If I pick "do this later", then let the apps install, by the time I go into Control panel, Windows is already activated. This is on a machine that's never had Win10 on it before, so it appears it grabbed the Win8 Pro key from the BIOS. Thats almost perfect. The only annoyance is that "it's time to enter your key" screen, since it holds up the automated install. Does anyone know how to get rid of that in the unattend.xml file? There is no other OOBE prompts at all, the user account is setup in unattend and everything else is skipped. I tried deleting the PID.txt file but then I get an error that "Windows can not read the <product key> setting from the unattend answer file." I tried looking this error up but only got results talking about it being an issue when running in a VM. This is a hardware install from PXE. If I hit OK at this error message, I just get a blank blue screen forever. This is all from a modified unattend.xml file I made for Win8. I'll be installing WSIM for Win10 later to check if it finds an error, but thought I'd check here if anyone knows. I've tried putting in the productkey section and leaving nothing between the <key></key> fields but got the same answer. I am hoping Win 10 can get the Win8 key from the BIOS during setup if I can't find a way to hide the product key screen after install like described above.

Hi bito, how it works is in your image source, so whether this is a CD, USB stick, or PXE install, you need to make sure under the sources folder, there is a $OEM$ folder, inside that an $$ folder, inside that a Setup Folder, inside that a Scripts folder. In the Scripts folder you make a file called Setupcomplete.cmd You can put any commands you like it in, and Windows will run them. This happens after Windows is installed but before the first time a user logs in, so it runs as SYSTEM. For me, I setup my drive map, then run the various installers I want, all with silent switches so I don't need to do anything. One thing I've heard but haven't tested fully, is if you are using an OEM key for Windows installation (so for Win8 it's getting it from the BIOS or you've manually entered an OEM key), then setupcomplete is ignored.

Hi bito, The section in the XML is there to try and inject drivers into the installation (NIC, video card, fingerprint reader, etc..). Setupcomplete is calling InstallWin8Apps.bat, which in turn is installing apps. My directory structure on the shared folder is something like this: \\server\apps: [office] [chrome] [firefox] [Drivers] [Adobe] InstallWin8Apps.bat So Drivers is a subfolder of the apps share. I could reference Z:\drivers in the installwin8apps.bat if needed, since it's in that same location. I never did get the drivers to work using the XML settings, which is why I wrote the script for finding unknown devices and adding drivers, and run it from the installwin8apps

As a followup, I moved all the install stuff to setupcomplete.cmd instead. Then the installers run as SYSTEM rather than the user, so no confirmation prompts. See my post for more info: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172680-my-windows-81-unattended-install-with-drivers-and-oem-activation/

Thanks DosProbie, I'll give that a try.

Hi all, I've found this site very helpful over the years when working with WinXP and Win7 unattended installs. I use these at work vs imaging per model as it's easier to maintain 1 copy and I feel the installs are "cleaner" as well. I thought I'd post the files I am using for doing unattended Win8.1 Pro installs. All our laptops at work have either win8 pro or Win8.1 pro licenses. I was annoyed how you couldn't install Win8.1 directly on a Win8 licensed machine so I wrote a way around it. I hope nothing here is against any forum rules, I apologize if it is. First is the autounattend.xml file, It has some basic stuff in it like credentials for connecting to our PXE server (can also use for USB installs with a couple tweaks). Nothing special in here. I don't use the runsynchronous commands for doing app installs, I prefer setupcomplete instead as it runs as system. Setupcomplete.cmd simply maps a network drive and runs a batch file from the mapped drive. This way I don't need to make chnages to my image, just changes on that network share. I have all my apps with commandline switches for silent installs going in this batch file. For drivers, I can never get the nonWinPE offline pass drivers working, so I instead wrote a VBscript that gets a list of any "unknown devices" post install, then searches on my file share for any matching drivers, and adds them to Windows. It then removes the unknown devices and rescans for new hardware, which now gets them with their drivers. I just finished writing this in the span of an hour today and haven't added error checking to it yet, but it works. It relies partly on a devcon.exe file that is part of a Windows kit but can exist just as a standalone file. Lastly as you can see in the autoattend file, I use a generic placeholder Win8.1 Pro key. When Setupcomplete runs my batch file, it includes code that runs an EXE which gets the OEM key from the computers BIOS, then switches Windows over to use that key, and activates. I'm hoping this doesn't anger Microsoft, it does take the activation fine. I did it this way so I don't need a separate image for my original Win8 machines. If anyone thinks I'm doing anything stupid please let me know. This seems to work well so far, I'm deploying 20 machines with it next week. Files are renamed to .txt so I could upload, but the finddrivers is .vbs, installwin8apps is a .bat and setupcomplete is .cmd InstallWin8apps2.txt SetupComplete.txt finddrivers.txt Autounattend2.xml

I've used custom widows image CD's for several years now (XP and 7), I prefer them at work vs using prebuilt images for each model. I've done this for Win8/8.1 as well, but have a couple of questions. I'll describe what I did and then whats not working: -Started with Win 8.1 Pro ISO file -added $OEM$\$1 folder and subfolders to the image for all the apps I want to install and any drivers needed -Added autounattend.xml to the root of the ISO My autounattend is attached. Basically what I'm doing is: -Installing Win8.1 pro using a placeholder key -Installing several apps (office, java, adobe reader, and more) using the runsynchronous command during the oobe pass -creating a user called "admin" with password and making it part of administrator group -setting admin to autologin twice -I have UAC disabled in autounattend -I set the "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" to 0 in registry using one of the runsynchronous commands above -Script file extracts the OEM Win8/8.1 key from the BIOS and activates Windows with it. -Drivers copy over to local disk during install and are installed This is all mostly working, with a couple of issues: -A few apps, like Java, Adobe Reader, and Chrome, prompt for permission to run, which is annoying. It's not an elevation request, but just permission to run. How can I prevent this? -I exported "program defaults" from another machine which has all the horrid Metro apps bypassed for most uses. I import this file and it says successful but the users defaults don't update to take these settings -Drivers aren't installing. They do copy to the hard drive, but nothing installs. I'm assuming it is recursive, but am I wrong? I've added this to 3 different passes as I don't know which is right. I've also added that driver path to the registry, and if i right click a device in device manager after install that is missing driver and hit update, it does find the driver in that path. So it's just not looking there during install. Any thoughts? EDIT - my attached failed with an SQL error, so posting code here: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"> <settings pass="specialize"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <OEMInformation> <Manufacturer>myORG</Manufacturer> <SupportHours>8-5</SupportHours> <SupportPhone>x1234</SupportPhone> <SupportURL>helpdesk@myorg.org</SupportURL> </OEMInformation> <ComputerName>*</ComputerName> <RegisteredOrganization>myOrg</RegisteredOrganization> <RegisteredOwner>myORG - IT</RegisteredOwner> <TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone> </component> </settings> <settings pass="windowsPE"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <SetupUILanguage> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> </SetupUILanguage> <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale> <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <UserData> <ProductKey> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> <Key>REMOVED</Key> </ProductKey> <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula> </UserData> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <DriverPaths> <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="14aa9a2e" wcm:action="add"> <Path>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\AppInstall\Drivers</Path> </PathAndCredentials> </DriverPaths> </component> </settings> <settings pass="oobeSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <AutoLogon> <Password> <Value>REMOVED=</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </Password> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <LogonCount>2</LogonCount> <Username>Admin</Username> </AutoLogon> <UserAccounts> <LocalAccounts> <LocalAccount wcm:action="add"> <Password> <Value>REMOVED=</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </Password> <Description>Admin</Description> <DisplayName>Admin</DisplayName> <Group>Administrators</Group> <Name>Admin</Name> </LocalAccount> </LocalAccounts> <AdministratorPassword> <Value>REMOVED=</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </AdministratorPassword> </UserAccounts> <OOBE> <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage> <HideLocalAccountScreen>true</HideLocalAccountScreen> <HideOEMRegistrationScreen>true</HideOEMRegistrationScreen> <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens> <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE> <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation> <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC> </OOBE> <RegisteredOwner>myORG - IT</RegisteredOwner> <TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone> <RegisteredOrganization>myORG</RegisteredOrganization> <FirstLogonCommands> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>7ZIP</Description> <Order>2</Order> <CommandLine>msiexec -I %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\7zip\7z920-x64.msi /q INSTALLDIR="%ProgramFiles%\7-Zip"</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>DefaultApps</Description> <Order>13</Order> <CommandLine>Dism /Online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Misc\DefaultAppAssociations.xml</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>DefaultApps</Description> <Order>14</Order> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\AppInstall\Win8.1\ActivateOemWin8.bat</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Office</Description> <Order>12</Order> <CommandLine>"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Office\Setup.exe"</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Icons</Description> <Order>11</Order> <CommandLine>Copy %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Misc\Icons\*.* "%systemdrive%\Users\Public\Desktop\"</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>RegFixes</Description> <Order>1</Order> <CommandLine>reg import %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Misc\RegFixes.reg</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Shoretel</Description> <Order>9</Order> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Shoretel\ShoretelCommunicator14-2\ShoretelCommunicator14-2.exe /S /v"/qn REBOOT=reallysuppress"</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>.Net 3.5</Description> <Order>8</Order> <CommandLine>DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\sxs /NoRestart</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>VLC</Description> <Order>7</Order> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\VLC\vlc-2.0.1-win32.exe /L=1033 /S</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>ESET</Description> <Order>6</Order> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\ESET\ESET-Win64.exe /quiet REBOOT="ReallySuppress"</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Chrome</Description> <Order>5</Order> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Chrome\ChromeStandaloneSetup.exe /silent /install</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Java</Description> <Order>4</Order> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Java\jre-7u67-windows-i586.exe /s /v "/qn ADDLOCAL=ALL IEXPLORER=1 MOZILLA=1"</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>InfraRecorder</Description> <Order>3</Order> <CommandLine>msiexec -I %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\Infra\ir053_x64.msi /quiet /qn</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Order>10</Order> <Description>Adobe Reader</Description> <CommandLine>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Appinstall\AdobeReader\AdbeRdr11008_en_US.exe /sAll /msi /norestart ALLUSERS=1 EULA_ACCEPT=YES</CommandLine> <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput> </SynchronousCommand> </FirstLogonCommands> </component> </settings> <settings pass="offlineServicing"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-LUA-Settings" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <EnableLUA>false</EnableLUA> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <DriverPaths> <PathAndCredentials wcm:action="add" wcm:keyValue="778"> <Path>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\AppInstall\Drivers</Path> </PathAndCredentials> </DriverPaths> </component> </settings> <settings pass="auditSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <DriverPaths> <PathAndCredentials wcm:action="add" wcm:keyValue="777"> <Path>%SYSTEMDRIVE%\AppInstall\Drivers</Path> </PathAndCredentials> </DriverPaths> </component> </settings> <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:c:/unattended/windows8prox64/sources/install.wim#Windows 8 Pro" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" /></unattend>

And thus were directly in breach of the EULA that nLite is for personal use only. My apologies, I probably just pressed accept on the EULA without reading it. If it makes you feel better, we are a non-profit/charity, not a for-profit business. Thanks for the info from everyone else about the oem keys, I think it's easiest for us just to get some volume keys, though I will look into backing up the activiation info.

Hi, At work I've been using nlite for years with XP to make unattended DVD's for XP. We'd setup all our normal apps to install automatically, use our volume license key for XP, etc... I prefer this method to imaging pc's. Now we're transitioning to Win7. I've got most of that functionality working with my Win7 image now. However one difference is we so far have not gone with buying volume license keys for Win7. We're buying machines with Win7 Pro so they have a license (Acer desktops, Toshiba laptops). For my unattended DVD, I don't have it enter a key, and I manually enter the OEM key from the computer I am working on after windows is installed. The issue is, every computer so far has said they key can't activate online. I call into the automated system and it works fine, but it's a huge time waster. Is the issue that I am using a retail CD (but not a key) as my base image (actually a technet retail download)? Or is there something else causing this? I had thought that with Win Vista and 7 they did away with having the actual CD have OEM or retail specific features on it, and simply the key determined what type it was?

Working in RTM as well, I installed STPD separatly first direct from their website, then installed DT.

5.0 in RTM. AthlonX2 4200, 2GB DDR400, ATI X1800, 2x200gb maxtor sata2's.